Charles Brinckerhoff Richards
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Charles Brinckerhoff Richards (December 23, 1835 – April 20, 1919) was an
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
who worked for Colt's Patent Fire Arms Co., where he was responsible for the development of the
Colt Single Action Army The Colt Single Action Army (also known as the SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, or M1873) is a Trigger (firearms)#Single-action, single-action revolver handgun. It was designed in 1872 for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's P ...
revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
. Richards was a founder of the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...
and a professor at Yale University where he taught for 25 years.


Early life

Richards was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Thomas Fanning Richards and Harriet Howland Brinckerhoff. He attended private schools in
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
and in
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, showing an aptitude for the sciences. At 18 he apprenticed at Woodruff & Beach, a heavy equipment manufacturing plant, under William Wright. Following this apprenticeship, he worked at the Colt plant in Hartford, Connecticut, from 1855 to 1858. He left Colt in 1858 to take a position as a foreman in a New York plant manufacturing steam valves. That same year he married Agnes Edwards Goodwin.


Engineering

In 1859, Richards opened an office in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
as a patent solicitor and design engineer. He invented the Richards Steam engine indicator in 1860, which was hailed as the most significant improvement to the steam engine since the days of
James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...
.


The Colt years

After the onset of 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 ...
he returned to Colt in 1861, eventually becoming Superintendent of Engineering at the factory in Hartford, Connecticut. Richards' first major post Civil War design was Colt's second attempt at
metallic cartridge A cartridge or a round is a type of pre-assembled firearm ammunition packaging a projectile (bullet, shot, or slug), a propellant substance (usually either smokeless powder or black powder) and an ignition device (primer) within a metallic, ...
conversion known as the "Richards Conversion". Colt's revolvers to this point had been
black powder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...
percussion pistols, where the shooter had to pour black powder into each of the six chambers, ram a bullet on top and place a percussion cap on the nipple at the rear of each of the chambers. However, the US Army wanted a revolver that held metallic cartridges, which Colt could not produce because the
Rollin White Rollin White (June 6, 1817 – March 22, 1892) was an American gunsmith who invented a single shot bored-through revolver cylinder that allowed paper cartridges to be loaded from the rear of a revolver's cylinder. Because the open breeches were ...
patent was still held by rival
Smith & Wesson Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the "Smith & Wesson Revolver Company" in 1856 ...
. Colt's only solution would be to bore through the rear of their cylinders and devise a new method of ignition and case extraction. The Richards Conversion was performed on the
Colt 1860 Army The Colt Army Model 1860 is a cap & ball .44-caliber single-action revolver used during the American Civil War made by Colt's Manufacturing Company. It was used as a side arm by cavalry, infantry, artillery troops, and naval forces. History ...
revolver. The caliber was
.44 Colt The .44 Colt is an American centerfire revolver cartridge that was produced commercially from 1871 to 1940.Barnes, p.169, ".44 Colt". History The cartridge was developed by Colt's Patent Firearms for use in cartridge revolvers based on the 1860 ...
and the loading lever was replaced by an ejector rod. This conversion added a breechplate with a firing pin and a rear sight mounted on the breechplate. Colt manufactured 9000 of these revolvers between 1873 and 1878. In 1873 Colt performed the same conversion on the M1851 and M1861 revolvers for the US Navy in .38 rimfire. Along with
William Mason William, Willie, or Willy Mason may refer to: Arts and entertainment *William Mason (poet) (1724–1797), English poet, editor and gardener *William Mason (architect) (1810–1897), New Zealand architect *William Mason (composer) (1829–1908), Ame ...
he was granted patents from 1871 to convert percussion revolvers into rear-loading metallic cartridges revolvers. Those converted revolvers are nowadays identified as the "Richards-Mason Conversion".Sapp (2007)p. 55 There were approximately 2100 Richard-Mason M1860 Army Conversions made from 1877 to 1878 in a serial number range 5800 to 7900. Richards and Mason were later responsible for the design of the
Colt Single Action Army The Colt Single Action Army (also known as the SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, or M1873) is a Trigger (firearms)#Single-action, single-action revolver handgun. It was designed in 1872 for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's P ...
revolver, also known as the "Peacemaker". Five years after the introduction of the Single Action Army and two years before his retirement, he once again teamed up with Mason to produce a larger framed double-action revolver, the
Colt M1878 The Colt M1878 is a double-action revolver that was manufactured by Colt's Manufacturing Company from 1878 to 1907. It is often referred to as the "Frontier" or the "Double Action Army" revolver. A total of 51,210 Model 1878 revolvers were manu ...
Frontier.


After Colt

After retiring from Colt in 1880, Richards was one of the founders of the
American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...
, serving as its manager from 1881 to 1882 and Vice-president from 1888–1890. From 1884 to 1909 Richards was the chair of
Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...
at
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
,
Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, ...
. Richards was the editor of engineering and technical works in '' Webster’s International Dictionary of the English Language'' in 1890. Richards was the United States Commissioner of the Paris Exposition of 1889 and a recipient of the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor of France. He was a member of the
Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences The Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences is a learned society founded in 1799 in New Haven, Connecticut "to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest and happiness of a free and virtuous people." Its purpose is the ...
. Richards died in New Haven, Connecticut on April 20, 1919. His daughter Harriet Roosevelt Richards (1867–1932) was a noted book illustrator; his daughter Marian Edwards Richards married historian
Charles Cutler Torrey Charles Cutler Torrey (20 December 1863 – 12 November 1956) was an American historian, archaeologist and scholar. He is known for, presenting through his books, manuscript evidence supporting alternate views on the origins of Christian and Isla ...
.


Footnotes


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Charles 1833 births 1919 deaths American inventors Machinists Sheffield Scientific School faculty