John Moses Browning's Workshop

denton said:

The building where Browning did his work still stands in Ogden, and the name is still visible on the outer wall. This is a re-creation of his workshop at the museum a few blocks away. This is stuff that felt the touch of Browning's hands, back in the day.

I haven't figured out what kind of grinder/mill the machine in the far right corner is. Maybe someone can fill in that information.

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Looks like a horizontal milling machine.
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My guess is that it's a horizontal mill and that shaft on top is to support the outer end of a tool shaft. See above.

Looks like a small lathe to the left of the horizontal mill, I'd like to see some better pictures.

That picture makes me think of Robert Goddard's workshop that is set up at the Roswell, NM museum. It's amazing what was accomplished with the crude compared to today's tools of that time frame. Back then that was cutting edge technology though.

They didn't have to update their software or change their passwords every five minutes. Agreed it's very impressive the shoulders we stand on.

Actually, John did not do much of the machine fabrication, that was handled by his brother Matthew, who shares credit on most of the early patents. The Browning Sporting Goods Store was run by the Browning Brothers, of which John was the eldest, Matthew was the Vice President of the company, George actually handled the day-to-day running of the store, assisted by the younger two brothers Sam and Ed.

For those that wish to learn more, I suggest "The Guns of John Moses Browing, The Remarkable Story of the Inventor Whose Firearms Changed the World," by Nathan Gorenstein

Very cool, seeing the space and tools used by The Great One. The museum in Raleigh NC has Carbine William's workshop, tools, unfinished projects, etc. on display.

I read that John could think in 3-dimentional terms of ideas, but needed someone else to create the blueprints for production. What a fantastic mind.

Allegedly, part of JMB's Brilliance was in the imagining of the tolerances, too. Of having an intuitive notion of the where and how much the parts ought "fit" together.

Things like how a sear and a hammer need a solid lock-up, but not a rigid one that would preclude release.

He was also a "flexible" thinker, too. Looking at all the changes the War Department wanted in the Automatic Pistol over the decade they wrangled the thing out. The went from two links to one; no grip safety, to having one; even adding the thumb safety was an afterthought. All to make a horse pistol, the backup to a cavalryman's sword and lance.

4v50 Gary said:

Museum has the Browning Automobile Museum, RR museum and a few other things all for the admission of one ticket.

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Yeppers, and the ticket is only $7.00 - pretty cheap for a whole day's worth of entertainment. My wife and I make the trip down to Ogden (it's only about 100 miles south of here) to go to those museums every couple of years.
As a matter of fact, when I was in grade school my family lived in Clearfield (just south of Ogden) for a while. And I remember the museums being a favorite destination for the 4th and 5th grade "field trips" in the spring.

Thank you, Denton for posting.
It's the only vacation trip I have on mind lately, after watching a chapter of C&R Othais named an author of
"The Guns of John Moses Browning: The Remarkable Story of the Inventor Whose Firearms Changed the World" by Nathan Gorenstein.
Which I strongly recommend to ad to book the collection, it's a must have for JMB fans. Thus, more interest grew on me.
How he made prototypes with the help of his brother on the shop, based on functional templates.
Another subject on the book remarks how JMB trust his closest team (brothers and late his son) to manage production, business etc.
He's modest origins, family issues and how he reacted toward WWII.
JMB, Mauser and few others are my always lurking material.

That's some equipment, but JMB would have had racks, bins, or drawers full of tooling, probably several milling vises, and all the other "stuff" it takes to make the milling machine do anything useful. That's a lot of stuff, and bulky.

He would have had a drill press, a grinder or two, and at least one lathe, with its own set of tooling.

That might be a room he worked in, with some tools he once owned, but it's not even close to being a useful workshop as presented.

I’d love to jump in a time machine, walk in Brownings workshop, and show him a Glock 17.

amd6547 said:

I’d love to jump in a time machine, walk in Brownings workshop, and show him a Glock 17.

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I wouldn't dare to show a glock, I would ask permission to work as assistant or scribe for free. Just learning how to re calculate Rockwell or steel material selection pay itself.

Not at all what I would have imagined... very cool, just looks a lil lean. I would imagine a drill press and a whole whack of files and vices, grinders, punches, etc..... It's cool that those are his actual tools, they just don't look staged the way I would imagine JMB would have them....