Samuel Colt influence in other manufacturing efforts of the next half century. Prominent examples included Francis A. Pratt, Amos Whitney, Henry Leland, Edward Bullard, Worcester R. Warner, Charles Brinckerhoff Richards, William Mason and Ambrose Swasey. In 2006, Samuel Colt was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Samuel Colt Samuel Colt (; July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, businessman, and hunter. He founded Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (today Colt's Manufacturing Company) and made the mass production of the revolver commercially viable. Colt's first two business ventures were producing firearms in Paterson, New Jersey and
Colt 1851 Navy Revolver sighting arrangement, these revolvers and their modern replicas generally are quite accurate. The first metallic cartridge revolver made by Colt was the Thuer-Conversion Model Revolver, a design that would not require a cylinder with cylindrical chambers so as not to infringe on the Rollin White patent. A small number (about 1000–1500) of Model 1851 Navy revolvers was converted, using front-loaded, slightly tapered cartridges to fit the chambers of the cylinder reamed to a slight taper. After the expiration of the Rollin White patent (April 3, 1869), Colt 1851 (and 1861 Navy) Revolvers were converted or newly made to fire .38