Page "Samuel Colt" Paragraph 7

When Colt returned to the United States in 1832, he went back to work for his father, who financed the production of two guns, a rifle and a pistol.

The first completed pistol exploded when it was fired, but the rifle performed well.

His father would not finance any further development, so Samuel needed find a way to pay for the development of his ideas.

He had learned about nitrous oxide ( laughing gas ) from the factory chemist in his father's textile plant, so he took a portable lab on the road and earned a living performing laughing gas demonstrations across the United States and Canada, billing himself as " the Celebrated Dr. Coult of New-York, London and Calcutta ".

Colt conceived of himself as a man of science and thought if he could enlighten people about a new idea like nitrous oxide, he could in turn make people more receptive to his new idea concerning a revolver.

He started his lectures on street corners and soon worked his way up to lecture halls and museums.

As ticket sales declined, Colt realized that " serious " museum lectures were not what the people wanted to pay money to see and that it was dramatic stories of salvation and redemption the public craved.

While visiting his brother, John, in Cincinnati, he partnered with sculptor, Hiram Powers, for his demonstrations with a theme based on The Divine Comedy.

Powers made detailed wax sculptures and paintings based on demons, centaurs and mummies from Dante.

Colt constructed fireworks to complete the show, which was a success.

According to Colt historian Robert Lawrence Wilson, the " lectures launched Colt's celebrated career as a pioneer Madison Avenue-style pitchman ".

His public speaking skills were so prized that he was thought to be a doctor and was pressed into service to cure an apparent cholera epidemic on board a riverboat by giving his patients a dose of nitrous oxide.