[Mike Irwin]

Colt probably didn't want to pay Smith & Wesson a penny over the patent issue because Rollin White was originally a Colt employee when he came up with the concept of the bored through cylinder.

He offered it to Colt, and they rejected it out of hand, so he took it to Smith & Wesson.

Colt later sued Smith & Wesson and White over patent ownership, but the courts ruled against the company.

Rollin White also never made out from his patent because in the contract he signed with Smith & Wesson, they made him responsible for the full cost of suing patent infringers, and there were a LOT of patent infringers. So many, in fact, that I think White was pretty much bankrupt by the time the patent ran out.