born July 19, 1814, Hartford, Conn., U.S.
died Jan. 10, 1862, Hartford
U.S. inventor.
He worked in his father's textile factory before going to sea in 1830. On a voyage to India he conceived the idea for his first revolver , which he later patented (1835–36). Colt's six-shooters were slow to gain acceptance, and his company in Paterson, N.J., failed in 1842. He invented a naval mine with the first remotely controlled explosive in 1843 and conducted a telegraph business that used the first underwater cable. Soldiers' favourable reports prompted an order for 1,000 pistols during the Mexican War, and Colt resumed manufacture in 1847. Assisted by Eli Whitney, Jr., he advanced the development of interchangeable parts and the assembly line . His firm, based in Hartford, produced the revolvers most widely used in the American Civil War and in the settlement of the West, including the famous Colt .45.