David Marshall Williams (November 13, 1900 – January 8, 1975) was an American firearms designer and convicted murderer who invented the floating chamber and the short-stroke gas piston. Both designs used the high-pressure gas generated in or near the breech of the firearm to operate the action of semi-automatic firearms like the M1 Carbine.
Early life David Marshall Williams was born in Cumberland County, North Carolina, the son of James Claude Williams by his second wife, Laura Susan Kornegay. He was the eldest of seven children and the younger half brother of the five surviving children from the first marriage of James Claude Williams to Eula Lee Breece. James Claude Williams was a wealthy and influential landowner of hundreds of acres in and around Godwin, North Carolina.
As a young boy, he worked on his family's farm. He was expelled from school during the eighth grade by Godwin School Principal H.B. Gaston and began work in a blacksmith shop. At the age of 15 he enlisted in the Navy by claiming he was 17 years old. His Navy enlistment was short-lived when the Navy became aware of his true age.Taylor, O.B, "First Real Clash in Williams Case Today", Fayetteville Observer' (October 12, 1921), p. 1
In 1917, he enrolled in Blackstone Military Academy. He failed to complete the first semester due to his expulsion for theft of government property in possession of the school. Several rifles and 10,000 rounds of ammunition were found in his trunk by Col. E.S. Ligon, owner of the academy, who found Williams had shipped the stocks from the rifles home and refused to return them.
On August 11, 1918, in Cumberland County, he married Margaret Cooke and they later had one child, David Marshall Jr.
After his marriage, he obtained employment as a manual laborer with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Several weeks later, while working with a railway team, he pulled a handgun and shot at a bird flying by, missing the bird but succeeding in having his employment terminated by his supervisor, Captain McNeill, section master.Taylor, O.B, "First Real Clash in Williams Case Today", 'Fayetteville Observer' (October 12, 1921), p. 3
Murder of Deputy Alfred Jackson Pate Williams began operating an illegal distillery near Godwin, North Carolina. On July 22, 1921, the Cumberland County Sheriff and five deputies seized the still and product after the workers fled. While transporting the evidence away from the scene, the deputies came under gunfire from the woods. Riding away from the scene on the police car sideboard, Deputy Sheriff Alfred Jackson Pate was struck by two bullets and died at the scene. Williams was arrested for the murder the following day.
Coroner's Inquest testimony on August 1, 1921, followed by the arraignment on August 2, 1921, revealed a total of five shots had been fired at the deputies from a single location. One of the deputies present at the shooting identified Williams as the person who fired the rifle at Deputy Pate. Williams was held to answer for first degree murder with the possibility of a death sentence. Attorneys representing Williams then notified the court that he could not be tried for the charges against him owing to insanity. Williams and five black workers whom he hired to run the still were charged with operating the still.”Marshall Williams is held without bond for Death of Deputy Sheriff Pate after Long Hearing Today”, and “Coroner’s Jury indicts Dawson and Williams', 'Fayetteville Observer' (August 2, 1921), p. 3Cumberland County, NC, Superior Court Minutes, pages 79-81 (August 21, 1921)
On October 11, 1921, a 12-man jury was impaneled to hear the testimony and decide the issue of Williams' sanity. Testimony started on October 12 and continued for four days. Williams was again identified by the deputy sheriff as the person who shot at Deputy Pate. The gunshots had come from the direction in which Williams had run, and all five workers employed by Williams testified that they ran in a different direction. The hearing ended in a hung jury (11-1 for sanity).Cumberland County, NC, Superior Court Minutes, pages 131-139 (October 11–17, 1921)
On November 22, 1921, his attorneys withdrew the insanity plea and Williams pleaded guilty to second degree murder. Immediately afterwards, Williams and his five workers pleaded guilty to the charge of making liquor.Cumberland County, NC, Superior Court Minutes, pages 185-186 (November 22, 1921)
On November 25, 1921, Williams received a sentence of a "term of Thirty Years at hard labor, to wear felon stripes" for the murder of Deputy Pate. On the same day, one of the black workers employed by Williams, Ham Dawson, was indicted and tried in Cumberland County Superior Court on the charge of secret assault on Deputy Pate. Williams testified during the trial that he had fired the first shot but didn't intend to kill the deputy. Dawson fired the remaining shots with the intent to kill the deputy. The same day, the all-white 12-man jury voted 12-0 for acquittal and Dawson was released.Cumberland County, NC, Superior Court Minutes, page 192 (November 25, 1921)Cumberland County, NC, Superior Court Indictment No. 94 (November 1921)”Williams Pleads Guilty, Fayetteville Observer (November 22, 1921), p. 1
Prison years
While serving time at the Caledonia State Prison Farm in Halifax County, North Carolina, Williams related that the superintendent, H.T. Peoples, noted his mechanical aptitude and allowed him access to the prison's machine shop, where he demonstrated a knack for fashioning his own tools the shop lacked. He began servicing the weapons used by the guards at the prison. His skills in the machine shop permitted him to stay ahead of his assignments and allowed him time to develop his ideas for self-loading firearms.
He would save paper and pencils and stay up late at night drawing plans for various firearms. His mother sent him a drafting set and technical data on guns and eventually provided him with patent attorney contacts, who were unable to help him as long as he was incarcerated.
