Colvin was born in
Sterling, Massachusetts, in 1893 to
Fred Herbert Colvin (1867–1965) and Mary K. Loring (1869–?). He co-founded the
Pioneer Instrument Company in 1919, and sold the company in 1929 to the
Bendix Corporation. In the early 1950s, he started Colvin Laboratories, which manufactured aeronautical instruments, in
East Orange, New Jersey. He retired from business in 1963. He married Bessie Colvin Davis (c.1900–1956). After her death he married Marjorie Colvin Babcock. He had four children from his first marriage, two daughters, Margaret Colvin Tropp of
Woodland Hills, California, and Elizabeth Colvin Davis of
Madison, Wisconsin, and two sons, David ("Gene") Colvin, of
Old Lyme, Connecticut, and Roger Colvin; a stepdaughter, Dagny Sellorin of
Portland, Oregon; a brother, Henry Colvin, of
Medford, New Jersey; at the time of his death he had seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild, Caitlin Colvin. He died July 3, 1985, at St. Joseph Hospital in
Ojai, California, after a long illness. He was 92 years old and had been living in Ojai. ==Patent==