David Marshall Williams
David Marshall Williams was the American firearms designer of the floating chamber and the shortstroke piston. Both designs used the high pressure gas generated in or near the breech of the firearm to operate the action of semiautomatic firearms like the M1 Carbine.
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.
Source: Wikipedia