Landmarks of Human Thought I - Catalog - Page 24
John
Moses
Browning
Recoil Operated
Firearmto
U.S. Patent No. 659,507
Inducted in 2007
Born Jan. 23, 1855 - Died Nov. 26, 1926
J
ohn Browning advanced the gun industry during
the late 19th and early 20th centuries by designing
pioneering, commercially successful guns, over
thirty million modern weapons are based on his
designs.
Born in Ogden, Utah, Browning worked in his father's
shop, creating his first rifle from scrap iron at thirteen. In
1879, Browning received his first patent for his breechloading, single-shot rifle, selling the design to the
Winchester Repeating Arms Company.
By the 1890s, Browning began developing ways to use
gases and recoil from exploding ammunition to
automatically eject, reload, and fire guns. He applied this
to smaller arms, creating the Colt 1911 .45 semiautomatic pistol that became standard issue for the U.S.
military in 1911.
By the end of World War I, the U.S. Army adopted
Browning's automatic MGs and procured 57,000 of them
for soldiers fighting on the Western Front. Firearms based
on Browning's later innovations – including the BAR,
1919 .30 caliber and M2 .50 caliber – became standard
issue weapons for the U.S. and numerous NATO country
militaries for most of the 20th century.
U.S. Patent No. 659,507 is Browning’s first patent for a
self-loading, recoil operated shotgun. This legendary
Auto-5 was also known as the “Humpback” because of
its characteristic drop at the rear end of the receiver and
is considered Browning’s greatest achievement in
shotgun design. Browning’s U.S. Patent No. 659,507
from 1900 describes one of the most famous shotguns of
all time.
Reference: National Inventors Hall of Fame (2024, 23. February)
Inductee: John Moses Browning.
NIHF. https://www.invent.org/inductees/john-moses-browning
