Developed by Issac Newton Lewis, a U.S. Army officer, the Lewis Gun was one of the lightest machine gun offerings of its era, coming in at 28 pounds with the distinctive barrel cooling assembly included. Unable to sell the gun to his superiors, Lewis resigned and took off for Belgium, where he made a tidy profit licensing the design to Birmingham Small Arms and Savage Arms. Among other distinctions, a Lewis Gun would be the first machine gun taken on a powered aircraft, and it saw very active use in World War I. This particular example was manufactured by Savage on order for the United States. Blade front and folding peep rear sights, steel barrel jacket, and aluminum cooling fins surrounding the barrel. Both the pistol grip and buttstock are smooth hardwood. The top of the receiver bears the U.S. nomenclature and a small "anchor" stamp, with the Savage address and caliber marking on the top cover and additional Savage markings on the right side. Included with the lot are three extra magazines, oilers, metal magazine case, bipod, wood transport case, and manual.