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John Browning Patent 701289 – Firearm Sights

| History, John Browning | February 13, 2012

This John Browning design consisted of a single Patent Drawing that we have shown below.  He was granted US Patent 701289 on June 3rd, 1902.  He applied for this patent on December 16th, 1901.

This Patent covered the sight system for his firearm designs.

John Browning Patent 701289 Drawing:

John Browning Patent 701288

| History, John Browning | February 13, 2012

John Browning was granted US Patent 701288 on June 3rd, 1902.  The Patent covered a recoil operated firearm, which makes sense as this is the same time period that John Browning started to design multiple recoil operated firearms.

John Browning had applied for this Patent on March 18th, 1901.

John Browning Patent 701288 Drawings:

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Hiram Maxim invented the Machine Gun and Silencer, but not both…

| History | February 4, 2012

Many people believe that a single man by the name of Hiram Maxim invented both the first portable fully automatic machine gun and the first silencer.
 
Unfortunately they would be incorrect because Hiram Maxim is actually two different people. There was a Hiram Stevens Maxim and Hiram Percy Maxim. Hiram Stevens Maxim was Hiram Percy Maxim’s Father.
 
The Father, Hiram Stevens Maxim was the inventor of the first fully automatic machine gun, the Maxim Gun. He was also responsible for many other non-firearm inventions. There are two sets of Maxim Gun Patents shown below, US Patent 447524 and US Patent 459828. It always amazes me how detailed these drawings were. Fair to say they were not using CAD software back in 1891.
 
Hiram Percy Maxim was the inventor of the first functional and commercially available silencer. Like his father he invented both firearm and non-firearm related items. I found it very interesting that Percy came up with the gun silencer because of his work designing small engine mufflers.
 
One final point of interest is that the Patent actually refers to it as a silencer and silent firearm. Today people are quick to correct you by explaining the proper name is not silencer, but the more acceptable (and realistic) term of suppressor. Hopefully this little bit of trivia will help you in some future argument. Don’t worry, in all our patent research we haven’t found anything to suggest a magazine should be called a clip.
 
The Maxim Gun and Maxim Silencer Patent Drawings:
 


 

John Browning Patent 689283 – Browning Auto-5

| History, John Browning | January 3, 2012

The Browning Auto-5 “produced by FN”, Remington Model 11 and Savage 720 were all built on John Browning’s automatic shotgun design.

US Patent 689283 was one of his patents that covered John Browning’s auto shotgun design. This particular patent was applied for on March 18th, 1901 and granted on December 17th, 1901.

This design was the very first successful design for a semi-auto shotgun. It is really amazing to think that this design was so good that it was produced for nearly 100 years. Think about the genius required to design something so well “for the very first time in history” that it would become just second to the Remington 1100 as the top selling auto shotgun of all time. That blows my mind!!! How long did the original iPad last before it was improved with the release of the iPad 2? How long does your average vehicle get produced before it is overhauled? AMAZING. John Browning was no different than an Einstein or Newton, GENIUS!

John Browning Patent 678937 – M1917 Browning Machine Gun

| History, John Browning | October 5, 2011

The Model 1917 / M1917 Browning Machine Gun was a recoil powered automatic firearm. It was granted US Patent 678937 on July 23rd, 1901. This patent was applied for on June 19th, 1900. So why was this Machine Gun given the name Model 1917 when the model number usually mirrors the patent year plus or minus one year? The name is actually based on the fact that this firearm was not adopted for use until 1917. The design sat around for years until the US Military found itself in need of some high power high output firearms. Along came the Model 1917 after spending some years in hibernation.

A key feature of the M1917 is that it was a water cooled machine gun. This was a factor in the weight and thus restricted some applications. The 1917 eventually morphed into multiple other versions / variations including the M1919.

Another key feature that should be mentioned is that this patent has a right side ejection of spent rounds where the M1917 would adjust it to bottom ejection.

John Browning Patent 660244

| History, John Browning | October 5, 2011

This is a Machine Gun Feed Belt loading machine, which as it implies loads the rounds into the cloth belt. During this period of John Browning’s machine gun designs he was using a fabric belt for feeding the rounds. Even later models like the M1919 benefited from this form of feed belt rather than metal links. The feed mechanism had a claw that would pull the rounds into the breech.

John Moses Browning applied for this patent on November 15th, 1899. He was granted US Patent 660,244 for this design on October 23rd, 1900.

