Samuel Colt
invented the first revolver, a gun named after its inventor "Colt", and after its
revolving cylinder "revolver".
In 1936, Samuel Colt was granted a U.S. patent for the Colt revolver, which was equipped with a
revolving cylinder containing five or six bullets and an innovative cocking device. Before the Colt revolver only one and two-barrel flintlock pistols had been invented for hand held use. Colt revolvers were all based on cap-and-ball technology until the Smith and Wesson license on the bored-through cylinder (bought from Rollin White) expired around 1869.