God created people and made them equal. “The Lord created people different, and Colonel Colt made them equal

1. The first underwater mine;2. the first Colt Paterson drum revolver; 3. the first cartridge revolver "Single Action Army", with original nickname“Peacemaker”, because where he shot, peace came very quickly; 4. the famous gangster machine gun “Tommy gun”;5. the legendary Colt 1191, which was in service American army more than 70 years (You heard right – seventy years, from 1911 to 1985!); 6. modern American assault rifle "M-16"; all these are “children” of the company founded by Samuel Colt.

And yet, Colt’s passion, what he considered the main achievement of his life, was precisely the revolver. And it is precisely as the inventor of the revolver that Samuel Colt is known throughout the world.

“Samuel Colt (1814-1862) - the inventor of the revolver, an American, fled from his father’s home to India in his youth and during the journey made a wooden model of what later became known as the revolver. Returning, he studied chemistry, lectured on it in the United States and Canada, visited Europe in 1835 and took patents for his invention in London and Paris and founded a company for the manufacture of revolvers, but in 1842 he went bankrupt; For 5 years in a row, revolvers were not manufactured and became very rare.

When the government ordered the inventor 1000 pieces, he had to make a new model, since the copy previously manufactured by the company could not be found anywhere. This order was the beginning of Colt's prosperity. He replaced a small workshop in Withneyvilles with a large one in Getford, and in 1852 he founded a huge trading post, doubled in size in 1861, on the shoals of the Connecticut River. From here, a huge mass of revolving mechanisms was sent annually to Russia and England.”

Look, nothing is said here about underwater mines, or about the “Tommy gun”, or “M-16”. All this came later, after his death. And Colonel Colt’s lifetime monument was, in his personal opinion, an ordinary revolver!

Here they are, Colt revolvers, which became classics during the lifetime of their creator.

1. Five-shot "Colt Paterson" model 1836. Caliber 0.36 inches (9 mm). The world's first pistol, firstly, equipped with a safety lock, and secondly, allowing rapid fire, shooting back from several opponents. The rate of fire was achieved due to replaceable drums; the revolver came with two of them and it was possible to buy as many more as you wanted.

2. “Dragoon” or “Big Colts”, produced in three modifications. Caliber 0.44 inches (11.2 mm), size - almost 40 cm! A sort of small repeating shotgun without a stock! Not everyone could shoot accurately from it - the weight of this “toy” was four pounds (over one and a half kilograms!).

3. “Colt – Navy” Model 1851, caliber 9 mm is intended for navy, but was also popular on land. The features of this weapon were an octagonal drum (probably so that it would not roll when pitching) and complete absence flies! Why shoot accurately at sea?

4. Army "Colt" model 1860, the main weapon of the war between North and South. The caliber is 0.44 inches (11.2 mm), but the weight is less than that of the Dragunsky - only about a kilogram;

5. Modernized “Colt – Navy”. Model 1861. Produced in 0.45 and 0.36 inch calibers. He began his military journey during Civil War and remained popular until World War II.

The rest of Colt's weapon "hits" were created by his followers after his death. And the “Peacemaker” revolver, and the “Tommy gun” assault rifle, famous from gangster “showdowns” during Prohibition, and the American “M-16” assault rifle, which is in service in more than 20 countries around the world.

By the way, it was in Colt’s shotguns that they first began to use a pump-action system for reloading a shotgun, in contrast to the “Winchester” system, in which the shotgun is reloaded with a special bracket near the trigger. Then Winchester tried to introduce it into their guns, but after experimenting, he refused. These two systems for a long time were the strongest competitors in the American arms market. Colt won here too!

Today, the company founded in 1847 by Samuel Colt remains one of the world's leading manufacturers firearms. Its model line extends from miniature ladies' pistols to heavy army machine guns, shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft weapons and other "killer tools."

Blog: eugenyshultz

President Putin, in his article published in the New York Times, made a number of serious mistakes, indicating a lack of understanding of the events taking place in Syria, and a lack of understanding of the mentality of American citizens, to whom he addressed in his article http://kremlin.ru/news /19205.

Let's look at the thesis of the article and look at it through the eyes of an American. Simple, far from politics. Let's start from the end. How did Putin end his article?

