The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-03-21
WESTERN MAN INVENTOR
BROWNING MACHINE GUN
HEAD OF FIRM OF BROWNING
BROS. HEADQUARTERS AT
OGDEN, UTAH.

Inc auoptlOn OF the browning ma
chine gun by the government and its
approval after severe tests are mat
tiers Of special interest in the mountain
states, for the inventor is John NJ
Browning. head of the well known
firm Of Browning Brothers, gun manu-
facturers and dealers Of Ogden, Utah.
A. M. Jungman, in Popular Science
Magazine. gives the following sketch
of the career Of the inventor:
A Born Gunsmith.
On hot summer day in 1914 bull
let from Browning automatic pistol
held in the hand of crazy Serbian
snuffed out the life of an Austrian
archduke-and the world was bathed
in blood. Now the United States,
plunging into the war to restore peace
to stricken millions, adopts the Brown
| ing machine gun.
| Everywhere people are asking:
why the Browning machine gun?
Why not the Lewis or Maxim? This
man Browning is new in the gun field,
isn't he?" Far from being new at gun
making, John M. Browning may well
be called bred In the bone gunsmith.
| Let's turn the pages of time back
to 1S47 Adventurous and hardy spir-
its were turning their eyes westward
and rishng much to discover what lay
beyond the outposts of civilization. No
man In his senses set out without a
gun. 1t had to be good gun, too, for
not only food but life itself must de-
pend upon it.
Played in a Gun Shop.
Out in Council Bluffs, Iowa, there
was small gun shop where men
knew they could get reliable guns.
Jonathan Browning, the gunsmith,
was man whose products could be
trusted. A pioneer going into his shop
saw small foot lathe and few home
made tools and machines. In one cor
ner was pile of scrap A boy was
playing around the scrap pile. And
the pioneer, looking at the boy, would
laughingly remark to the gunsmith:
"A regular chip of the old block!'
And the gunsmith, Strengthening up,
would smile and say: You're going to
be just like your father, aren't you,
SOM"
Yes, you've guessed it, the boy was
John M. Browning. whose machine
guns the army has approved.
In 1852 Jonathan Browning loaded
his precious foot lathe on an OK train,
together with those of his tools and
machines he could transport and start
ed further west. The patient beasts
hauled the equipment of the shop over
weary miles of plains. Finally the
journey was ended and the shop set
up again at Ogden, Utah.
Young John could be found in his
fathers shop every day. His interest
in the scrap pile became more con-
structive. He took discarded parts of
guns from it and fashioned them into
a gun for himself.
1t was a proud day for the boy when
the Browning family sat down to a
delicious dinner of wild chicken that
he himself shot with the first gun he
ever made. He then proceeded to
make guns for his brothers, utilizing
some more pieces from the scrap pile.
After that there was no dearth of fresh
game on the Browning table.
Made Breech Mechanism at 10.
Shortly after his thirteenth birth
day his father noticed that he devoted
considerable time to whiting. Before
he had attained his fourteenth year he
astonished his father by showing him
original designs in breech mechanisms
for rifles which he had whitfield out
of blocks of wood.
A little later the young inventor
made the model of his first single shot
rifle. When you consider the meager
equipment of the shop you will see
that this was no small achievement.
This single shot rifle was great sue
cess. Every one who saw it wanted
one. Orders came in so fast that young
John had difficulty in filling them. He
impressed his brothers into service
and they managed to turn out 500 |
rifles.
Some one showed the rifle to the |
Winchester company, with the result |
that the company acquired the patents.
1t was then lost to the name of Brown
ing The Winchester single shot rifle,
as 1t was called, was made. in several
sizes from 22 to AS calibre This was
the beginning of Mr.. Browning's long
career as an inventor of fire arms.
For number of years all his inven-
tons went to the Winchester company.
After the single shot rifle, the Win !
chester arms known as the 1886 model I
rifle, the lever shotgun, the 80 model {
lille, '92 model rifle. "a model rifle, '95 I
model rifle. 's7 model shotgun and the
1900 model rifle were all Browning in II
$
Mr.. Browning was perfectly satisfied s
o do his work well and let it rest c
here. 1t never occurred to him to see
hat his named appeared on his guns.
That is why thousands of Americans v
Who have used his arms do not know C
Who he is. I
Old Rifles Discarded. b
His S6 model rifle was so great an t.