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Very cool and interesting both to see and read. Thanks.
John Moses Browning wrote: The main object of the present invention is to produce a firearm of this class which, in order to be specially adapted for the military Service, shall be not only practical, efficient and perfectly safe in use, but strong and capable of withstanding the exposure and rough usage of service in the field, and adapted to fire cartridges having bullets of large caliber and weight and powerful charges of powder; it shall also be very simple in construction so as to be reliable under all conditions of service and not liable to get out of order, inexpensive of manufacture, with a minimum number of
readily dismounted and cleaned without re quiring the use of any tools.
Yes, and every bit of it without benefit of a computer of any kind. Just the mind of a genius and common drafting & machine tools of the time.CT_Shooter wrote: ↑Fri Feb 14, 2025 2:54 pmVery cool and interesting both to see and read. Thanks.John Moses Browning wrote: The main object of the present invention is to produce a firearm of this class which, in order to be specially adapted for the military Service, shall be not only practical, efficient and perfectly safe in use, but strong and capable of withstanding the exposure and rough usage of service in the field, and adapted to fire cartridges having bullets of large caliber and weight and powerful charges of powder; it shall also be very simple in construction so as to be reliable under all conditions of service and not liable to get out of order, inexpensive of manufacture, with a minimum number of
readily dismounted and cleaned without re quiring the use of any tools.
The entire world was analog back then. He'd have used drafting instruments like this Fullerton set I used in 1961 (and still use occasionally ).
I thought it was cool enough to print out all 12 pages, staple them together, tri-fold them neatly, and put it in the box with my never fired 100th Anniversary Colt.rickhem wrote: ↑Sat Feb 15, 2025 9:53 amNever saw that one before. Very cool!
Having worked in the pharma industry for years, much in development, I've read the packages submitted for getting a patent on a new drug. It's an art to write something specific enough to get a patent, yet "loose" enough to allow for future process improvements, and broad enough to preclude any other manufacturer to produce a similar product. The people that do those writeups are different people for sure. The last half dozen pages show not only the detail of the pistol's operation, but the thought process that led to those specific details.
JMB truly was an engineering genius.
Don't know if you noticed or not in the patent text, but the pistol was originally designed to prevent firing if the magazine was removed. That was obviously changed in an early modification, probably something the Army didn't want or need.CT_Shooter wrote: ↑Fri Feb 14, 2025 2:54 pmVery cool and interesting both to see and read. Thanks.John Moses Browning wrote: The main object of the present invention is to produce a firearm of this class which, in order to be specially adapted for the military Service, shall be not only practical, efficient and perfectly safe in use, but strong and capable of withstanding the exposure and rough usage of service in the field, and adapted to fire cartridges having bullets of large caliber and weight and powerful charges of powder; it shall also be very simple in construction so as to be reliable under all conditions of service and not liable to get out of order, inexpensive of manufacture, with a minimum number of
readily dismounted and cleaned without re quiring the use of any tools.
I'm sure several prototypes were built and tried before committing to the patent drawings.North Country Gal wrote: ↑Sat Feb 15, 2025 11:27 am... I am always amazed at how many of those guns are one go his designs.