Patents of the Schmeisser brothers. Construction MP-18
If a bear steps on your ear ...
The anniversary of the outstanding designer, citizen and patriot of the Fatherland - Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov is approaching. It so happened that during the development of the production of his machine at the Izhevsk Motor Plant, and then at the Izhmash in Izhevsk, there were German technical specialists in small arms and motorcycle production. This fact, as well as the external similarities of the Kalashnikov assault rifle and the StG-44 assault rifle of the German designer Hugo Schmeisser, give rise to various versions of his involvement in the development of the best model of modern small arms, ranging from a modest “gave advice” to allegations of absolute plagiarism or even direct development AK-47. The crown of the absurdity around the alleged German involvement in the development of the machine was the insulting image of a German rifle explosion-scheme on the bas-relief of the Kalashnikov monument in Moscow.
Obviously, all this hype comes from the pathological haters of Russia and clearly schizoid personalities, obsessed with the idea of their own greatness in the media space. At the same time, Schmeisser is credited with such fantastic merits in the development of small arms, which even he, not without ambitiousness, did not suspect.
In order to understand the true merits of Schmeisser in the development of small arms and evaluate its design level, you need to understand several areas, therefore, before looking at the published patents of Hugo and Hans Schmeisser, you need to learn the following consideration, without which any estimates of the gloomy Teutonic geniuses are not will make no sense.
If a bear has stepped on a person’s ear, then he should not discuss Alfred Schnittke’s innovative ideas in his first symphony. Weapon - This is not just a set of performance characteristics, the name of the designer and the year of adoption. For this assessment, knowledge in the field of ballistics, the fundamentals of technology and production of mechanical engineering, special sections of mechanical engineering (principles of automation, methods of locking the barrel, etc.), the historical period of the creation of the sample, and general laws of development are necessary. Failure to comply with this condition will speak about the elementary amateurism of the authors of such, for example, pearls:
... in 1949, Soviet stamping could not ensure the quality of the Kalashnikov assault rifles
or
Schmeisser created something epoch-making - a short quick-firing carbine ...
.Construction MP-18
Hugo Schmeisser is credited with two models: the MP-18 submachine gun and the StG-44 assault rifle. They both appeared at the end of two world wars, marked certain milestones in stories and both for a long time were not taken seriously until, in the first case, the war in Latin America with the use of German submachine guns, and then the Kalashnikov assault rifle in Vietnam announced the approval of a new class in small arms.
So MP-18. The first thing to start with is to refute the myth that the submachine gun was developed on the instructions of the German General Staff as an offensive weapon for the German assault squads and was supposedly even used by them in one of the offensive operations. No one saw the document signed by Ludendorf or Hindenburg, approving the terms of reference for the development of a submachine gun as a weapon for assault groups, and although this is not proof that it does not exist, there are many facts indirectly confirming that the first submachine guns were designed as defensive weapon. This is primarily the location of the store, reducing the shooter's profile when firing from a trench - on the side of the MP-18 or on top of the Beretta Model 1918.
Initially, the MP-18 service staff included two fighters, one of whom was an ammunition carrier. It is somehow doubtful that a warrior was involved in the assault operation, whose main duty was to equip the stores and deliver them to a soldier armed with an automatic machine and in constant motion.
The second is the knowledge of the tactics of warfare prevailing in the WWII. I will not dwell on it, but it was she who influenced the emergence of a new class of weapons - a light machine gun, in the development of the idea of which later automatic machines for pistol and intermediate cartridges appeared. Schmeisser in the round dance of these events takes the same place as Fedorov, Revelli or Shosh, whose first light machine gun is called only half-wits. If only because the Shosh machine gun, although it was terribly unreliable, it appeared on time and played its role. The answer (or a parallel solution) to the creation of the Shosh machine gun was the creation of a light machine gun for a pistol cartridge, which went through its short evolution: from a two-barreled version of the Villar Perosa, which moved into the trenches and was transformed to the usual version in the form of an automatic self-shooting rifle.
