Engineering US Firearms and Ammunition, 1800–2010: Using Patent Records for Historical Research

This presentation will share findings from a two-year interdisciplinary humanities study of historical and contemporary firearms-related US patent records that included identification and analysis of technological developments and creation of a researchable historical database. Tens of thousands of small arm and ballistics patent applications have been filed in the U.S. since the early 19th century. A research collaboration of historians, medical doctors, engineers and computer scientists combined to learn how firearms and ammunition evolved historically as products of design, consumer research, law, and policy. Although often described and understood as static artifacts— unchanging and unfolding in one seemingly linear process – arms and ballistics products are products of changing social and technical systems in which many people and organizations, decisions and conflicts are behind engineering and commercial feats. Firearm products and accessories are a tangible manifestation of ideas about human use that are incorporated into firearms design. The story of firearm and ballistic innovation revealed in the historical patent record offers rich and overlooked case studies that are relevant to research explorations in the history of innovation, design, law, media, policy, trade, and consumer culture.