It is generally believed that when Sam Colt briefly visited London in 1830 as a midshipman on the Brig
Corvo he observed a flintlock revolver made according to the American inventor Elisha Collier's 1813 British patent.
Revolving firearms were made well before that time, as shown by this matchlock revolver from the
Musee de L'Arme in Paris.
Colt's design employing the percussion ignition system was the first practical revolving cylinder multiple-shot firearm.