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    Christopher Miner Spencer Firearms Designer

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    blowmeasshole1911
    Christopher Miner Spencer was an American inventor born in 1833 in Manchester, Connecticut. He invented the Spencer repeating rifle, one of the earliest lever-action rifles, as well as a steam-powered "horseless carriage" and several other inventions. During the Civil War, over 100,000 Spencer rifles were produced for the Union army. After the war, Spencer founded or co-founded several companies that produced firearms and machine tools but faced financial difficulties. He received several patents and made innovations but struggled commercially due to surplus military rifles saturating the market after the war.

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    Christopher Miner Spencer Firearms Designer

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    blowmeasshole1911
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    Christopher Miner Spencer was an American inventor born in 1833 in Manchester, Connecticut. He invented the Spencer repeating rifle, one of the earliest lever-action rifles, as well as a steam-powered "horseless carriage" and several other inventions. During the Civil War, over 100,000 Spencer rifles were produced for the Union army. After the war, Spencer founded or co-founded several companies that produced firearms and machine tools but faced financial difficulties. He received several patents and made innovations but struggled commercially due to surplus military rifles saturating the market after the war.

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    Christopher Miner Spencer was an American inventor born in 1833 in Manchester, Connecticut. He invented the Spencer repeating rifle, one of the earliest lever-action rifles, as well as a steam-powered "horseless carriage" and several other inventions. During the Civil War, over 100,000 Spencer rifles were produced for the Union army. After the war, Spencer founded or co-founded several companies that produced firearms and machine tools but faced financial difficulties. He received several patents and made innovations but struggled commercially due to surplus military rifles saturating the market after the war.

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    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    241 views3 pages

    Christopher Miner Spencer Firearms Designer

    Uploaded by

    blowmeasshole1911
    Christopher Miner Spencer was an American inventor born in 1833 in Manchester, Connecticut. He invented the Spencer repeating rifle, one of the earliest lever-action rifles, as well as a steam-powered "horseless carriage" and several other inventions. During the Civil War, over 100,000 Spencer rifles were produced for the Union army. After the war, Spencer founded or co-founded several companies that produced firearms and machine tools but faced financial difficulties. He received several patents and made innovations but struggled commercially due to surplus military rifles saturating the market after the war.

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    Christopher Miner Spencer was an American inventor from Connecticut who invented the Spencer repeating rifle and other weapons. He also worked on early automobile and machine tool designs.

    The Spencer repeating rifle, one of the earliest lever-action rifles.

    The Spencer rifle saw widespread use by the Union army during the Civil War after Spencer demonstrated it to President Lincoln. Over 100,000 were produced during the war.

    Christopher Miner Spencer

    Christopher Miner Spencer


    Christopher Miner Spencer

    Born

    Christopher Miner Spencer June 20, 1833 Manchester, Connecticut January 14, 1922 (aged88) Windsor, Connecticut Weapons designer Percival H. Spencer

    Died

    Occupation Children

    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 Colts 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 Union. On August 18, 1863, Christopher Spencer walked into the White House carrying one of his rifles and a supply of cartridges. He walked past the sentries, and into Abraham Lincoln's office. After some discussion, he returned the following afternoon, when Spencer and Lincoln were joined by Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War and other officials, and the group then proceeded to walk out on the Mall. Near the site of the Washington Monument, they engaged in 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

    Christopher Miner Spencer 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, the 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.

    References
    [1] Rolt 1965, p.169. [2] Roe 1916, pp. 174177 (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=X-EJAAAAIAAJ& printsec=titlepage#PPA174,M1). [3] Rose, Alexander American Rifleman (October 2009) pp.76-104

    Bibliography
    Roe, Joseph Wickham (1916), English and American Tool Builders (http://books.google.com/ books?id=X-EJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage), New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, LCCN16011753. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (LCCN27-24075); and by Lindsay Publications, Inc., Bradley, Illinois, (ISBN 978-0-917914-73-7). Rolt, L.T.C. (1965), A Short History of Machine Tools, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: MIT Press, LCCN6512439. Flayderman, Norm (1990), Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms...and their values, 5th Edition, Northbrook, Illinois, USA: DBI Books, Inc., 1990.

    External links
    Christopher Miner Spencer Collection page from the Windsor Historical Society (http://windsorhistoricalsociety. org/fa_spencer.html) Christopher Spencers Horizontal Shot Tower (http://www.leverguns.com/articles/blancard/spencer.htm)

    Article Sources and Contributors

    Article Sources and Contributors


    Christopher Miner Spencer Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=485424129 Contributors: Boleyn2, CapitalR, Chrisath, Dennis Bratland, Dr. Dan, Dylan.griffith, FlugKerl, Geniac, GregRM, Gzuckier, Hoodinski, Horich, IlliterateSage, J04n, Joy, Jrash, Ken Gallager, Klausner, KrzysM99, Kumioko (renamed), Markvs88, Mike Searson, Mr Stephen, Scott Mingus, Sohailstyle, Someone2, Strangealibi, Thewellman, Three-quarter-ten, Waacstats, Wax Tablet, 36 anonymous edits

    Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors


    File:Christopher spencer.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Christopher_spencer.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Chesdovi, Cholo Aleman, Hoodinski, Rd232, Tony Wills

    License
    Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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