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The Paterson-based Patent Arms Manufacturing Company lasted six years. Problems with mechanical reliability caused by immature designs and dirty powder often caused the guns to fail when tested. Although Colt repeaters, both handguns and rifles, did prove themselves in the Indian Wars in Florida and Texas, they did not win government approval or patronage, and the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company ceased operations in 1842.

PROTOTYPES

Sam Colt commissioned a number of prototypes from gunsmiths in Albany, Baltimore (John Pearson), and Hartford between 1832 and 1836: nine rifles, one shotgun and 16 pistols. The value of these prototypes on the open market would be extremely high – perhaps in the hundreds of thousands of dollars – and cannot be hypothetically evaluated.

The muzzleloading revolving rifles operated by pulling a large lever, which turned the cylinder and cocked the internal hammer. They fired, of course, when the trigger was pulled. Anson Chase and W.H. Rowe of Hartford built the 1832 takedown model. The barrel assembly unscrewed by hand from the frame.