Putin ended the article with the words: “God created us equal.” Any American will smile skeptically at these words, for the phrase “God created men equal” (and this is also borrowed from the US Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, which include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness") can only be adequately understood in the sense that people have equal rights from birth given to them by God. But natural capabilities are different and there must be a force that equalizes them - does not allow the strong to oppress the weak. Naturally, Americans see their country, the USA, as this force! This equality does not happen on its own... And application military force in Syria, the justification is precisely to EQUALize the strength of the rebels with the forces of Assad - to help the oppressed, so to speak... In general, I don’t understand how it was possible, even based on ordinary political technological considerations, to end the article so unsuccessfully... As usual, Putin’s PR does not shine . Siberian cranes, pikes, tiger cubs, walruses, State Department agents - this is their element. IN serious matters- failure.

Putin tried to shame the Americans with their eternal sense of EXCEPTIONALITY. And it would be nice to prove with reason that they are not exceptional at all. No...just shamed Obama for calling his people exceptional. What did Putin say? “I think it’s very dangerous to plant the idea of ​​their exclusivity in people’s heads, no matter what the motivation is.” The reference is clear. To the Ubermensch and Untermensch. Those. Putin compared the United States to the Third Reich. But it’s so feeble that most Americans won’t even understand the hint... They are, by and large, not interested in anything other than their Oklahoma and the next baseball match and quite sincerely believe themselves to be exceptional (surprise!)... And those who are interested know for sure that that it was the United States that defeated Nazism. And then some totalitarian Putin begins to reproach the Americans for their exclusivity... Who is he, this Putin anyway? He himself has been sitting at the head of Russia for the 14th year in a row, because he is exceptional, and he is beginning to teach us Americans about life. This would be the line of thought. And in some ways I even agree with him... Thus, it’s not just a failure, but also a minus. On the contrary, it was necessary to appeal to the EXCEPTIONALITY of the Americans. Moreover, it is so. You can argue about the +/- sign, but this is truly an exceptional country and people. However, so do we.

Link to the opinion of the Pope is good move. Americans love God. Or rather, they believe, God loves America. But the USA is a Protestant country, so the link to the chapter Catholic Church will work very poorly and will not prompt the American to think hard. The Protestant ethic ultimately leads to the fact that everyone is an architect of their own happiness. If you screw up, it's your own fault. In relation to Assad, it will sound like it was no good to torment the people personally for so long. This will also apply to Putin. As a result, it failed again.

All these disadvantages are based on the foundation: Russia lost to the United States in cold war. From an American point of view, Russia today is trying to limit the United States in spreading its only correct concept - DEMOCRACY. Why? Because Russia does not like democracy. Because in Russia there is authoritarianism. And Putin himself is clear proof of this. He has been rowing galleys for 14 years. He’s tired, but for some reason he doesn’t want to give up his place... They sick people can’t understand that Mother Russia will die without Putin :) In short, Putin’s very personality with such arguments gives rise to cognitive dissonance.

Putin doesn’t even seem to understand how Americans feel about their country... I assure you, they feel their country is not just some big country, but a country... They feel like a UNION of states. This is directly implied by their name UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. And even more - not just an alliance, but a new model of the world order. Please note that the name US (United States) is widely used - without any Americas... America is so... temporary, in reality, targeting the entire PLANET :))). This is our governor of a subject of the Federation - a puppet of the Kremlin. In the USA, a state is a very, very independent unit - it is actually a state within a state with its own laws, its own police, its own traditions. Therefore, Americans perceive the expansion of the United States on the world stage as the expansion of their IDEA - DEMOCRACY, and not as an attack of the Empire on adjacent territories. The Americans are naturally wrong, but that is exactly how they feel it. And you need to appeal to THEIR feeling when you try to talk to THEM.

But this is not enough. Putin not only cannot reach the hearts of Americans. He also fits into the wake of their worldview, thereby further weakening (from a logical standpoint) his already weak arguments against active position The United States in the international arena to defend democracy. And this is exactly how Americans perceive US activities. Because in line with the US worldview, their actions are CORRECT. It is possible to prove the wrongness of the US actions only by directing the reader’s thoughts in a different direction. Putin didn't do this.

In general, an unsuccessful, toothless article. Putin has already said the same thing. And this never stopped anyone, and could not stop anyone. Moreover, the entire article is permeated with a misunderstanding of the Americans’ point of view on the role of their country in history, as well as a clear dissonance between their persona and their highly moral statements. A PERSON who considers himself exceptional cannot deny exclusivity to other PEOPLES. And this is exactly how it looks for an American: The exceptional and unique Putin, who rules in Russia as he wants, does not allow the entire PEOPLE, who have reached the highest stage of development on Earth, to carry the banner of democracy.

It's unfortunate, but it's true. The maximum that Putin will achieve is the same thing he achieved with his Munich speech. That is NOTHING.

So what will happen to Syria? In general, Putin already said this in his previous interview: “You know what, how do I know?”

