Patent for Lewis Machine Gun is Submitted

April 16, 1912: Patent for Lewis Machine Gun is Submitted

The Lewis Machine Gun was invented primarily by Issac Newton Lewis. Lewis had been working closely with British arms manufacturer the Birmingham Small Arms company (BSA) in an effort to overcome some of the production difficulties of the weapon.

Production contracts for first “European” Lewis LMG were placed in 1913, and the first batch of 50 BSA-made Lewis guns was completed by mid-1913. When war broke, BSA received orders for Lewis guns, and by the end of the war, the BSA factory alone made 145,397 of these weapons. In the US, Lewis machine guns were built in .30-06 caliber, mostly for US Army Air Corps and for US Marine corps. The Lewis gun also saw extensive use as an aircraft machine gun during WW1 and in following decade. 

Lewis light machine gun became most famous in British use and manufacture, as it replaced the Vickers Machine Gun, deemed as a heavy machine gun. It was widely used by British troops during WW1 and afterwards. During WW1 it was also supplied to Imperial Russia.