“Colt’s really became the first school of applied mechanics in the United States, and was a fountainhead of mass production,” said Worth Loomis, chairman of Colt’s board of directors, in 1992.ĬZG now acquires significant production capacity in the United States and Canada and substantially expand its global customer base, the company said. In World War II, the numbers grew to 16,000. During World War I, 10,000 people worked at the Hartford armory. In addition to guns, machinists at Colt’s made gauges, sewing machines, printing presses and other products. Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia that year.įrom the company’s early use of interchangeable parts on the assembly line to the thousands of jobs provided for new immigrants, Colt’s helped to define the growth of precision manufacturing in the Hartford area. The Gatling Gun and Baxter steam engine in the image are two products the company sent to the U.S.

workers line up for a photo outside the armory, with its Russian-style onion dome visible in the background, in 1876.

Colt mustang date of manufacture