A Brief History On March 5, 1836, Samuel Colt formed the gun-manufacturing company that would produce the pistols “that won the West.”  We have already written about Mr. Colt and his innovative and successful revolver, but this time around, we are going to discuss the problems with it. Digging Deeper Colt created his invention when percussion caps were replacing flintlock ignition systems, and the percussion cap is what made a revolving cylinder firearm practical.  When relying on flintlock ignition, powder could easily fall out of the individual pan or chain fire, with all cylinders going off at once.  (This could…

A Brief History On March 4, 1917, the U.S. Congress welcomed its first female U.S. Representative (congresswoman) when Jeanette Rankin of Montana joined the exclusive group.  Rankin went on to serve 2 terms in Congress, both terms being during the world wars.   She had been one of only 50 to oppose U.S. entry into the First World War in 1917 and was the only representative who voted against American involvement in the Second World War in 1941. Digging Deeper Not surprisingly, Rankin, who was a Republican, was a pacifist and campaigned against U.S. involvement in any war.  She had been an advocate for women’s suffrage and…

A Brief History On March 3, 1951, music history was made when the first song deemed to be “rock and roll” was recorded.  Called “Rocket 88,”  the lively song was recorded by Chess Records at Sam Phillip’s studio in Memphis and is credited to Jackie Brenston and the Delta Cats who were actually Ike Turners’s band, the Kings of Rhythm.  In fact, the song was written by Brenston and Turner, though Turner was not originally credited.  Digging Deeper Based on the 1947 hit “Cadillac Boogie” and influenced by the instrumental hits “Rocket 88 Boogie” parts 1 and 2,” “Rocket 88” was also about the popular Oldsmobile model,  the…

A Brief History On March 2, 1962, Wilt Chamberlain, center for the Philadelphia Warriors, scored an National Basketball Association (NBA) single-game record of 100 points against the New York Knicks.  To put this in perspective, at that time, the only other player to have scored 70 or more points in a single game was Elgin Baylor with 71 points.  This performance put Chamberlain so far ahead of any other scoring flurry that he was truly in a class by himself.  In the 53 years since then, no other player has approached his record, with the closest effort being Kobe Bryant’s…

A Brief History On March 1, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, returned to France from exile on the island of Elba to reclaim his empire.  Of course, his great comeback only lasted about 100 days, but in that time he reshook Europe.  Other people, teams and companies have also made impressive comebacks from near defeat, death, ruin or other calamities.  Here we list 10 of those that rank among the greatest.   Digging Deeper 10. John Travolta, 1994. After becoming a teen idol on television and having experienced success with movies such as Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Urban…