Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1885-01-16
MAxIM,s NEW MACHINE GUN.
Hts Automatic Action, Power of Regu-
lation, and Rapidly of Fire.

MAXIM'S NEW MACHINE GUN.
Its Automatic Lotion, Power of Regu-
Iation. and Rapidly of Fire.
The mitrailIeuse or machine gun,
as hitherto constructed, is weapon
in which all the functions of loading,
cooking, firing, and extracting the
empty shell from the gun are per-
formed by turning crank or work
ing lever. The first successful gun
of this kind was TIE invention of DR..
Calling, an American. Tais gun was
brought out during the war of the
American rebellion, and before metal
lie cartridges, which are SO essential
70 the success of machine gun, had
reached their present degree of per
lection. DIR. Gatling did not succeed
IN getting his gun used to any extent
in the great American war. The first
machine gun which ever saw service
in the field was the French mitrail-
lcuse. This gun was large, absurd,
and clumsy, and so heavy that it re-
quired to be drawn by horses it would
fire but $50 shots per minute. 1t did
not comprise the necessary element,
of success, and consequently failed.
The next machine guns to make
their appearance were the Hotchkiss,
the Lowell, the Nordenfelt, and the
Gardner. ALI of there except the
Nordenfdlt were operated by hand
crank, the Nordenfelt alone being
actuated by reciprocating lever All
of these guns must necessarily be
mounted upon a firm base, aid be
trained and elevated by screws and
worm gears. If they were made to
work freely upon pivot or universal
joint, they would not be firm enough
to remain stationary while the crank
or handle was being operated. The
safe speed at which a machine gun
can he fired depends in a great meas
ure upon the kind and age of cart
ridges used For Instance, if cart
ridges have been made some time 4
trifing amount of moisture NAV have
accumulated IN the powder near the
primer. When this dampness occurs,
the cartridges are said to hang fire
that IS, they do not explode at the
instant of being struck. Suppose that
one cartridge III a thousand should
hang fire, it would be necessary to
operate the gun sufficiently slowly on
the entire series to give this slow
cartridge time to explode, otherwise
it might be drawn frora the barrel be-
fore it exploded, or in the act of ex-
plodiEg, in either OF which case it
would disable the gun. To this may
be attributed great deal of the
trouble in operating maekine guns,
and their liability to get out of order
when most needed.
In the gun, which is the invention
of Mr.. Hiram S. Maxim, of London,
slow cartridges do not offer an obstacle
to the rapid firing of those which will
explode quickly, from the fact that no
cartridge can be drawn from the gun
until 1t has exploded, as it requires
the force of its own explosion to I'm
lock the block FROM the barrel and
extract the emsty shell. In Mr..
Ma1im's new gun there is but oEe
barrel, and all the functions of load
ing, cooking, firing, withdrawing the
empty shell from the barrel, and eject
ing it, are performed by the recoil
resulting from the explosion. This
gun may be likened to small engine,
the barrel, under the influence of The
recoil, acting as the piston, the block
as the cross head, and the scar and
trigger as the valve gear. The cart
ridges, to the number of 1888, are
placed side by side III a canvass belt,
secured together with brass eveletS
and strips. One end of the belt is
connected to the arm and the gun is
operated by hand until the cartridge
is driven into the barrel Then the
the breach bolt is unlocked from the
barrel, the empty case is extracted,
moved to one side, a loaded ca. trIdge
is brought in front of the barrel, the
arm is cooked, the cartridge pushed
home, and the trigger pulled, when
the explosion of the second cartridge
operates the same as the first.
Thus the firing may be kept up
automatically without any actio4 on
the part of the attendant as long as
there are any cartridges in the belt
The weapon is mounted upon tripod
stand, and between it and the top of
the stand there is placed magazine,
which is protected from the enemy's
fire by pair of light shields. The
gun can be rotated about the vertical
axis by means of a handle, which
turns tangent screw, or if the three
armed nut at the bottom of the axis be
slackened the barrel can be moved b.
hand to spread the fire over a consid-
cradle area. If q definite piece of
ground is to be subject to the fire, such
as a bridge, pass, or a ford, the gun
can be sighted in succession to each
end of the space, and its motion BE-
yond those limits prevented by adjus
tible nuts on the screw spindle. The
elevation of the barrel is altered by
turning the hand wheel on the inclin-
ed strut, stretching from the stand 10
the rear of tie gun. By Slackening
a clip on this strut the screw is thrown
free, and the weapon can be elevated
and depressed by hand
The gun stands about feet high
and is feet inches from the ;nuzzle
to the rear of the firing mechanism
1t can deliver any number of shots
per minute from two or three to 600
shots, the latter beng of course, a
kind of trialtrip performance, uader
favorable conditions. At all rates it
is perfectly steady and the gunner is
perfectly free to concentrate all his
attention upon the aim, without hav-
ing his vision or his steadiness inter
fered with by turning a handle. No
one can fail to be struck with the
wonderful ingenuity and greet
promise of this now weapon Its
automatic action, its power of reguIa-
ton, and its rapidity of fire most
recommend it to the military authori-
ties, while its steadiness and the small
demands it makes upon the attention
of the man in charge, must greatly
enhance its valHe in action, where it
is not the number of shots, but the
number of hits that count.
MIN MnRTu MILLIONS