Bible Encyclopedias
Isaac Newton Lewis

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…

Enter query below:

or

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Prev Entry
Isaac Mayer Wise

Next Entry
Isaac of Antioch

Resource Toolbox

Print Article

"ISAAC NEWTON LEWIS (1858-), American soldier and inventor, was born at New Salem, Pa., Oct. 12 1858. On graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1884 he was commissioned second lieutenant of artillery, and seven years later was made first lieutenant. From 1894 to 1898 he was a member of the board on the regulation of coast artillery fire in New York harbour. For the next four years he was recorder of the board of ordnance and fortification in Washington. He was promoted captain in 1900, and the same year made a study of ordnance in Europe. His report led to the rearmament of the U.S. field artillery. From 1904 to 1911 he was instructor and director of the coast artillery school at Fort Monroe, being promoted major in 1907 and lieutenant-colonel in 1911. In 1913 he was made colonel and retired from active service. The same year a machine-gun of his invention (the Lewis gun) was accepted by the British Government after it had been rejected in America. During the World War it was extensively used by the different Allied armies, by the American navy, and in American and Allied airplanes. Colonel Lewis refused to accept any of the royalties, amounting to about $1,000,000, on his guns made for the American Government after the United States entered the World War. His other numerous inventions included a time-interval clock-and-bell system of signals, a replotting and relocating system for coast batteries, an automatic sight, quick-reading mechanical verniers used in coast defences, and a speed indicator for locomotives.