AUTOMATIC WEAPONS

Shannon News, 25 February 1927, Page 4

AUTOMATIC WEAPONS

j DEATH OF FAMOUS INVENTOR. j MODEST REWARDS ACCEPTED. i The death occurred recently of Mr. | J. M. Browning, the inventor of various quick-firing weapons, at Hernial, near Liege, at the ago of 71, from a cardiac affection. The bodywas sent to Ogden, Utah, for interment. The Times says Mr. Browning was an inventor 01 an unsuai type, for he dihliked i-üblioily and' did not insist on. having his name attached to his uivciui'ins. Moreover, he was a man of peace, a member of the Mormon community, simple and unassum. ing, comparatively indifferent to money, and finding his favourite recreations in hunting and fishing expeditions and in playing the banjo by nis own fireside He early showed remarkable aptitude for mechanics, and at the age of 13 made his first gun out of scrap iron in his father's workshop. In 1879 he took out a. patent, the first of more than a hundred, for a breachloading, single-shot rifle, and sold it to the Remington Company. Later, he was able to produce a gun and an automatic pistol which fired a large number of bullets a minute. His repeating rifle was patented iu 1554, and in IS9O a machine-gun designed by him, but known as the Colt, was adopted by the United States Army. Hi:; box magazine, which was used by tho United States Army in tho war with Spain, was patented in 1895. Foreign Governments also adopted his inventions. Browning designed many types of sporting rifles, stich as tho Winchester and the Stevens, and the Colt automatic pistols. The Browning pistol, almost the only one of his inventions to bear his name, was manufactured at tho Fabrique Rationale at Liege, and when the output reached the Millionth pistol, y.y.it before the Great War broke out, the King of the Belgians conferred on Browning the Order of Leopold, and sent to the German Emperor a replica of the pistol in gold. Not long atferwards the factory was being worked by the Germans. j In 1916 the United States Machine- j gun Board reported that, as had been discovered on the Western front dur- , ing machine-gun and the light Lewis gun were not interchangeable in function. It advised that two of tho light type should be purchased for oim ox the heavy, and that a test should be held in May, 19V- By that time the United States had en- ; tered the war. At the test both the Yickers and Lewis gun s proved satisfactory, but the most marked S'lri-riority was shown by a new gun designed by Browning. The standard endurance test was 20,000 rounds but the Browning gun fired over 39,000 rounds before the first breakage. The Board was so much impressed with the merit* of the weapon and the simplicity of its mechanism that = it immediately reported in favour of its production on a large scale, which was at once started. Browning also offered an automatic rifle weighing only 15|1b., but capable ot automatic

fire from detachable magazines hold ing either 20 or 40 rounds. This als< was adopted, and displaced th' Lewis gun, w r hich was transferred t> the Air Service. It was not, how ever, employed by General Pershim till September, 1918, because, havin become convinced of its superiorit: over all other types, he did not wis to risk its being captured and copiei by the enemy until supplies of it o: a large scale should be available Between September and the Armis tice 4600 Browning automatic rifle were used in action by the Unite States forces. This weapon als proved of great value to the Sin Feiners in Ireland. It is understood that Browning ac cepted for his two guns from th United States Government a lum su mwhich was very much less tha that which he would have receive on the usual royalty basis.