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Elisha K. Root designed machine tools, organized factories, and helped Samuel Colt produce "the gun that won the West."
Root was born in Ludlow, Massachusetts in 1808. A talented machinist and industrial organizer, he revolutionized the production of axe handles at Collins & Co., fitting the factory with an axe forging machine. Later, Root improved a milling machine designed by the Robbins and Lawrence Armory of Windsor, Vermont and the George S. Lincoln Company of Hartford, Connecticut. According to some accounts, the Lincoln Miller was the most important machine tool of the nineteenth century.
Root is best remembered for his contributions to Samuel Colt, father of the Colt revolver and founder of the Colt Firearms Company. (On July 19, CR4 will commemorate Colt's one hundred and ninety second birthday.) In 1849, Colt outbid numerous competitors for Root's services. As superintendent of the Colt factory in Hartford, Root designed state-of-that art drop hammers, boring, machines, gauges and jigs. He also trained an army of mechanics and inventors, including William Mason, a machinist who patented over 100 inventions for products ranging from steam pumps to power looms.
Root's investments in metal working equipment and machine tools paid off. By the end of 1861, Colt's armory along the banks of the Connecticut River produced over 5,000 weapons per year. As the company's annual earnings approached $250,000 (USD), Colt awarded his superintendent with shares of stock and more responsibility. In January 1862, Samuel Colt died at the age of 47. Wisely, the founder's widow made Elisha K. Root company president. Three months later, Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, marking the start of the American Civil War. Although Root suspended sales to the Southern states, federal contracts provided the Colt Firearms Company with continued profitability. Tragedy struck, however, when a fire leveled the Armory in 1864, suspending military production for the remainder of the war.
Elisha K. Root died in 1865 at the age of 57.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_K._Root
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Colt
http://www.colt.com/mil/history.asp
http://www.crjc.org/heritage/V09-60.htm
http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventorsalphabet/a/ machine_4.htm
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Happy Birthday Samuel Colt
