American Rifleman 6/19/2022
Spencer & His RifleAt age 11, Christopher Miner Spencer went to live with his maternal grandfather, Josiah Hollister, a veteran of the American Revolution. It was there that young Christopher learned the rudiments of wood- and metalworking. By age 14, Spencer was apprenticed to the Mount Nebo Silk Manufacturing Co., located in South Manchester, Conn. This firm was owned by the Cheneys, one of New England’s most enterprising and influential families, and Spencer would develop a lifelong relationship with them.
At the advice of Frank Cheney, Spencer worked as a toolmaker in Rochester, N.Y., then as a machinist in the locomotive repair shops of the New York Central Railroad. He also worked briefly for the N. P. Ames Co. of Chicopee Falls, Mass., where he received his first formal experience in manufacturing firearms. His next stop was at the factory of Samuel Colt, where he helped to design many of the specialized machines used in the production of Colt revolvers.
By 1859, he had perfected a lever-action, rolling-block rifle design, and on March 6, 1860, he was awarded a U.S. patent for his work. By the spring of 1861, the Civil War had broken out, and the Cheney family entered into a contract with Spencer in which all rights and patents for Spencer’s rifle design would be assigned to them. In return, Spencer would receive a royalty of $1 for every rifle produced; this was later lowered to 50 cents for each military arm produced. The Cheneys had long been friends of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy in Abraham Lincoln’s administration, and this gave them, and Spencer’s rifle, access to government officials in Washington. At this time, Spencer also contracted with Connecticut ammunition makers Crittenden & Tibbals for the manufacture of a .56-cal. rimfire metallic cartridge for his rifle.
More:
https://www.americanrifleman.org/content/the-spencer-rifle-christopher-s-legacy-design/
