A Brief History On May 15, 1718, Englishman James Puckle patented his machine gun, the world’s first! You may have thought the Gatling gun or the Maxim machine gun was the first machine gun, but depending on how you define “machine gun” James Puckle, Esq. (yes, he was a lawyer) got there first. Digging Deeper Puckle’s invention was a flintlock, the form of firearm ignition at the top of technology of the time. It consisted of a single barrel and a cylinder pre-loaded with 11 separate firing chambers of a musket ball and powder charge in each.  Puckle intended regular…

A Brief History On May 15, 1718, James Puckle of England patented the first machine gun.  This English lawyer reflected his times by designating that the ammunition for his flintlock fired 11 shot machine gun to be loaded with normal musket balls for use against Christians and with fiendish cubical bullets for use against Muslims! Digging Deeper Here we list 10 of the greatest machine guns throughout history, with consideration of innovation, historical impact, effectiveness, longevity, reliability and perhaps even “coolness” as criteria.  With so many different makes and models to choose from, many of which are worthy competitors, you…

A Brief History On May 14, 1973, the United States launched Skylab, America’s first space station. During the era of space exploration there have been significant milestones reached by the US, Russia, and other countries. We list 10 of those here, hopefully the most interesting ones if not the most important. So many milestones! The list to cover them all would be huge. Digging Deeper 10. First Dog in Space, First Animal to Orbit the Earth, Laika, 1957. If the Soviets were insensitive to killing millions of their own people, it is no surprise that they sent a dog into…

A Brief History On May 14, 1796, English scientist Edward Jenner used pus scraped from a cowpox pustule to inoculate his gardener’s son, the first ever vaccine used. Cowpox is a disease similar to smallpox, but much more mild, similar to chicken pox. Digging Deeper Jenner and others observed the fact that milkmaids frequently got cowpox, but never seemed to get smallpox, and smallpox was a deadly disease that killed about 20 percent of Europe’s population (with about 60 percent of that population getting the disease). Purposely infecting the boy with cowpox and after the boy recovered exposing him to…

A Brief History On May 14, 1988, Larry Mahoney, a convicted drunk driver, was driving on I-71 near Carrolton, Kentucky, a route to a cruel fate for 27 people riding in a church bus.  Mahoney had a prior DUI conviction and was sailing along in the wrong direction with a blood alcohol content of .24%, more than double Kentucky’s legal limit at the time. Digging Deeper The pick up truck driven by the drunk Mahoney struck the 1977 Ford/Superior former school bus nearly head on at a closing speed of over 100 mph, driving suspension components into the gas tank…