Elisha King Root (May 5, 1808 - September 1, 1865) was a

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who not only operates machine tools, but also has the knowledge of tooling and materials required to create set ups on machine tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling ...

, inventor, and President of

Colt's Manufacturing Company Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC (CMC, formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt and is now a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group. It is the succ ...

. Root was born on a Massachusetts farm and worked as a

bobbin boy A bobbin boy was a boy who worked in a textile mill in the 18th and early 19th centuries. One example of rising from this job to great heights in America was young Andrew Carnegie, who at age 13 worked as a bobbin boy in 1848. Description In th ...

in a cotton mill before switching, at the age of 15, to working in a machine shop in

Ware, Massachusetts Ware is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,066 as of 2020. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The census-designated place of Ware, comprising the main settleme ...

. At age 24 he was hired by Connecticut industrialist

Samuel W. Collins Samuel Watkinson Collins (1802–1870) was an American businessman and founder of the Collins Axe Company in Canton, Connecticut. He was born September 8, 1802, in Middletown, Connecticut, one of seven children. His father was a successful law ...

to work in his axe factory in Collinsville, a village of

Canton, Connecticut Canton is a town, incorporated in 1806, located in the Farmington Valley section of Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 10,124 as of the 2020 census. It is bordered by Granby on the north, Simsbury on the east, Avon a ...

. According to historian

Diana Muir Diana Muir, also known as Diana Muir Appelbaum, is a Newton, Massachusetts, USA, historian best known for her 2000 book ''Reflections in Bullough's Pond'', a history of the impact of human activity on the New England ecosystem. Personal life Appe ...

writing in

Reflections in Bullough's Pond ''Reflections in Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England'' is a book by Diana Muir. The Providence Journal called ''Bullough’s Pond'' "a masterpiece," and Publishers Weekly called it "lyrical". The Massachusetts Center for the Book ...

, 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." 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 Samuel Colt (; July 19, 1814 – January 10, 1862) was an American inventor, industrialist, and businessman who established Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (now Colt's Manufacturing Company) and made the mass production of r ...

hired Root to come work in his Hartford 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, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some sort of tool that does the cutting or shaping. All m ...

of the era. He modernized firearms production at Colt by designing state of the art drop hammers, boring machines,

gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...

jig The jig ( ga, port, gd, port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It is most associated with Irish music and dance. It first gained popularity in 16th-century Ireland and parts o ...

s, etc. Root also improved the milling machine invented by Simeon North and improved by the

Robbins and Lawrence Company The American Precision Museum is located in the renovated 1846 Robbins & Lawrence factory on South Main Street in Windsor, Vermont. The building is said to be the first U.S. factory at which precision interchangeable parts were made, giving bir ...

of Vermont and by

Francis A. Pratt Francis Ashbury Pratt (February 15, 1827 – February 10, 1902) was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, and co-founder of Pratt & Whitney. Biography Pratt was born in Peru, New York. His parents moved the family to Lowell, Massachusetts, w ...

of the George S. Lincoln company in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

. 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, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. 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
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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Root, Elisha K. 1808 births 1865 deaths 19th-century American inventors Machine tool builders People from Ludlow, Massachusetts

See also

References

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