Background
Christopher was a son of Ogden and Asenath (Hollister) Spencer, and was born on June 20, 1833 on his father's farm at Manchester, Connecticut, United States.
Christopher was a son of Ogden and Asenath (Hollister) Spencer, and was born on June 20, 1833 on his father's farm at Manchester, Connecticut, United States.
He attended school until he was fourteen and then entered the machine shop of the Cheney silk mills in Manchester.
Upon completing his apprenticeship in 1849, Spencer worked in the Cheney mills as a journeyman machinist until 1853, when he went to Rochester, New York, and found employment in a tool-building and locomotive shop with a view to acquiring familiarity with machinery other than that used in textile manufacture.
For the succeeding seven years he worked successively in the Colt armory, Hartford, Connecticut, and in the Cheney silk mills. During this period he obtained his first patent, which was for an automatic silk-winding machine that was utilized by the Willimantic Linen Company. By this time he had turned his attention to firearms, for which he had had a passion since boyhood, and on March 6, 1860, he received patent No. 27, 393 for a self-loading, or repeating, rifle. This was immediately adopted by the United States government and a company known as the Spencer Repeating Rifle Company was organized to manufacture it.
Before the Civil War was over, about 200, 000 Spencer rifles had been produced. Meanwhile, he continued his inventions in firearms and in 1862 patented a breech-loader; in 1863, a magazine gun; and in 1866 obtained two additional patents for improvements on the latter. At the close of the war he went to Amherst, Massachussets, and became associated there with Charles E. Billings in the Roper Arms Company, established to manufacture Spencer's magazine gun.
This venture was not a success, and in 1869 Spencer and Billings went to Hartford, Connecticut, formed the Billings & Spencer Company, and began the manufacture of drop forgings. It is said that the partners' work in this field did more for the art of drop forging, particularly with respect to the accuracy and application of the process, than that of anybody else.
Spencer continued with his inventive work and perfected a machine for turning sewing machine spools. This suggested to him the idea of a machine for turning metal screws automatically. Working secretly, on September 30, 1873, he obtained patent No. 143, 306 for a machine for making screws.
The great feature of this invention was the automatic turret lathe. Peculiarly enough, this feature, with its blank cam cylinder and flat strips adjustable for various jobs, was wholly overlooked by the patent attorney, with the result that Spencer could claim no patent rights to it. Convinced of the efficiency of his screw machine, he gave up active connection with the Billings & Spencer Company in 1874, and in 1876 formed with others the Hartford Machine Screw Company and, as superintendent, laid the foundation of one of the largest industrial enterprises in Hartford. He could not forget firearms, however, and in 1882 withdrew from the screw company in order to manufacture a new repeating shotgun that he had invented.
He organized the Spencer Arms Company at Windsor, Connecticut, and although the gun was a success mechanically, the company failed and Spencer lost heavily.
He then returned to the field of automatic lathes, and in 1893 organized the Spencer Automatic Machine Screw Company at Windsor, Connecticut, which, together with his directorship of the Billings & Spencer Company, consumed his entire attention until his retirement some years before his death.
Christopher Miner Spencer patented a repeating carbine whose seven cartridges could be fired in 18 seconds. It was quickly adopted by the U. S. government for cavalry use, and Spencer built his own factory, which produced 200, 000 Spencer carbines and rifles during the Civil War. He also patented a breechloader and a magazine gun. He later contributed considerably to the technology of drop forging. His innovative screw-making lathes enabled the huge success of his Hartford Machine Screw Co. (established 1876).
He was twice married: first, in June 1860, to Frances Theodora Peck, who died in 1881; second, July 3, 1883, to Georgette T. Rogers.
