Today in 1836 a brown envelope came in the mail to Samuel Colt giving him a patent on his new rapid fire automatic pistol, in a few years his gun would win the west. Its also history that a Texas Ranger: captain Walker championed his cause to President Pope who decided to buy these for the military.
When Colt got his first order he didn't have a factory but had to outsourcing his manufacturing to different blacksmiths for the metal parts.