Williams designed and built four semi-automatic rifles while in prison. All four used the high-pressure gas within the breech as a cartridge was fired to operate their semi-automatic actions. The means used to accomplish this was a floating chamber containing the cartridge that channeled the gas at the front of the chamber to force the floating chamber backwards into the bolt with sufficient energy to operate the action. Rearward movement of the chamber was limited to a short stroke to impact the bolt face, in effect making the floating chamber a short-stroke gas piston. All four rifles are part of the permanent David Marshall Williams display in the North Carolina Museum of History.
Commutation and parole His family started a campaign to commute his sentence, and they were joined by the sheriff to whom he had surrendered. The widow of the man he was convicted of killing was approached and agreed his sentence should be commuted if his work would help the country. The request for commutation was submitted to North Carolina Governor Angus McLean on November 22, 1927.North Carolina Prison Dept., Pardons & Commutations, Gov. McLean 1925-1928, page 111 (November 22, 1927)
On December 16, 1927, North Carolina Governor Angus McLean commuted the sentence from thirty years to "a minimum of ten and maximum of twenty years".North Carolina Advisory Board of Paroles, Book of Commutations 1923-1932, page 111 (December 16, 1927)
Records of the Office of Superintendent, N.C. State Prisons indicate Williams was "regularly discharged from the State's Prison by Expiration of Sentence" on September 29, 1929.The History Channel, “Timeout”, Segment on History of the M1 Carbine
Firearms development Back in Cumberland County, he set to work perfecting his inventions, filing his first patents on February 2, 1931. Amongst these was a patent application entitled “Automatic Firearm” published August 24, 1937. This application detailed his concept for the use of the high-pressure gas in or near the breech to operate the action of a semi-automatic firearm. The application and subsequent patent detail several different designs to accomplish this, including the floating chambers he manufactured on the four rifles he built while imprisoned.
Colt Manufacturing Company In 1931, Colt Manufacturing Company introduced the Colt Ace pistol, a .22 long rifle caliber rimfire version of Colt's M1911A1 .45 ACP pistol for training purposes. This pistol was specific to the .22 rimfire cartridge, with a recoil equivalent to its cartridge. In 1933, Williams was contracted by Colt to redesign the Colt Ace with his floating chamber. The end result was the Colt Service Ace (“Firearm” published August 24, 1937), a .22 caliber rimfire pistol with a recoil stronger than that of the Colt Ace but less than that of its M1911A1 .45 ACP counterpart.
In 1938, Colt introduced the Colt .22 - .45 Service Model Conversion Unit (Ace). Also designed by Williams, the conversion unit could be used to convert the 1911A1 .45 ACP pistol to .22 long rifle caliber rimfire for training. The kit allowed for the pistol to be converted back to its original 1911A1 .45 ACP. The kit was also used to convert the earlier Colt Ace pistol for use as a Colt Service Ace with the floating chamber.
U.S. Ordnance Department After two years, he went to Washington, D.C. to show his work to the War Department. He received his first contract to modify the .30 caliber Browning machine gun using the floating chamber system to fire .22 caliber rimfire ammunition to facilitate inexpensive training. His conversions were permanent. Two patents were filed for this design on Mar 19, 1935, and published February 22, 1938: “Automatic Weapon Patent” and "Belt Feeding Means for Guns" .
The original Williams design was redesigned and improved upon by others into a .22 caliber conversion unit that allowed the M1919A1 to be converted back and forth between .30 caliber and .22 caliber rimfire (“Automatic Firearm” published February 22, 1938). This conversion kit was designated the “Trainer, Machine Gun, Caliber .22 M3” (for the 1919A1). Subsequent versions were created for the 1919A4 (Caliber .22 M4) and AN-M2 (Caliber .22 M5 .30).
Remington Arms Around 1937, Remington Arms contracted Williams to produce a .22 long rifle caliber rimfire semi-automatic rifle utilizing his floating chamber intended for the commercial market. The rifle designed and developed by Williams can be seen in two patents: “Firearm” and “Firearm” .
The Williams design was not accepted by Remington. The rifle was redesigned by Remington employees K. Lowe and C.C. Loomis using the Williams floating chamber. The rifle was designated the Remington Model 550 and introduced in 1941.
The patents for the rifle, “Firearm” published July 18, 1944, and “Firearm” published August 22, 1944, credited the earlier Williams patent () of the Williams floating chamber for use with a .22 long rifle caliber rimfire rifle. This rifle was the first semi-automatic rimfire rifle capable of operating with either the .22 short, .22 long, or .22 long rifle cartridges.
Winchester Repeating Arms and World War II Management at Winchester Repeating Arms Company was already aware of the work of Williams when in 1938 one of its patents () was contested by Williams as it infringed on one of his earlier patents for a sear (). Winchester agreed with Williams and negotiated a settlement.
The Ordnance Department's General Julian Hatcher was impressed by Williams's work and in 1938 recommended Winchester hire him because he showed the greatest native ability of anyone Hatcher knew. Winchester entered into negotiations with Williams, who was hired full time by Winchester on July 1, 1939.