"weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's idea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; this externally powered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. While technical use of the term ""machine gun"" has varied, the modern definition used by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute of America is ""a fully automatic firearm that loads, fires and ejects continuously when the trigger is held to the rear until the ammunition is exhausted or pressure on the trigger is released."""
"Richard Jordan Gatling Richard Jordan Gatling (September 12, 1818 – February 26, 1903) was an American inventor best known for his invention of the Gatling gun, considered to be the first successful machine gun, though it is not a true machine gun by modern definitions. Gatling was born in Hertford County, North Carolina, in 1818. At the age of 21, Gatling created a screw propeller for steamboats, without realizing that one had been patented just months prior by John Ericsson. While living in North Carolina, he worked in the county clerk’s office, taught school briefly, and became a merchant. At"
"Christopher Miner Spencer Christopher Miner Spencer (June 20, 1833 – January 14, 1922) was an American inventor, from Manchester, Connecticut, who invented the Spencer repeating rifle, one of the earliest models of lever-action rifle, a steam powered ""horseless carriage"", and several other inventions. He developed the first fully automatic turret lathe, which in its small- to medium-sized form is also known as a screw machine. Spencer worked for Samuel Colt’s factory, where he learned the arms-making trade. Although the Spencer rifle had been developed as early as 1859, it was not initially used by the Union. On August 18, 1863,"
"automatic cannon. Part of the patent also refers to a steam-operated piston to be used with firearms but the bulk of the patent is spent detailing the former system. In America, a patent for a machine gun type weapon was filed by John Andrus Reynolds in 1855. Another early American patent for a manually operated machine gun was filed by C. E. Barnes in 1856. In France and Britain, a mechanically operated machine gun was patented in 1856 by the Frenchman Francois Julien. This weapon was a cannon that fed from a type of open-ended tubular magazine, only using rollers"
"Francis Bannerman & Sons of New York who continued to manufacture his shotgun until around 1907. Christopher Miner Spencer Christopher Miner Spencer (June 20, 1833 – January 14, 1922) was an American inventor, from Manchester, Connecticut, who invented the Spencer repeating rifle, one of the earliest models of lever-action rifle, a steam powered ""horseless carriage"", and several other inventions. He developed the first fully automatic turret lathe, which in its small- to medium-sized form is also known as a screw machine. Spencer worked for Samuel Colt’s factory, where he learned the arms-making trade. Although the Spencer rifle had been developed"
"""The Lewis Gun is the most recognized classic light machine gun in the world."" The Lewis gun was invented by U.S. Army colonel Isaac Newton Lewis in 1911, based on initial work by Samuel Maclean. Despite its origins, the Lewis gun was not initially adopted by the U.S. military, most likely because of political differences between Lewis and General William Crozier, the chief of the Ordnance Department. Lewis became frustrated with trying to persuade the U.S. Army to adopt his design, ""slapped by rejections from ignorant hacks"", in his words, and retired from the army. He left the United States"
"was designed by the American inventor Dr. Richard J. Gatling in 1861 and patented on November 4, 1862. Gatling wrote that he created it to reduce the size of armies and so reduce the number of deaths by combat and disease, and to show how futile war is. Although the first Gatling gun was capable of firing continuously, it required a person to crank it; therefore it was not a true automatic weapon. The Maxim gun, invented and patented in 1883, was the first true fully automatic weapon, making use of the fired projectile's recoil force to reload the weapon."
