Background
Isaac Newton Lewis, the son of James H. and Anne (Kendall) Lewis, was born on October 12, 1858 in New Salem, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States.
Isaac Newton Lewis, the son of James H. and Anne (Kendall) Lewis, was born on October 12, 1858 in New Salem, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States.
He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1884. Later he studied at Torpedo School and graduated in 1886.
In 1884 Lewis was commissioned second lieutenant in the 2nd Artillery. He was promoted through the grades to colonel, which grade he reached August 27, 1913, and on September 20 of the same year he was retired from active service on account of disability incurred in line of duty and devoted himself to technical study and experimentation.
Lewis was entrusted with many important assignments, particularly along scientific lines in connection with artillery and ordnance. He served as a member of the board of regulation of coast artillery fire, New York Harbor (1894 - 1898); recorder of the board of ordnance and fortification, Washington (1898 - 1902); instructor in electricity and power; director of the department of enlisted specialists; acting commandant of the Coast Artillery School at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. ; commander of the post of Fortress Monroe and the Artillery District of the Chesapeake (1904 - 1911).
He also devised a system of fire control for San Francisco harbor, which he demonstrated in France, Germany, Austria, and Russia, and which the last-named country adopted. In 1900, under special instructions of the Secretary of War, he visited several European countries and made a study of their methods of manufacturing and supplying ordnance material. Immediately upon his retirement from active service he proceeded to Liège, Belgium, to build a factory for the development and manufacture of the Lewis machine gun in Europe, having failed to secure the approval of the War Department in Washington for the trial and development of the gun for the United States service.
After the outbreak of the World War, he moved to England, and was connected with the Birmingham Small Arms Company. In 1916 tests were conducted in the United States for the purpose of selecting a machine gun for the United States service. The Lewis gun was submitted with others, and was rejected by the War Department board, because of the large number of malfunctions and stoppages during the firing test. Its rejection started a controversy, which raged for some time in the service and the press and finally reached a stage where open letters from high-ranking officers of the army were published. In order to settle the technical questions involved, a board was constituted, and the inspector-general of the army was ordered to investigate other aspects of the case. The findings of the board, and of the inspector-general were approved by the Secretary of War, who ordered that further controversy on this subject cease. After certain requirements had been complied with, the gun was accepted by the government and large numbers were used by the army in arming airplanes.
Lewis remained in Europe throughout the war, in personal contact with the French. British, and Belgian field armies. Lewis guns were delivered to the Allies at the front at the rate of 3, 500 complete gun units per week, and a total of over 100, 000 guns were used by them. He was technical director of the Lewis Machine Gun Company of London; president of the Lewis Machine Gun Company and director of the Automatic Arms Company of Cleveland, Ohio; technical director and manager of the Armes Automatique Lewis of Belgium; and director of the Société des Armes Lewis, of Paris. Possessing a profound knowledge of mechanical and electrical engineering and thoroughly conversant with all phases of coast artillery construction and equipment, he earned an enviable reputation in his profession. At the close of his life his home was in Montclair, New Jersey; his death occurred suddenly in a railroad station at Hoboken.
He was married, October 21, 1886, to Mary, daughter of the Rev. Richard Wheatley of New York City, and had four children.