Colt Third Model Dragoon Percussion Revolver, serial no. 12406 ca. 1853 Samuel Colt American Samuel Colt (1814-1862) was one of the most famous and successful American inventors and entrepreneurs of the early industrial age. By patenting the first mass-produced multishot revolving firearms, Colt achieved worldwide fame and a vast personal fortune. His introduction of precise machine-made weapons and his promotion of the interchangeability of parts were innovations that transformed the arms industry. Colt actively promoted sales through advertising and displays at international fairs, and by presenting deluxe arms to men of influence. His precise and reliable standard-model revolvers were highly valued by soldiers and frontiersmen. His more elaborately embellished exhibition and presentation arms appealed as functional objects of beauty.Early American arms usually were plain, serviceable weapons intended for hunting and self-defense. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the increasin