{"id":3106,"date":"2026-07-25T17:11:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T21:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/?page_id=3106"},"modified":"2026-07-25T17:21:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T21:21:22","slug":"patent-arms-manufacturing-company","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/patent-arms-manufacturing-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Patent Arms Manufacturing Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"949\" src=\"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Patent-Arms-Manufacturing-Company-colorized-1024x949.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3110 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Patent-Arms-Manufacturing-Company-colorized-1024x949.png 1024w, https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Patent-Arms-Manufacturing-Company-colorized-300x278.png 300w, https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Patent-Arms-Manufacturing-Company-colorized-768x711.png 768w, https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Patent-Arms-Manufacturing-Company-colorized.png 1303w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Colt Gun Mill<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>AI Colorized<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\" data-start=\"42\" data-end=\"289\">The <strong data-start=\"46\" data-end=\"83\">Patent Arms Manufacturing Company<\/strong> was one of the most significant early industries in <strong data-start=\"136\" data-end=\"160\">Paterson, New Jersey<\/strong>, and was the first company founded by <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Samuel Colt<\/span><\/span> to manufacture his revolutionary repeating firearms.<\/p>\n<h3 data-section-id=\"e4vs6c\" data-start=\"291\" data-end=\"302\">History<\/h3>\n<ul data-start=\"304\" data-end=\"792\">\n<li data-section-id=\"5922c5\" data-start=\"304\" data-end=\"585\">The company was incorporated on <strong data-start=\"338\" data-end=\"355\">March 5, 1836<\/strong>, shortly after Samuel Colt received his U.S. patent for the revolving-cylinder firearm. A group of New York investors provided approximately <strong data-start=\"497\" data-end=\"509\">$230,000<\/strong> in capital to establish the business.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"rdm3cl\" data-start=\"586\" data-end=\"792\">Colt built his first factory along the Passaic River at <strong data-start=\"644\" data-end=\"675\">Van Houten and Mill Streets<\/strong> in Paterson, taking advantage of the city&#8217;s established industrial waterpower.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 data-section-id=\"134qu47\" data-start=\"794\" data-end=\"820\">What Was Manufactured?<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"822\" data-end=\"870\">Between <strong data-start=\"830\" data-end=\"847\">1836 and 1842<\/strong>, the company produced:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"872\" data-end=\"999\">\n<li data-section-id=\"k561be\" data-start=\"872\" data-end=\"921\">Approximately <strong data-start=\"888\" data-end=\"921\">2,850 Colt Paterson revolvers<\/strong><\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"12a9062\" data-start=\"922\" data-end=\"956\">About <strong data-start=\"930\" data-end=\"956\">1,450 revolving rifles<\/strong><\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1jn5xgm\" data-start=\"957\" data-end=\"999\">Approximately <strong data-start=\"973\" data-end=\"999\">462 revolving shotguns<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1001\" data-end=\"1179\">These firearms were the first practical repeating firearms manufactured in America and represented a major advance over single-shot weapons.<\/p>\n<h3 data-section-id=\"xub78e\" data-start=\"1181\" data-end=\"1198\">Why It Failed<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1200\" data-end=\"1271\">Although Colt&#8217;s designs were innovative, the company struggled because:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"1273\" data-end=\"1477\">\n<li data-section-id=\"ss8r0c\" data-start=\"1273\" data-end=\"1336\">Manufacturing interchangeable parts was still in its infancy.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"jqowpi\" data-start=\"1337\" data-end=\"1366\">Production costs were high.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1pa9vwp\" data-start=\"1367\" data-end=\"1401\">Military contracts were limited.<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"4dikw3\" data-start=\"1402\" data-end=\"1477\">Civilian demand was not yet sufficient to support large-scale production.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1479\" data-end=\"1784\">The company closed in <strong data-start=\"1501\" data-end=\"1509\">1842<\/strong>, and the factory was sold. Several years later, after receiving a large order from the U.S. Army for the famous Walker revolver, Colt restarted his business in Hartford, Connecticut, where it became today&#8217;s Colt&#8217;s Manufacturing Company.<\/p>\n<h3 data-section-id=\"lf4qtj\" data-start=\"1786\" data-end=\"1802\">The Gun Mill<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1804\" data-end=\"2148\">After the firearms factory closed, the building became known as the <strong data-start=\"1872\" data-end=\"1887\">&#8220;Gun Mill.&#8221;<\/strong> It was later converted to textile manufacturing during Paterson&#8217;s rise as the nation&#8217;s Silk City. The structure is one of the oldest surviving industrial buildings in the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park area.<\/p>\n<h3 data-section-id=\"1r8703y\" data-start=\"2150\" data-end=\"2175\">Historical Importance<\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"2177\" data-end=\"2219\">The Patent Arms Manufacturing Company was:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"2221\" data-end=\"2468\">\n<li data-section-id=\"1lskd8o\" data-start=\"2221\" data-end=\"2262\">The birthplace of the <strong data-start=\"2245\" data-end=\"2262\">Colt revolver<\/strong><\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"19zw2nt\" data-start=\"2263\" data-end=\"2324\">One of America&#8217;s earliest precision-manufacturing factories<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"z45onh\" data-start=\"2325\" data-end=\"2388\">A pioneer in the development of interchangeable firearm parts<\/li>\n<li data-section-id=\"1n82mnp\" data-start=\"2389\" data-end=\"2468\">An important chapter in Paterson&#8217;s history as an industrial innovation center<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"2470\" data-end=\"2675\">Today, the site is recognized as one of Paterson&#8217;s most important industrial landmarks, illustrating the city&#8217;s contributions to American manufacturing and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Patent Arms Manufacturing Company was one of the most significant early industries in Paterson, New Jersey, and was the first company founded by Samuel Colt to manufacture his revolutionary repeating firearms. History The company was incorporated on March 5, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/patent-arms-manufacturing-company\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3106","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Patent Arms Manufacturing Company - Paterson History<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/patersonhistory.com\/index.php\/patent-arms-manufacturing-company\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Patent Arms Manufacturing Company - Paterson History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Patent Arms Manufacturing Company was one of the most significant early industries in Paterson, New Jersey, and was the first company founded by Samuel Colt to manufacture his revolutionary repeating firearms. 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