Christopher Miner Spencer

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For other people named Christopher Spencer, see Christopher Spencer (disambiguation).
Christopher Miner Spencer
Born
Christopher Miner Spencer

(1833-06-20)June 20, 1833
Manchester, Connecticut
DiedJanuary 14, 1922(1922-01-14) (aged 88)
Windsor, Connecticut
OccupationWeapons designer
ChildrenPercival H. Spencer

Christopher Miner Spencer (June 20, 1833 – January 14, 1922) was an American

inventor, from Manchester, Connecticut, who invented the Spencer repeating rifle, one of the earliest models of lever-action rifle, a steam powered "horseless carriage", and several other inventions. He developed the first fully automatic turret lathe,[1]
which in its small- to medium-sized form is also known as a screw machine.

Early years

Spencer worked for Samuel Colt’s factory, where he learned the arms-making trade.[2]

Civil War

Although the Spencer rifle had been developed as early as 1859, it was not initially used by the

target shooting
.

Subsequent to that meeting, the US ordered some 13,171 rifles and

carbines, along with some 58 million rounds of ammunition. General Ulysses S. Grant declared Spencer rifles "the best breech-loading arms available". Total wartime production approached 100,000 rifles. Many veterans took these rifles home with them after the war and their rifles saw widespread use on the western frontier. With so many military surplus rifles available, there was little post-war demand for new rifles; and Spencer was unable to recover investments made in manufacturing machinery. Spencer Repeating Rifle Company declaring bankruptcy in 1868; and assets were acquired by Oliver Winchester for $200,000 in 1869.[3]

Post-Civil War

In 1868, while at the Roper Repeating Arms Company in Amherst, Massachusetts, he worked with Charles E. Billings,[2] and Sylvester H. Roper. After Roper's firearms company failed, and the following year, 1869, Billings and Spencer founded a partnership in Hartford, Connecticut called Billings & Spencer,[2] which would manufacture sewing machines, drop-forged hand tools, and machine tools.

Around 1882, Spencer started a new company, the Spencer Arms Company, in Windsor, Connecticut. Its most remarkable product was likely the Spencer Pump-Action Shotgun. Produced between 1882 and 1889, this was the first commercially successful slide-action (or pump-action) shotgun. Most were manufactured in 12-gauge with 10-gauge being an uncommon variant. Once again faced with financial hardships, Spencer's company and his patents were purchased circa 1890 by Francis Bannerman & Sons of New York who continued to manufacture his shotgun until around 1907.

In Popular Culture

The Civil War TV mini-series, The Blue and the Gray, features a reenactment of Abraham Lincoln's test of the Spencer rifle, with Gregory Peck as Lincoln and David Rounds as Christopher Spencer.

References

  1. ^ Rolt 1965, p. 169.
  2. ^ a b c Roe 1916, pp. 174–177.
  3. ^ Rose, Alexander American Rifleman (October 2009) pp.76-104

Bibliography

  • Bainbridge, Jr., John (2022). Gun Barons: the weapons that transformed America and the men who invented them. New York: St. Martin's Press.
    ISBN 978-1-250-26686-6
    .
  • ISBN 978-0-917914-73-7
    ).
  • Rolt, L.T.C. (1965), A Short History of Machine Tools, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: MIT Press,
    LCCN 65012439
    .
  • Flayderman, Norm (1990), Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms...and their values, 5th Edition, Northbrook, Illinois, USA: DBI Books, Inc., 1990.

External links
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