"Oscar H. Banker Oscar H. Banker (born Asatour Sarafian; May 31, 1895 – January 1979) was an Armenian American inventor who patented a number of works, including an automatic transmission for automobiles, the needleless inoculation gun, the primary controls of the first Sikorsky helicopter, and power steering. He is considered by some as the ""father of automatic transmission."" He is accredited as the inventor of the first practical automatic transmission, though Alfred Horner Munro of Canada patented an automatic transmission 14 years before Banker. (Munro's invention relied on the medium of compressed air and therefore lacked power and was never"
"by John Browning. It became the first automatic machine gun adopted by the United States and saw limited use by the U.S. Marine Corps at the invasion of Guantánamo Bay and by the 1st Volunteer Infantry in the Santiago campaign during the Spanish–American War. In 1901, Elizabeth Jarvis Colt sold the company to a group of outside investors based in New York and Boston. During World War I, Colt surpassed all previous production achievements. John Browning worked for Colt for a time, and came up with a design for a semiautomatic pistol, which debuted as the Colt M1900 pistol and"
"century technology could achieve. During the 19th century, Elisha Collier and later Samuel Colt used the revolver action to revolutionize handguns. The Confederate States of America used a single 2-inch, 5-shot revolver cannon with manually rotated chambers during the Siege of Petersburg. The gun was captured in Danville, VA by Union forces on April 27, 1865. In 1905, C. M. Clarke patented the first fully automatic, gas-operated rotary chamber gun, but his design was ignored at the time. Clarke's patent came as reciprocating-action automatic weapons like the Maxim gun and the Browning gun were peaking in popularity. In 1932, the"
"of fire of 3,000 rounds per minute. The hand-cranked Gatling gun was declared obsolete by the United States Army in 1911. Decades later, mechanical concept was resurrected and wedded to electricity-driven cranking in the M61 Vulcan. That cannon has given rise to numerous variations scaled up to as high as 37 mm and down to 5.56 mm calibers offering versions that are gas-operated as well. Richard Jordan Gatling Richard Jordan Gatling (September 12, 1818 – February 26, 1903) was an American inventor best known for his invention of the Gatling gun, considered to be the first successful machine gun, though"
"John Browning John Moses Browning (January 23, 1855 – November 26, 1926) , native of Ogden, Utah, was an American firearms designer who developed many varieties of military and civilian firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms many of which are still in use around the world. He made his first firearm at age 10 in his father's gun shop, and was awarded the first of his 128 firearm patents on October 7, 1879, at the age of 24. He is regarded as one of the most successful firearms designers of the 19th and 20th centuries, and pioneered the development of modern"
"Kjellman machine gun The Kjellman LMG was a machine gun produced in Sweden. It is notable for being one of the first fully automatic weapons ever conceived (if not produced) and one of the first light machine guns as well. Although the patent dated back to 1870, and prototypes may have existed at least a half a decade before the Maxim was invented, black powder ammunition made the weapon virtually unusable due to rapid residue build up. The weapon was the brainchild of a Lieutenant D.H. Friberg, and was later modified by (and acquired its namesake from) Rudolf Henrik Kjellman,"
"Alexander T. Brown Alexander Timothy Brown (November 21, 1854 – January 31, 1929) was an inventor, engineer, businessman and entrepreneur in Syracuse, New York and was credited with over 100 inventions. He invented the Smith Premier typewriter, the L. C. Smith breech-loading shotgun and the two-speed ""Hi-Lo Bi-Gear"" for bicycles. He was one of the founders of the Brown-Lipe Gear Company, a manufacturer of bicycle gears and later Brown-Lipe-Chapin Company, a manufacturer of automobile gears, differentials and transmissions, which merged with General Motors in 1922. In the field of public life and commercial and industrial activity, Alexander Timothy Brown was"
"Thompson submachine gun The Thompson submachine gun is an American submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1918, that became infamous during the Prohibition era, being a signature weapon of various crime syndicates in the United States. It was a common sight in the media of the time, being used by both law enforcement officers and criminals. The Thompson submachine gun was also known informally as the ""Tommy Gun"", ""Annihilator"", ""Chicago Typewriter"", ""Chicago Piano"", ""Chicago Style"", ""Chicago Organ Grinder"", ""Trench Broom"", ""Trench Sweeper"", ""The Chopper"", and simply ""The Thompson"". The Thompson was favored by soldiers, criminals, police, FBI and"
"were taken back to the USSR following the end of World War II. Existed only as prototype. Although it was a very good design and operated smoothly, it was turned down by the army officials, so that the soldiers would not waste ammunition by firing them too fast. Franz Gebauer Franz Gebauer (Hungarian: Gebauer Ferenc) (1888–1958) was an Austrian inventor and weapons designer, including an early power-operated machine gun which actually saw service use. Gebauer was born in 1888 in Gross-Herlitz, Austria. After finishing his schooling, he worked for a German car manufacturer, and later for Puch in Graz. During"
