John Moses Browning
John Moses Browning (1855-1926)
1926 Obituary
"MR. J. M. BROWNING, the inventor of various quick-firing weapons, who died on Saturday last, November 27th, in Belgium, while on a visit to the National War Factory at Herstal, near Liege, was a gun designer of international repute. He was born at Ogden, Utah, on January 21st, 1855, his father being Jonathan Browning, a gunsmith, who had settled in Ogden.
Even at, an early age the boy showed marked mechanical genius, and at thirteen he constructed his first gun from scrap materials taken from the workshop of his father. It was in 1879 (that Browning first patented his single-shot breech-loading rifle, which later became the property of the Remington Co. After producing a gun and an automatic pistol, he designed a repeating rifle in 1884 and subsequently, in 1890, the Colt machine gun, which was used in the United States Army.
The American Army also used his box magazine in the war with Spain. Although not always associated with his name, Mr. Browning designed many types of sporting rifles, including the Winchester and the Stevens, and also the Colt automatic pistol. Curiously enough, the only one of his many inventions which bears his name, the Browning pistol, was made at the Belgian National War Factory near Liege, where Mr. Browning died."