First things first, a patent doesn’t mean it’s an invention. It means somebody got paperwork done first. In that era there was a ton of patent infringement to a point many technical drawings in the patent office are intentionally wrong and unusable so that people could get the patent but also protect it by publishing incorrect info. Additionally a patent has geographical limitations so what one patented in the US someone else likely had the patent elsewhere. 129 patents means he had a good secretary. He also had several engineers working for him who did a lot of the work, which to his credit was under his watch but still not his work. Same thing happens today. I know several guys personally who have patents for things in the industrial world but the company they work for owns them and their only real recognition is that they are noted in the paperwork.
In the realm of turn of the century firearms… there were a lot of people working on the same basic things at the same time. First to perfect was not necessarily first to the patent office, nor were they necessarily first in line looking for a contract. Brownings designs for the tilting barrel locking mechanism is one of his best “inventions” and has stood the test of time as a good means for accomplishing the task. Brownings long recoil operation worked for a long time, then fell out of favor when better methods came about. Again, I’m not throwing shade, I’m just saying that he is more of a designer or engineer than he is an inventor. He did have some truly innovative stuff, but had he not done it somebody else would have within a short time span. Just read up on the fights between JMB and Hiram Maxim. Another example, Brownings patent for the breech loading single shot rifle. Simply taking fixed ammunition from Flobert or others and a contemporary rifle and figuring out a way to make it work. Good design, great engineering, just not that hard of a thought process to make this gizmo fit that gizmo, so really what got invented there?
My whole point in this is that people overlook absolutely brilliant and important people who have contributed to the common good in so many ways and celebrate others, often who have done less but with better publicity. Had the situation in Europe been different in the earliest days of the 20th century then the things Browning (and others) did would have not been profitable, but with war looming and the Industrial Revolution kicking into gear at the same time as innovation in machinery and metallurgy there was a market for new weapons. Somebody was going to make it happen. Hiram Maxim made his machine gun and got parents for gas operated weapons. He invented an entire class of weapon. Browning came along right on his heels and did the same thing in a different way which seems to have worked out better over time. Let’s give him credit for being a brilliant man and distinguished engineer and designer. Let’s not however forget all of the other guys by giving JMB more credit than is due.
Yes this is one of my buttons that gets pushed to set me off somewhat regularly.