"Benjamin Tyler Henry Benjamin Tyler Henry (March 22, 1821–June 8, 1898 ) was an American gunsmith and manufacturer. He was the inventor of the Henry rifle, the first reliable lever-action repeating rifle. Henry was born in Claremont, New Hampshire in 1821. He apprenticed to a gunsmith as a young man and worked his way up to shop foreman at the Robins & Lawrence Arms Company of Windsor, Vermont where he worked with Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson on a rifle known as the ""Volitional Repeater"". In 1854, Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson formed a new company with Courtlandt"
"condition. Thompson submachine gun The Thompson submachine gun is an American submachine gun, invented by John T. Thompson in 1918, that became infamous during the Prohibition era, being a signature weapon of various crime syndicates in the United States. It was a common sight in the media of the time, being used by both law enforcement officers and criminals. The Thompson submachine gun was also known informally as the ""Tommy Gun"", ""Annihilator"", ""Chicago Typewriter"", ""Chicago Piano"", ""Chicago Style"", ""Chicago Organ Grinder"", ""Trench Broom"", ""Trench Sweeper"", ""The Chopper"", and simply ""The Thompson"". The Thompson was favored by soldiers, criminals, police, FBI"
"John Pedersen (arms designer) John Douglas Pedersen (May 21, 1881 – May 23, 1951) was a prolific arms designer who worked for Remington Arms, and later for the United States Government. Famed gun designer John Moses Browning told Maj. Gen. Julian S. Hatcher of U.S. Army Ordnance that Pedersen ""was the greatest gun designer in the world"". Pedersen is best known for the 1918 Pedersen device that converted a standard military Springfield 1903 rifle to a semi-automatic, pistol-caliber firearm. He designed several successful sporting guns for Remington, including the novel Model 51 pistol, the Model 10 pump-action shotgun and the"
"was captured on 27 April 1865 by Union troops and sent for examination to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Puckle gun The Puckle gun (also known as the ""Defence gun"") was a primitive crew-served, manually-operated flintlock revolver patented in 1718 by James Puckle (1667–1724) a British inventor, lawyer and writer. It was one of the earliest weapons to be referred to as a ""machine gun"", being called such in a 1722 shipping manifest, though its operation does not match the modern use of the term. However, the Puckle gun was never used during any combat"
"Gordon Ingram Gordon B. Ingram (December 30, 1924 – November 4, 2004) was an American inventor and entrepreneur. Along with Mitchell L. WerBell III, they founded Military Armament Corporation. Ingram was the creator of the MAC-10 and MAC-11 machine pistols, and is widely credited with repopularizing the submachine gun. Gordon B. Ingram was born in Los Angeles, California. His first foray into the weapons design world was during his years of service in the United States Army. He designed the Ingram Model 6 in 1949 and later went on to design and manufacture the famous MAC-10 and MAC-11, which earned"
"is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Some of his important inventions are shown here with drawings from the patent. Walter Hunt (inventor) Walter Hunt (July 29, 1796 – June 8, 1859) was an American mechanic. He was born in Martinsburg, New York. Through the course of his work he became renowned for being a prolific inventor, notably of the lockstitch sewing machine (1833), safety pin (1849), a forerunner of the Winchester repeating rifle, a successful flax spinner, knife sharpener, streetcar bell, hard-coal-burning stove, artificial stone, street sweeping machinery, and the ice plough. Walter Hunt did not realize"
"Military Academy in West Point, New York. Isaac Newton Lewis Isaac Newton Lewis (October 12, 1858, New Salem, Pennsylvania – November 9, 1931, Hoboken, New Jersey) was a United States Army officer and the inventor of the Lewis gun. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1884 and was commissioned second lieutenant in the Second Artillery. Early in his career he made himself an authority on ordnance. In 1900, then-Captain Lewis was sent by Adjutant General Henry Clarke Corbin to Europe to study that subject, his report resulting in the re-armament of the field artillery. By successive promotions,"
"Isaac Newton Lewis Isaac Newton Lewis (October 12, 1858, New Salem, Pennsylvania – November 9, 1931, Hoboken, New Jersey) was a United States Army officer and the inventor of the Lewis gun. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1884 and was commissioned second lieutenant in the Second Artillery. Early in his career he made himself an authority on ordnance. In 1900, then-Captain Lewis was sent by Adjutant General Henry Clarke Corbin to Europe to study that subject, his report resulting in the re-armament of the field artillery. By successive promotions, he rose to the rank of colonel"
"in 1896 American gun designer John Browning developed self-loading semi-automatic pistols. His models were first manufactured in Europe by the Belgian firm of Fabrique Nationale (FN) and later by Colt in the U.S. Browning's first successful design was the Browning M1900. Like Georg Luger's work conducted around the same time in Germany, it was desiged alongside a in 7.65 mm cartridge, but the 7.65 mm Browning (aka .32 Auto) differs substantially from Luger's 7.65 mm Parabellum. Browning went on to design .25, .38, .380, and .45 ACP cartridges for his semi-automatic pistol designs. Browning must be given credit for developing"
"Maxim gun The Maxim gun was a weapon invented by American-born British inventor Hiram Stevens Maxim in 1884: it was the first recoil-operated machine gun in production. It has been called ""the weapon most associated with the British imperial conquest"", and likewise was used in colonial wars by other countries between 1886 and 1914. The mechanism of the Maxim gun employed one of the earliest recoil-operated firing systems in history. The idea is that the energy from recoil acting on the breech block is used to eject each spent cartridge and insert the next one, instead of a hand-operated mechanism."
