Colburn, David G.

Flourished: Vermont

David G. Colburn was an inventor who specialized in pneumatics, hydraulics, and firearms. While living in Cayuga County, New York, he made improvements in percussion locks, for which he received a patent in October 1832. While residing in Canton Canal, New York, he experimented with gun design, developing the first resolving (percussion) gun, for which he received a patent in June 1833. In May 1834, Colburn received a patent for his methods for dealing with raising water by atmospheric pressure. He later moved to Vermont, settling in Wilmington. In 1846, Colburn received a patent for an atmospheric piston for an iron pump.

M. D. Leggett, comp., Subject-Matter Index of Patents for Inventions Issued by the United States Patent Office from 1790 to 1873, Inclusive (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1874), 2:1145; "Report of the Commissioner of Patents, for the Year 1846," H.R. Doc. No. 52, 29th Cong., 2nd Sess. (1846), 157, 237; List of Patents for Inventions and Designs, Issued by the United States, From 1790 to 1847 (Washington, DC: J. & G. S. Gideon, 1847), 225, 228, 335; A Digest of Patents, Issued by the United States, From 1790 to January 1, 1839 (Washington, DC: Peter Force, 1840), 285; Joseph Nathan Kane, Famous First Facts: A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries and Inventions in the United States (New York: H. W. Wilson, 1950), 326.