Elisha King Root (May 5, 1808 - September 1, 1865) was a
Connecticut
Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...
machinist
A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who operates machine tools, and has the ability to set up tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling machines.
A competent machinist will generally have a strong mechan ...
, inventor, and President of
Colt's Manufacturing Company.
Root was born on a Massachusetts farm and worked as a
bobbin boy in a cotton mill before switching, at the age of 15, to working in a machine shop in
Ware, Massachusetts. At age 24 he was hired by Connecticut industrialist
Samuel W. Collins to work in his
axe
An axe (; sometimes spelled ax in American English; American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for thousands of years to shape, split, a ...
factory in Collinsville, a village of
Canton, Connecticut.
According to historian
Diana Muir writing in
Reflections in Bullough's Pond, Root "reconceptualized" the making of axes. Until his invention, axes were made by "flattening wrought iron, folding it around a steel pin, and forging the two sides together under a
trip hammer
Trip may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Books
Fictional characters
* Trip (Pokémon), Trip (''Pokémon''), a ''Pokémon'' character
* Trip (Power Rangers), in the American television series ''Time Force Power Rangers''
* Trip, in the 2013 film ...
." Root arranged "a series of dies and rollers that could 'die forge' -or apply pressure to a mold, forming a piece of hot wrought iron into the shape of an ax, with an eye already punched to receive the handle." According to Muir, Root next automated the tempering of axes by inventing a machine that moved ax heads through a temperature-regulated oven on a rotating wheel. And a machine that "shaved" the axes to give them a sharp edge, so that they needed only a small amount of finishing on a grindstone.
In 1849
Samuel Colt hired Root to come work in his
Hartford
Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
firearms factory as a superintendent. Root performed this role with great success, developing many star employees.
It was while working for Colt that Root perfected the
Lincoln miller milling machine, 150,000 of which were sold in the late 19th century, making it the most important American
machine tool
A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, Boring (manufacturing), boring, grinding (abrasive cutting), grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some s ...
of the era. He modernized firearms production at Colt by designing state of the art
drop hammers,
boring machines,
gauges,
jigs, etc. Root also improved the
milling machine
Milling is the process of machining using rotary cutters to remove material by advancing a cutter into a workpiece. This may be done by varying directions on one or several axes, cutter head speed, and pressure. Milling covers a wide variety of ...
invented by
Simeon North and improved by the
Robbins and Lawrence Company of Vermont and by
Francis A. Pratt of the
George S. Lincoln company in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
. The improved tool was known as the Lincoln Miller.
The
Colt Model 1855 Sidehammer Pocket Revolver, or Colt Root Revolver, was named in honor of the engineer, and saw use during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
.
After Colt's death in 1862, Root took over as president of
Colt's Patent Firearms until his death on September 1, 1865.
Root Genealogical Records. 1600-1870
/ref>
See also
* History of Connecticut industry
* Simeon North
* John H. Hall (gunsmith)
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Root, Elisha K.
1808 births
1865 deaths
19th-century American inventors
Machine tool builders
People from Ludlow, Massachusetts