At the same time, naturally, there are many people in the United States who are categorically against military action in Syria. And without any moralizing from Putin. But it’s the same as in Russia: many people understand that it’s high time for Putin to receive a well-deserved honorable pension, but the majority... the majority of Russians need a tsar-father. Bye. But the majority of Americans need the stars and stripes banner over the planet and the triumph of democracy... And for these Americans, Putin did not say anything valuable... At the same time, I would like to emphasize once again that, of course, a huge number of Americans consider a military action in Syria unnecessary and harmful - this is there is the main deterrent to a military strike, and not Putin’s article at all.

Plus, it turns out that the article in the NYT was published by the American PR agency Ketchum, which has been improving the image of Russia in the West for many years! http://news.rambler.ru/21083840/ Imagine, it turns out they are improving our image...:) Yeah. I remember that the American PR people just now also improved and improved Gaddafi’s image... http://eugenyshultz.livejournal.com/173721.html When they started bombing Libya, they didn’t even do a money-back...

Wednesday, February 25, marks the 179th anniversary of one of the most popular weapons in human history - the Colt revolver. Let's remember the history of one of the main symbols of America, about which there was a famous proverb: “God made people strong and weak. Colonel Colt evened their chances."

Samuel Colt with one of his revolvers.
Samuel Colt was born in 1814 in Kentucky into the family of a farmer who moved to the city to do business. Samuel Colt's mother died of tuberculosis when he was six. Her father was an officer in the Continental Army, which fought for the independence of the States from England, so it is not surprising that little Samuel’s first toy was his grandfather’s flintlock pistol.
Samuel received his primary education at a rural school, where he was introduced to the then popular scientific encyclopedia"Compedium of Knowledge". Reading this book gave Samuel much more pleasure than reading the Bible. The future inventor was especially impressed by articles about gunpowder and ​Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat.
At the age of 15, Sumuel began working part-time in his father's textile factory, where he gained access to tools, materials and professional skills of the workers. Taking an article from the same encyclopedia as instructions, he designs his own galvanic cell. With his help, he arranges a demonstration underwater explosion in a local pond on Independence Day, which impresses the townspeople.
Having then become a student at a boarding school for some time, Samuel did nothing but entertain his classmates with pyrotechnics. One of these pranks caused a fire at the school, which meant the end of Samuel's education. After this, his father sends him to study seamanship on the brig Corvo.
As the inventor later said, it was what he saw on the brig that inspired him to create his revolver. While still a teenager, Colt heard a conversation between two soldiers about the success of the double-barreled rifle and the impossibility of creating a pistol that could fire five or six times without reloading. Even then, Samuel decided that he would certainly deal with this problem in the future.
Colt was inspired by the helm of the ship he was sailing on. Whatever direction the captain chose, each of the spokes of the wheel always formed a straight line with a special coupling where it could be secured. This mechanism secured the steering wheel in a certain place regardless of its position.
Immediately on the ship, Colt assembles from scrap wood a model of his Pepperbox revolver with an automatically rotating barrel, the idea of ​​which was inspired by the mechanism for securing the steering wheel.

This is what Pepperbox revolvers looked like
Pepperbox revolvers by this time were the latest fashion in small arms. They had several rotating barrels, which made it possible not to reload the weapon after each shot. But rotation was usually carried out manually, which was time-consuming; in addition, the multi-barrel concept greatly affected the accuracy and reliability of the weapon.

The number of barrels in Pepperbox revolvers reached 24, as in this example from the Belgian company Mariette.
Colt's innovation was that he came up with a reliable mechanism for automatically rotating the barrels after each pull of the trigger so that they were locked exactly opposite the bolt. This was the first step towards a single-barrel multi-shot revolver.
After returning to the USA, Colt returns to work at his father's factory, but this time he is already doing his favorite thing - designing weapons. However, the easy life did not last long; soon the father ran out of money that he could invest in his son’s production, and he had to start earning money on his own.
For this, Colt chooses very unusual way- he creates a mobile laboratory for the synthesis of laughing gas, with which he travels around America. But the inventor remains true to his dream and, after some time, having collected a little accumulated money, decides to invest it in the production of the first revolver.
By this time, Colt had already abandoned the idea of ​​a multi-barreled weapon in favor of a single barrel and a rotating drum. Having borrowed another $300 from his father's friend, Samuel hires a gunsmith to create the first copy of his revolver. This process took several years and on February 25, 1836, Colt finally patented his invention in the United States under the name Colt Patterson, in honor of the city where the production of the revolver was located. In addition, he also receives a similar patent in the UK.

The next model, the Colt Dragoon, was designed for shooting from a horse. It was lighter than its predecessor, and the design resolved some of the problems that Walker owners had encountered.

