The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-25
TIE MAXIM MACHINE GUN.
shots ct the Rate of Ten Per Second.
Utilizing the Secoil.

But Great as is our ed niration for the
Gardner and Calling guns, il must give way
before tine astonishment ard wonder excited
by another American invention but very re-
Gently perfected. IL is the Maxim automatic
machine gun, invented in 1888, but only
within year past brought 10 u state Of won
derful and ingenious perfes ton. II IS with
feeling almost akin to shame that We state
that this gun is made in England, although
the inventor is American. 1t IS, as its name
indicates. an automatic machine gun, and
only requires tho pressure Of the finger on the
trigger u explode the first cartridge, and the
Gun, then left alone, will lad and fire itself
as long as cartridges are asd to it. The gun
proper consists Of an ordinary gun barrel,
two-thirds Of which are surrounded by a cas-
ing OF metal in which water IS automatically
injected by each discharge Of the barrel. by
means Of this casing, or water jacket, II Is
impossible 10 overhead the gun by firing.
The remaining third is surrounded by n steel
case Of rectangular shape, inside Of which Is
the mechanism for operating the gun. This
mechanism consists Of a main spring, tum-
bier, sears, and firing pin, similar to those
used in the old fashioned pistol In addition
is the lever, which, when the gun is fired, is
thrown into action by the recoiL The ar
rangement is at once set in motion-the
empty she'll withdrawn, a new cartridge IN
serted, the breech closed, n cartridge fired,
and certain quantity Of water admitted
into the water jacket The cartridges are
placed in pockets on a belt Each belt con-
tains 1873 Of these pockets and two or more
L.. tnfttai Tho and ~ ftfa
belt is introduced in the breech casing, and
the finger pressed on the trigger TO fire the
first cartridge, after which the gun may be
left alone, and the automatic action set in
motion by the recoil fires the rest. As the
recoil is but three-quarters Of an inch, some
idea may be had of the wonderful ingenuity
Of tue gun 10y considering that it will tire the
CG6 cartridges of the double belt in a little
over a minute, or at the rate Of ten second;
in other words, il requires but one-tenth OF a
second 10 load the gun, fire a cartridge,
throw out the empty shell and put IN fuii
one.
Again, the recoil Of the gun does another
work. Over the casing is q small tank Of
water, and at each discharge OF the gun
small quantity Of cool water is injected from
Alt 'iNt'lH AAlF hA' NftNA JlNN-ANAf hhA AAtNA
the heat Of the gun has risen sufficiently, the
water escapes in the form Of steam from two
little apertures at the front end Of the jacket.
The cartridge contains from 20 10 80 grains
Of powder and the heat evolved in the dis
charge of one cartridge is sufficient to raise
the temperature of the water at the rate Of
IA dogs. Fahrenheit per pound. And sas
much heat is required to melt four pounds Of
iron as IS necessary TO eyaporate five pounds
Of water, it can be seen from this what an
eifectual absorbent Of heat is the water JACKIE
and in fact it requires the discharge Of 1900
cartridges before tho water il heated suili
GENTLY TO cause steam 10 make IT'S appear
ance The rate Of fire is regulated by means
Ola quadrant graduated from 200 up 10 200
Lieut. William X. Hamilton in The Cen
fury.