The Colt .44 Revolver

The Colt .44 revolver was conceived by a then sixteen-year-old Samuel Colt while aboard a ship sailing for India. Samuel saw that when the ship's wheel was turned, a clutch aligned the spokes and locked the wheel into place. He used that principle when designing the first practical revolver when he was twenty-four years old. In order to raise money to produce the gun, he toured the company giving demonstrations of nitrous oxide, then popularly called laughing gas. His guns were first used by the Texas Rangers.