In 1832, his father sent him on a voyage to learn the seaman's trade. But Samuel Colt (1814-1862) was more interested in mechanical things, having grown up working in his father's factory. On the voyage, he observed the mechanics of the ships wheel, discovering "regardless of which way the wheel was spun, each spoke always came in direct line with a clutch that could be set to hold it." The motion gave the eighteen-year-old an idea and the revolving pistol was born. Having nothing else to work with on the ship, he built the world's first revolving pistol out of wood, and went on to make a fortune as the founder of founder of Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company. Brother Colt was a member of St. John's Lodge 4, Hartford, Connecticut.
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