Samuel Colt

http://www.nndb.com/people/786/000028702/

Samuel Colt, developer of the first modern revolver, was born on July 19, 1814, in Hartford, Connecticut, to parents Christopher and Sarah Colt. Samuel began working in his father’s silk and woolens factory at a very early age. One of his earliest possessions was a flintlock pistol given to him by his grandfather, which sparked his interest in guns. At the age of 13, he went to sea on a voyage to India. On this voyage, inspired by the spinning of the ship’s wheel, he conceived the original idea for the revolver and whittled a wooden model of it. After his return to the United States, Colt had his revolver patented. His six-shooters were not very popular initially, and in 1842, the company he started in Paterson, New Jersey failed. Colt then went on to invent the first remote controlled naval mine and ran a business using the first underwater telegraph cable. When the Mexican War broke out in 1846, Colt resumed the manufacture of his revolver after the government requested that he make 1,000 pistols for U.S. solders. With the help of Eli Whitney Jr., Colt advanced the development of the assembly line and interchangeable parts. His firm went on to create the most widely used revolvers in the Civil War, including the Colt .45. Colt died in his hometown before the end of the Civil War in 1862, as one of the wealthiest men in America.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Colt

http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventorsalphabet/a/machine_4.htm