Next was a Colt Wells Fargo revolver, apparently designed for the Wells Fargo company, which was engaged in transportation. Oddly enough, despite the coincidence of names, there is no evidence that the revolver is actually related to the transport company.

This model became especially popular among security guards, detectives and gold miners, of whom there were more than enough at that time - the Gold Rush was in full swing. This revolver was distinguished by its light weight and size, which made it easy to hide under clothing.
During the Civil War, one of the most popular small arms was the Colt Army revolver. It was latest model, released during the lifetime of Samuel Colt, who died in 1863.

Official reason death was listed as gout, although there were persistent rumors of poisoning. The fact is that during the Civil War, Colt, being a resident of the northern state, without a twinge of conscience sold 2000 brand new revolvers to the Confederate army, which, of course, many did not like.
To justify Samuel, it can be said that he did not fundamentally distinguish between buyers and always tried to sell his weapons to both sides of any conflict. For example, during his visit to Turkey, he assured Sultan Abdulmecid I that Russians had been buying his revolvers for a long time, which persuaded him to place a large-scale order. Colt's words were true, but he kept silent about the fact that he had previously said the same thing to the Russians about the Turks.

“God made people different, but Colonel Colt made them equal.” According to legend, this very phrase is engraved on the tombstone of the outstanding gunsmith.

In fact, there is nothing on the gravestone except the surname and dates of life. And could one imagine that a Puritan, a native of God-fearing New England, would liken himself to the Lord God? The saying itself appeared after the American Civil War (1861 - 1865), and it sounded a little differently then: “Abraham Lincoln gave people freedom, and Colonel Colt equalized their chances.”

The revolver factory was founded by Samuel Colt in 1837. However, his products were not in great demand. American generals argued that the revolver was not economical - “it shoots too quickly, you won’t have enough cartridges.” Therefore, after 5 years the plant had to be closed. Revolvers were appreciated only by cowboys, rangers, and bandits, whose life expectancy directly depended on the rate of fire. Colt's idea was used by competitors - the Smith and Wesson company. While the Colt plant was closed, they started producing their own revolvers. But their revolvers were heavy and often misfired, but they cost half as much.

Colt's invention was remembered only in 1847, during preparations for the war with Mexico. But the true triumph of the inventor, which brought him fame and money, was the American Civil War. If about 1000 revolvers were used in the war with Mexico, then in the civil war the count was tens of thousands of guns. At the same time, Colt’s invention was used by both southerners and northerners. Before Colt became the exclusive supplier to the army of the northern States, he managed to build several weapons factories in the southern States.

But the inventor was not destined to live to see the end of the war. He died in 1862 at the age of 47, as the newspapers wrote, “from natural causes.” America said goodbye to the great inventor with volleys of thousands of rifles and revolvers of his production. According to contemporaries, “the cannonade was like on a battlefield.”

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Illustration copyright RIA Novosti Image caption President Gerald Ford gave a pair of vintage “peacekeepers” to Leonid Brezhnev

On February 25, 1836, a revolution took place in the arms business: 22-year-old American Samuel Colt received patent number 9430X for a “revolving gun” - a revolver with a rotating breech.

For the first time, it became possible to fire quickly from a short-barreled weapon and confront several opponents at once. All modern pistols and revolvers trace their ancestry to Colt's invention.

According to a number of historians, he contributed to the formation American freedom and individualism. The presence of effective weapons quickly brought into circulation subjects with increased aggressiveness, and forced the rest to take into account each other’s rights.

The company's most famous product, a legend of the Wild West, a 45-caliber six-shooter model 1872 revolver, received the unofficial nickname Peacemaker.

This point of view is reflected in the famous phrase: “God created people, and Colonel Colt made them equal.” Another option: "Abe Lincoln gave everyone freedom, and Sam Colt evened the odds."

Many in the United States are now ready to argue with this: these days in the country the uncontrolled sale of weapons almost regularly leads to mass murders.

But no matter how you look at it, Colt’s product is one of the symbols of America.

