Revolver many European gun-makers, in numerous designs and configurations. However, these weapons were difficult to use, complicated and prohibitively expensive to make, and as such they were not widely distributed. In 1836, an American, Samuel Colt patented the mechanism which led to the widespread use of the revolver, the mechanically indexing cylinder. According to Samuel Colt, he came up with the idea for the revolver while at sea, inspired by the capstan, which had a ratchet and pawl mechanism on it, a version of which was used in his guns to rotate the cylinder by cocking the hammer. This provided a
Colt Model 1855 Sidehammer Pocket Revolver in the design of the Colt Army Model 1860, the Colt Navy Model 1861 and the Colt Police Model 1862. In 1855 the Sidehammer was the first Colt's solid-frame spur-trigger gun. This anatomical characteristic was taken again when the three models of the Colt Derringer started production in 1870. For the two first models production lasted in 1890, and the third model ended in 1912 (until it was re-released in the 1950s for western movies, under the name of fourth model Colt Deringer). But in the Colt Deringers the solid-frame spur-triger design was still present in the patent when Colt's