The appearance of automatic weapons under the pistol cartridge is a natural result of technical evolution, and not a momentary brilliant insight, as people who do not know the laws of development like to imagine. A revolution in development can only be a scientific discovery in an adjacent field, for example, the invention of smokeless powder and the development of a unitary cartridge on its basis, which made it possible to create an automatic self-loading, and then self-shooting weapon. As a rule, at this stage of invention and innovation grow like mushrooms, a lot of inventors, developers, entrepreneurs try to stake out their plots by filing patent applications, launch raw products on the market, trying to chop off their piece, strangle competitors, engage in industrial espionage, plagiarism. In other words, there is the usual struggle for existence through the selection of the stronger and more impudent, called "natural" by Sir Charles Darwin.
At the stage of evolution, the transformation of prototypes takes place. For submachine guns, the prototypes were pistols with the possibility of automatic shooting and the use of hard holsters instead of a stock and self-loading carbines under a pistol cartridge. Some of this was also produced at the factory of Theodore Bergman, where their designer worked - Louis, the father of brothers and sisters Schmeisser.
These samples did not have any relation to military affairs, but were intended mainly for sport and hunting.
We now turn directly to the MP-18 design, which uses 319035 and 334450 patents, attributed to Schmeisser, and Theodor Bergmann as the applicant.
The 319035 patent claim claims two features. The first concerns the shutter device, in which the movable striker is located and in which the reciprocating spring abuts. The second is the method of locking the shutter in the extreme rear position by engaging the shutter handle over the cutout in the receiver. There is clearly visible prototype - a typical window or door valve. From the point of view of genius, nothing is observed so as not to bypass this patent with little blood.
Briefly about patents per se
Briefly about patents in general. The value of a patent is determined by how difficult and expensive it is to get around it, and you can always get around it. Everything is decided by the market, if there is a designer who offers a similar solution, for example, to hook the handle not on the cutout in the receiver, but on the cutout on the forend, then you yourself understand the price of such a patent. Another thing, for example, is the hole at the end of the needle in the sewing machine or on the blade of the Spiderco knife. No matter how you strain, it will turn out to be more difficult and not more technological, it’s easier to pay the author.
The 334450 patent describes a method for locking a hinged shutter box with a latch, for the operation of which the force of the reciprocating spring is used. This is an invention from the category of a very high category. One part is used to perform three functions. Those familiar with TRIZ will understand me right away. A similar solution is used in the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the difference is that it locks the lid of the receiver, and Schmeisser has the entire box rotating on a hinge.
But. Using the spring force for three functions is wonderful, but the detailed drawing in the patent is already superfluous. Therefore, when Bergmann did not allow Schmeisser to produce MP-18, Schmeisser, to circumvent the limitations of his own patent (if he really was the author), simply changed the spring shape and latch assembly in MP-28.
Of course, the sensitive issue of the MP-18 or Beretta M1918 championships cannot be avoided. I will say right away: it does not make sense. What moment will denote the championship? Date of adoption? But two samples, adopted with a difference of several months, speak only of the agility of staff workers, who completed documents a little faster. The date of filing of patent applications for individual nodes used in the final product? In this case, the Italian wins, as it uses solutions patented in 1915.
To sum up
The appearance of submachine guns is a natural round of evolution in technogenesis. Designed as a defensive trench, the weapon went its own way as a policeman, as an assault, and as a personal compact, such as the MP-40. The role of Hugo Schmeisser (as a designer) in creating one of the first samples is well deserved. On the whole, successful simplicity of development guaranteed victory in the competition and its adoption in the German army.
Such an achievement turned the head of the young inventor. Glory loomed on the horizon
New developments did not find buyers, simply did not represent any commercial interest or did not bring the expected profits. The case ended with a raider seizure of Karl Gottlieb Hanel's firm after his death. His young son, not having the ability to either technical creativity or administrative affairs to manage the enterprise, went on about the two brothers, giving them a third of the shares in the enterprise of his father. In this case, the brothers recouped for work at Bergman to the fullest. In addition to official salaries, they began to receive interest for the use of their inventions, the sizes of which they themselves determined, so the income of the brothers was many times higher than the income of the owners - the Hanel family.
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