Although multiple-barrel "pepper-box" guns had appeared for centuries and were popular handguns in the early 19th century, the revolver was the first true repeating handgun. In 1836, Samuel Colt applied patent for a "revolving gun" later named the Colt Paterson; he was granted the patent on 25 February 1836 (later numbered 9430X). This instrument and patent No. 1304, dated 29 August 1836, protected the basic principles of his revolving-breech-loading, folding-trigger firearm and gave him a monopoly of revolver manufacture until 1857. It was the first practical revolver and the first practical repeating firearm, and became an industrial and cultural legacy as well as a contribution to the development of war technology, represented ironically by the name of one of his company's later innovations, the "Peacemaker".
