ntries. Though now only twenty-one years old, he
had given seven years of study and labor to his "revolver," and had
brought it to a state of perfection which was far in advance of his
early hopes.

"At this time, and, indeed, for several years after, he was not aware
that any person before himself had ever conceived the idea of a fire-arm
with a rotating chambered breech. On a subsequent visit to Europe, while
exploring the collection of fire-arms in the Tower of London and other
repositories of weapons of war in England and on the continent, he found
several guns having the chambered breech, but all were so constructed as
to be of little practical value, being far more liable to explode
prematurely and destroy the man who should use them than the objects at
which they might be aimed. Unwilling, however, to seem to claim that
which had been previously invented, he read before the Institution of
Civil Engineers in England (of which he was the only American
associate), in 1851, an elaborate paper on the subject, in which he
described and illustrated, with appropriate drawings, the various early
inventions of revolving fire-arms, and demonstrated the principles on
which his were constructed."

Having secured patents in the United States and in the principal
countries of Europe, Mr. Colt exerted himself to organize a company for
the manufacture of his revolver. He met with considerable opposition,
for it was commonly asserted that his pistol would never be of any
practical value. The wise ones said it was too complicated for general
use, and that its adoption would be attended by the killing or maiming
of the majority of those who used it. The inventor disregarded these
birds of ill omen, however, and, persevering in his efforts, finally
succeeded in securing the aid of some capitalists in New York. A company
was formed in 1835, called the "Patent Arms Company," with a capital of
$300,000, and an armory was established at Paterson, New Jersey. Mr.
Colt then endeavored to induce the Government of the United States to
adopt the arm in the military and naval service. Strange as it now
seems, however, the officers of the army and navy were not disposed to
regard the revolver with favor. They declared that the percussion cap
was entirely unreliable, and that no weapon requiring it could be
depended on with certainty; that there was great danger that two or more
of the charges would explode at the same time; and that the arm wa