"Sieg automatic rifle The Sieg automatic rifle was a bullpup automatic rifle designed by Chief Gunner's Mate James E. Sieg of the US Coast Guard. The weapon was chambered in the .30-06 round, fed from 20 round magazines and capable of firing around 650–700 RPM on full automatic. A two-finger double trigger selected between semiautomatic and fully automatic fire. The barrel came with a unique muzzle compensator that could be turned off for use with a flash hider or grenade launcher without interfering with the installation of a bayonet. Recoil gently threw the barrel of the Sieg rifle downward, not"
"Gardner gun The Gardner gun was an early type of mechanical machine gun. It had one, two or five barrels, was fed from a vertical magazine or hopper and was operated by a crank. When the crank was turned, a feed arm positioned a cartridge in the breech, the bolt closed and the weapon fired. Turning the crank further opened the breechblock and extracted the spent case. The Gardner machine gun was invented in 1874 by William Gardner of Toledo, Ohio formerly a captain in the Union army during the American Civil War. After producing a prototype he went to"
"US firearm laws. The Thompson Submachine Gun was developed by General John T. Thompson, who originally envisioned an ""auto rifle"" (semi-automatic rifle) to replace the bolt action service rifles then in use. While searching for a way to allow such a weapon to operate safely without the complexity of a recoil or gas operated mechanism, Thompson came across a patent issued to John Bell Blish in 1915 based on adhesion of inclined metal surfaces under pressure. Thompson found a financial backer, Thomas F. Ryan, and started the Auto-Ordnance Company in 1916 for the purpose of developing his ""auto rifle"". It"
"unique appeal of quality firearms for legitimate uses. William B. Ruger William Batterman Ruger (June 21, 1916 – July 6, 2002) was an American firearm designer and entrepreneur, who partnered with Alexander McCormick Sturm to establish Sturm, Ruger & Company in 1949. Their first product was the Ruger Standard, the most popular .22 caliber target pistol ever made in the United States. After Sturm’s death in 1951, and under Ruger’s continued leadership, the company produced one of the widest varieties of firearms of any manufacturer in the world. Ruger was born on 21 June 1916 in Brooklyn, New York. He"
"Daniel Myron LeFever Daniel Myron Lefever (August 27, 1835 – October 29, 1906) was an American gun maker, popularly known as ""Uncle Dan Lefever"". He is best known as the inventor of the hammerless shotgun, first introduced in 1878. Born in Hopewell, New York, Uncle Dan Lefever's gunmaking career began as an apprentice in Canandaigua, New York in the early 1850s. He married Sarah Stead on June 10, 1857, in Canandaigua. He opened his own gunshop in Canandaigua in 1857. His principal business was making muzzle-loading rifles. In 1862 he joined with James Ellis to form Lefever & Ellis. They"
"John T. Thompson John Taliaferro (anglicized to ""Tolliver"") Thompson (December 31, 1860 – June 21, 1940) was a United States Army officer best remembered as the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun. Born on December 31, 1860 in Newport, Kentucky, Thompson grew up on a succession of Army posts and had decided on the military as a career by the age of sixteen. His father was Lt. Col. James Thompson, his mother was Maria Taliaferro. After a year at Indiana University in 1877, he gained an appointment to the United States Military Academy, graduating in 1882. His first duty station"
"and South America, but never saw much combat use. During World War I, it remained in the U.S. for training. Maxim gun The Maxim gun was a weapon invented by American-born British inventor Hiram Stevens Maxim in 1884: it was the first recoil-operated machine gun in production. It has been called ""the weapon most associated with the British imperial conquest"", and likewise was used in colonial wars by other countries between 1886 and 1914. The mechanism of the Maxim gun employed one of the earliest recoil-operated firing systems in history. The idea is that the energy from recoil acting on"