[arcticap]

I researched an antique gunsight made by the famous Collins Co. (a.k.a. Collins Ax Company) and came across the name and some of the works of Elisha K. Root. The readings suggest that he might have been a key figure that helped make Colt Firearms such a leading mass production operation.

He held many patents regarding milling machines and manufacturing processes.

If anyone can find out more information about him it might prove to be interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_K._Root

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0040-165X(197410)15%3A4%3C543%3AEKRFAT%3E2.0.CO...

[mike101]

Didn't they name the Root Revolver after him? Dixie has reproductions of it now, but they're made by Palmetto.

[J.T. Gerrity]

When S. Colt was fifteen years old, he demonstrated his "underwater torpedo" to a group of people at Ware pond in Ware Mass. When he accidently drenched the onlookers, he was saved from the outraged crowd by Root, who was working as a machinist at Colt's father's mill. When Colt received the order for the Walker, he lured Root away from his job at Collin's Axe to be his head supervisor. It was Root who supervised construction and fitting of the Colt Armoury. A very able and well-trusted figure at the early Armoury, and Colt's right hand man for many years.

[arcticap]

Elisha K. Root

Samuel Colt was a captain of captains. The ablest mechanic and industrial organizer in New England at that time was Elisha K. Root. Samuel Colt went after him, outbidding every other bidder for his services, and brought him to Hartford to supervise the erection of the new factory and set up its machinery. Root was a great superintendent, and the phenomenal success of the Colt factory was due in a marked degree to him. He became president of the company after Colt's death in 1862, and under him were trained a large number of mechanics and inventors of new machine tools, who afterwards became celebrated leaders and officers in the industrial armies of the country.

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



Between 1800 and 1860 gun manufacturing became one of Connecticut's leading industries, and Connecticut was well on its way to becoming the arsenal of the nation. Gun manufacturing stimulated the development of improved machine tools and the growth of the state's machine tool industry in turn aided advances in gun manufacturing techniques. Simeon North (1763-1852) was a Middletown gun manufacturer who probably deserves the credit for developing in 1818 the nation's first plain milling machine. In 1836 Samuel Colt (1814-1862) conceived the idea for a repeating handgun whose rotating cylinder was turned by the action of the trigger. Colt appreciated the importance of developing machinery to produce standardized, interchangeable parts. In 1849 Colt hired machinist Elisha K. Root (b. Ludlow, Massachusetts; 1808-1865), who had designed the efficient machinery that made the axes of the Collins Company of Collinsville, Connecticut, famous throughout the world. Colt encouraged Root to mechanize revolver production whenever possible, and Root designed the advanced drop hammers, boring machines, gauges, jigs and fixtures that made the Colt revolver the first handgun in the world to be produced with truly interchangeable parts....
....Machine tools—lathes, milling machines, drill presses, planers, and grinding machines—are machines that shape the metal parts that are used in all machinery (including machine tools). By the Civil War, the United States had become a world leader in the design and production of machine tools. Connecticut inventors made crucial contributions to the development of machine tools. Working for Colt, Elisha K. Root made subtle, but important, changes in the advanced milling machine that had been developed by the Robbins and Lawrence Company in Vermont and by Francis A. Pratt (b. Woodstock, Vermont; 1827-1902) when Pratt was working at the George S. Lincoln firm in Hartford. The "Lincoln Miller" Root designed became the pre-eminent American machine tool of the last half of the nineteenth century, selling over 150,000 units.Another machinist-inventor who worked at the Colt plant, William Mason, secured more than 125 patents for innovations in machinery that made guns and parts for power looms and steam pumps....


http://www.ctheritage.org/encyclopedia/topicalsurveys/inventors.htm


Dixie also lists a Root Rifle:
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/images/PR0103.JPG

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=13618

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/images/PH0912.jpg

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=7856

[arcticap]

It's all still very interesting. :)

[BHP FAN]

It is.I've been lusting after a Root's revolver re pro for years.The only thing stopping me is the price.I can get a French .32 long auto,or a second RIA .45 auto for the price...black powder is my first love,but not my only interest.

[arcticap]

I was surprised to learn that the Colt 1855 model was originally made in both 10 & 20 gauge as a shotgun, in calibers as diverse as .36 & .56 as a carbine, and in .28 & .31 caliber as a revolving pistol.

And while many might think that the Remington 1858 was the first model to have a top strap,
it would appear that the Colt 1855 designed by Root was first.
That is unless there was another model that pre-dated it that he copied.


http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47108&stc=1&d=1242623158

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=98299&stc=1&d=1242624139

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=98303&stc=1&d=1242624490

http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47109&stc=1&d=1242623200

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=98300&stc=1&d=1242624248

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=98302&stc=1&d=1242624369
http://www.michaelsimens.com/Antique_Guns_Colt_Revolvers_Pistols_Rifles_Accessories.asp

http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47111&stc=1&d=1242623293

http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47112&stc=1&d=1242623583

http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47113&stc=1&d=1242623627

http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=47114&stc=1&d=1242623661

http://www.gunsamerica.com/937263598/Guns/Rifles/Colt-Rifles-Pre-1899/1855_COLT_REVOLVING_RIFLE.htm