John Browning Patent 659786 – Remington Model 8

| History, John Browning | September 24, 2011

This semi-automatic rifle design became the Remington Model 8. It was granted US Patent 659786 on October 16th, 1900. This Patent had a fast turn around as it was applied for by John Moses Browning earlier that year, on June 6th, 1900

The Remington Model 8 rifle was the first successful autoloading high power rifle design. The production rights to this rifle belonged to Remington Arms Company in the US. FN also produced limited numbers of this rifle, 4,913 units under the name FN Caliber .35 Automatic Rifle.

John Browning Patent 659507 – Browning Auto-5 Shotgun

| History, John Browning | September 3, 2011

This design was the first autoloading, recoil operated semi-auto shotgun. It was originally presented to Winchester by John Browning, but a deal could not be worked out. I suspect they would like to have that one back, as the Auto-5 became one of the most popular shoguns ever produced.

John Browning eventually worked out a licensing agreement with Fabrique Nationale of Belgium. They became the first to produce the Browning Auto-5. FN also produced quite a few other John Browning designs, especially his autoloading pistol designs. The Auto-5 shotgun was also produced by Remington as the Model-11 (Remington ran production for the US Market) and later Savage licensed it for the Model 720 and Model 745.

As with all FN firearms, World War II would interfere with the production of the Auto-5 shotgun, due to the fact their facilities were seized by Nazi Germany. At that point Fabrique Nationale moved production of the Auto-5 to the US. Remington began producing both models until FN was able to return production to Europe.

Outside the fact that John Browning designed the Auto-5, it’s hard to comprehend it being the first successful semi-auto shotgun ever produced. Think about this, the genius of his design was manufactured for nearly 100 years, without changing the fundamental design. Now look at the iPad “1”, it lasted maybe one year before the iPad 2 was able to improve upon the ORIGINAL design and I hear an iPad 3 is on it’s way…

To wrap it up, this landmark design earned John Moses Browning US Patent 659507 on October 9th, 1900. He had applied for the patent on February 8th, 1900.

John Browning Patent 632094 – Winchester 1900 .22 Bolt Rifle

| History, John Browning | August 29, 2011

The Winchester Model 1900 was a bolt action .22 caliber rifle. The rifle was only capable of single shot use. To keep cost down Winchester made sure to keep it simple and even made some adjustments to John Browning’s original design. The production rifle was capable of firing both .22 Short and .22 Long. The Winchester Model 1900 Single Shot 22 Rifle design was granted US Patent 632094 on August 29th, 1899. John Moses Browning applied for this patent on February 17th, 1899.

John Browning Patent 621747 – FN Model 1900 Pistol

| History, John Browning | August 29, 2011

This design was the first model that FN ( Fabrique Nationale de Herstal ) produced in a very successful partnership with John Moses Browning. This particular pistol was the Model 1900, or M1900 chambered in .32 ACP. It was also known as the M1899 until some improvements led them to update the name. However, that wasn’t the extent to the naming of this pistol; it was also known as the Browning Number One and even the FN Browning M1900.

The most influential part of this particular pistol on the future of firearms was that it was the first to introduce the “slide” mechanism. Using the slide mechanism John Browning was able to create a semi-auto single action pistol. The Model 1900 was produced in Belgium and eventually came to total around 700,000 units manufactured.

The design was granted US Patent 621747 on March 21st, 1899. John Moses Browning had applied for this patent on December 28th, 1897.

John Browning Patent 619132 – Winchester

| History, John Browning | August 29, 2011

This design was for a .30 caliber rifle. Knowing the time period this was in and knowing that the design was sold to Winchester I assume you could guess the mechanics of the firearm. Like his other dealings with Winchester this design of John Browning’s was for a lever action rifle. Like the Winchester Model 1895 this used a box magazine. The design is more compact than the 1885, but the same movement away from the tube magazines, which was due to an increase in the size and power of the rounds to be used. Unfortunately, Winchester did not manufacture this design. Regardless, the design earned John Moses Browning US Patent 619132 on February 7th, 1899, almost one year after applying for it on February 21st, 1898.

John Browning Patent 599595

| History, John Browning | August 26, 2011

This Lever Action rifle was designed by John Browning and purchased by Winchester. It was designed around a .236 caliber round. Unfortunately, Winchester never produced this design. Regardless, it did receive US Patent 599595 on February 22nd, 1898. John Moses Browning had applied for this patent on May 5th, 1897.

John Browning Patent 580,926

| History, John Browning | August 25, 2011

This Patent was the final of four semi-auto pistol designs that were granted consecutive US Patent Numbers. This particular design was granted US Patent 580926 on April 20th, 1897. John Moses Browning had applied for this patent on October 31st, 1896. Patent 580926 utilized the .32 caliber round with a semi-auto blowback action.

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