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• The idea of ​​using a rotating drum to create repeating weapons has been in the air for a long time. First shotgun with a drum for 6 charges was released in France in 1629.
• The first revolvers had four or six barrels instead of a rotating breech, which occupied a firing position one after the other. Such a weapon was called a bundelrevolver, and in common parlance a “pepper shaker”. The last “pepper shaker” was patented and began to be produced in 1839 by the Belgian Mariette. Their disadvantages were their complex design and heavy weight. Illustration copyright Getty Image caption Samuel Colt
• Colt did not serve a single day in the army, and received the rank of brevet (temporary) colonel from the governor of Connecticut for his support in the elections.
• The future inventor became seriously interested in technology at the age of 12. Two years later, on Independence Day, he called the residents hometown Hartford, to demonstrate the underwater mine he had assembled, placed it in the middle of the lake, but did not calculate the strength of the powder charge. The spectators were drenched from head to toe, and the teenager was almost beaten. Mechanic Elisha Root, who stood up for him, later worked as a manager at the Colt arms factory.
• After a year of study, Colt was kicked out of the university, allegedly because he started a fire while doing chemical experiments. Young Samuel got a job as a sailor on a merchant brig. main idea life dawned on him as he watched the rotation ship's helm and capstan (device for winding the anchor chain). During the voyage, Colt carved a model of a revolving drum from wood, which is now kept in the company museum.
• When starting the business, Colt did not use a loan, but earned money by going on a tour, during which he entertained provincial audiences with demonstrations of the effects of “laughing gas” (nitrous oxide) on volunteers. Dentist Horace Wells, who happened to see the performance, was the first to use nitrous oxide as an anesthetic.
• The gunsmith shop founded by Colt in Patterson, Texas, went bankrupt in 1842 due to a lack of orders. The first Colt Patterson model produced there is today a collector's item.

Illustration copyright AP Image caption Colts from the Civil War and the Exploration of the Wild West

• New life The business was inspired by a widely reported incident in 1845, when 16 Texas Rangers armed with Colts fought off 80 Comanche Indians, killing 35 of them.
• In 1846, the war with Mexico began, and the federal government ordered Colt a thousand cavalry revolvers, asking him to modify them in accordance with the wishes of the military. The army was represented in the design group by Captain Walker. He soon died in the war, and the model created with his participation was named in his honor.
• Founded by Colt in 1855, the factory in Hartford, Connecticut, is still the company's headquarters. It was there that Mark Twain's "Yankee in King Arthur's Court" worked.
• "Colt" in English means "foal", the image of which has become a trademark.
• When Samuel Colt died suddenly in 1862 at the age of 48, he was buried at public expense, although he owned a fortune of 15 million then (about 900 million today) dollars. The inventor was held in last way, shooting into the air from revolvers of his production. According to a local newspaper reporter, “the cannonade was like on a battlefield.”
• The company was passed on to Colt's widow and then became a joint stock company. Illustration copyright g Image caption "Colt" became the hero of countless action films and westerns
• Caliber is a measure of the diameter of a gun barrel, equal to one hundredth of an inch (25.4 mm). The most common pistol and revolver caliber in the world, 38 is equal to 9 millimeters. The Colt company produced different weapons, but her business card There have always been relatively rare 45-caliber samples (11.3 mm).
• One of the world's first multi-shot automatic pistols also bore the name "Colt" (1900).
• For several decades, the revolver competed with the pistol, surpassing it in reliability, but inferior in magazine capacity and reloading speed. Currently, revolvers are considered obsolete technology, but are produced and sold in large quantities, mainly in the USA, where they are an attribute national history. In addition, the revolver can be stored loaded indefinitely for use in an emergency.
• Richly decorated Colts were in the personal arsenals of all Russian emperors, starting with Nicholas I. According to available data, the same brand was preferred by the great terrorist Boris Savinkov.
• The most famous Colt models are the Dragoon 1848, Peacemaker 1872 and Python 1955 revolvers (still in production), as well as the legendary 1911 army pistol. The company's most popular modern pistols are the 45-caliber Defender and the small 38-caliber Mustang. Illustration copyright ap Image caption M-16 - basic weapon US Army
• In addition to pistols and revolvers, the company produces heavy military weapons, including the M-16 assault rifle.
• The world's largest working revolver, made in a home workshop by Polish-American Richard Tobis, weighs 45 kg, has a 28 mm caliber and fires bullets weighing 138 grams. The smallest is the Swiss Mini Gun, 5.5 cm long and weighing 19.8 g; the caliber of specially produced cartridges is 2.34 millimeters, bullet weight is 0.128 grams.
• Over more than a century and a half, Colt's Manufacturing Company produced about 30 million weapons.
• The right to own guns is enshrined in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which took effect on December 15, 1791.
• Americans own about 250 million legal revolvers, pistols, shotguns and rifles, two-thirds of which are owned by 20% of the population. In 2012 alone, 18.8 million guns were officially sold.
• US Public Opinion. Gun freedom advocates say that the Second Amendment to the Constitution (on the right to bear arms) is necessary to ensure that the government does not forget about the First (on freedom of speech, press, assembly and religion).