American Handgunner The Sixgunner: Perfect Packin' Percussion Pistols
In 1836 Sam Colt came up with the first truly practical and workable revolver, the Colt Paterson. This revolver was a five-shot affair with a revolving cylinder in .28, .31, .34, or .40 caliber. As with all subsequent percussion revolvers, it was loaded from the front with powder and ball and then primed at the back of the cylinder with a percussion cap. However, unlike Colt revolvers that followed, the Paterson did not have a trigger guard — a folding trigger came down as the hammer was cocked. It was also quite fragile. However it was still a tremendous improvement over single-shot pistols...
Source: americanhandgunner.com