The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-10-07
The NOr,ienfcIt Machine Guns.

pouI vi ptoplc.
The NOr,ienfcIt Machine Guns.
An IMPRESSIVE EXHIBITION HELD RECENTLY
IL KENT.
fThe London Timcs.l
ON Thursday very large company, COM
posed OF members OF the army and navy
and repre-. cntatiycs Of foreign Powers. ac-
ccptcd the invitation Of Mr.. ThOrstOn Nor
dcnfct and visited hi grounds. near Dart
| ford. Kent. TO witness the working OF the
weapons known "a. machine guns" which
include the instruments which the Egyptian
troops Stunned i'm the late campaign aS
"pumping lead aS we'll a weapons ap-
IprOaching in calibTe and effects 10 artillery.
The company. who travelled by the
southeastern railway TO hartford. were
driven from the town TO hillside in the
valley of the Darenth river, where Mr..
NOrdcniclt had cut a butt and a range in Il
chalk citl. Here were ranged onc-bar-
relied. thrcc-barrclIed. fiye-barrelled. ten
barrcllcd. and twclye-barrcllcd machine
guns OF rifle caIibre, with the Henry barrel,
Of the same rifling "a, the barrel Of the Mas
tina-IIcnry British service rifc-a system
Of rining winch ha, well held its ground for
many wears. There were besides the four
barrel anti-torpcdo-boa guns Of onc-inch
calibrc, throwing heavy steel shot, made
from swedish iron. and so bard aS TO pene-
trite steel plates uniniurcd, a twO-barrel
gun Of the same kind; l-pOunder gun,
~ inch i'm caiibre; a 2-pounder 1or shell
or shot. - inch i'm calbrc; 24-pOunder
(for shell or shot. 1.Gj inch in callbre; a
3-poundcr Ior shell or shot. 80 inch i'm
caibrc; and j-poundcr (al,o for shell or
solid shot. inches i'm calibrc. I'm addition
a detachment of the Central London Rifle
Rangers, under Captain Armit. were present.
with liyc-barrclled rile-calibre Gun on Il
gun-carriagc invented by Colonel Alt and
| Lord Charles Bcrcsford presented hi, in
vcntiOn Of like gun on the galloping ear
r8gc exhibited before the Prince OF Wales
and the Duke of Cambridge on the occa-
sion OF Lord Charles Berc>iord reading "a
paper on these instruments a short time
ago at the ROYAL United Service ln,titu-
ton.
The first SET OF instruments, those OF rifle
callbrc. the first invented, and owing their
conception 10 the late Mr. Palmerntz. OF
stockholm, the partner of Mr.. Nordenfelt,
opened the day. proceedings. These take
| the rifle ammunition, or should, but ~ the
| Government official, made distinction
between the Calling ammunition and that
in Use for the small arms, these guns had
TO be- made for the cartridges in use
| To This Use 81 two sorts Of small-arm am
munitiOn there are many practical. Obiec-
tions. The l2-barrel rifle calibrc gun is the
largest OF this class. Tins weapon. which
/, mounted on Il naval carriage, weighs $50
pounds. I'm hall a minute il fired IN vol
4,
one 10 add h0ppcr- filled with cartridges,
the other To work the horizontal lever,
which opens the brccch with the backward
stroke, extracting the empty cartridge
cases al the same time. and fires the gun
with the forward stroke. The works
were shown TO be dustprOOf. and they are
easily got at. The instrument can be work
ed To- give the style OF running fire known
n the ZEN de jOie. and the tirer can de-
press or elevate and turn inany direction
the barrels while he is firing. The gun, il
wa, stated, could be- got TO work of 200
shots i'm a minute; but, Of course, its full
powers could not be- obtained in half
minute experiment. \ 0ne-barrcl machine
gun. made to compete with that adopted
from the pattern Of Mr.. Gardiner. was
shown and worked. This weighs only
thirteen pounds n against the sixty pound,
of the adopted one. aud is designed for
Use in the tops OF ships. TO all intents
and purposes il is a repeating rifle. with
the reserve on the top. This got OF fifty
four pounds i'm a half minute.
The thrce-barrcled gun Of the rifle cali
bre. weighing tiity->iN pounds. was the
next brought forward This was mounted
ON a gun-carriagc for light service i'm the
field. and was aftcrWard 80 mounted a. 10
show it, Use i'm the tops OF vessels. 1t was
demonstrated that the Gun part could be
carried ON yokes 10y two men and would
be- load for Il horse). while the carriage
could be- carried 10y mule, thus showing
it, Use for mountain or hill service. This
fired siXty-twOy oleys (lSG rounds) in half Il
minute. \ fye-brrcllcd Gun. weighing
Us pounds, also for use in the field. on
boit-. or in the rigging Of ships, had com
bined field and tripod carriage and got of
sixty yOlleys 900 rounds) in the half MI
mute. The tcn-barrcllcd gun, mounted on
a field carriage, the weapons shown at
ShOeburyneSs in the machine-glln trials,
gave 900 rounds in the minute, fired 100
rounds with spreading motion in seven
seconds. 200 rounds mt 500 Of elevation in
l3 seconds, and like number at 800 Of de-
preston i'm | seconds.
CAPTAIN Armit's detachment OF Central
London Rifle Ranger, then worked their
fiYe-harrel rife-gun on Colonel Ats car
rage. The authorities have not allowed
the volunteers 10 form machine-gun com
panics, 80 the men OF the corps have formed
a "mlchine-gun club for practice with
this weapon. and the eight men, with
cOlOr->ergeant and sergeant, worked the
gun about the field and hills in smart style
on a drill laid out by Captain Armit, who
was fOrmcrlya ROYAL naval officer. On the
word of command the gun was reversed. the
Timber opened, and the cartridge-bOX re-
moved. the hOppcrs were placed on the
Gun. and tiity rounds were fired. all the
movement, beng done in from eighteen 10
TWENTY-FIVE seconds. Lord Charles Beres-
ford then brought forward his gall0ping
carriage with iiNe-barreled gun and ga-
loped il to seven stations, at each al which
he reversed and opened fire, aud did all
the work. which covered two-thirds Of a
mile. including a hill, In 5:ij. Both these
specimens of new drill with new weapons
were warmly applauded.
The heavier guns were then brought
into action. These are worked by diff
lerent mechanism TO that employed in the
rille-cahbre guns. being loaded by hand.
The two-barrel l-inch guns, weighing is5
mounds. tircd hard-steel shot seven ounces
in weight. completely penetrating t-nch
steel plate against an inch iron plate fifty
wards distant. IL fired twenty shots in
six seconds. The four-barrelled l-inch
gun. weighing 81 hundred weight, Qhe
anti-torpedo boat gum fired shots singly
i'm seconds. II rounds IN yolleys in . See.
onds. and 100 rounds in % yolleys In "a
seconds, including the time for changing
the cartridge-hoppers. The new l4-inch ?
pounder she'll gun, weighing 8 hundred
weight. mounted on naval carriage, was
fired with solid shot, for the range would