The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1891-08-19
MAXIM AND cArLINc GUNS.
Tools of Modern Warfare Illustrated in q
New York Clubhouse.

tieth street, last night, says the N. Y.
Sun.
Pointing straight at the door of the
parlor was a cannon, which peered
through hole in a steel shield. Piled
on a table were dozen guns and rifles
of all sorts and descriptions. On the
mantlepiece stood row of little bottles
labeled ''gunpowder,n nitro glyce-
rine," and dynamite"
Among the guests was K. S. Gatling, |
the inventor of the famous guns that |
bears his name. who took front seat |
and watched Mr.. Maxim with great |
deal of interest. Mr.. Maxim first ex-
planned smokeless powder.
He placed some ordinary gunpowder
on piece of paper, which he laid on a
plate and touched off with burning
match. With flash it went up in a
cloud of smoke.
THAT, gentlemen" Mr.. Maxim said,
sis not smokeless powder"
Then he took some of the smokeless
powder and burned it in similar way.
It did not burn so quickly nor was
there puff, but the flash was much
brighter.
Mr.. Maxim next described the kinds
of shotguns and rifles that have been
in use for the last two centuries. AS he
spoke he took from the table one of
each kind to illustrate his remarks. and
showed just how it worked.
The first man who ever made a
machine gun," Mr.. Maxim said, 'was
Mr.. Gatling. He made it too early.
however, for metallic cartridges were
not known at that time. Next came
the French mitrailleuse, which consist
| = - s,-fxr h,S- lc 70 OF
together, and all were fired at the same
moment. Then came the Nordenfelt
gun. which was simply modification
Of MIR. Gatling's idea. The next ma
chine gun to appear was the Gardiner,
which is operated by a crank. The
fault of this gun is that when the crank
is turned too rapidly the machinery
gets iammed. and the cartridges won't
60 off.
1.-The British soldiers who faced the
Arabs discovered this fault, and brave
Col. Barnaby and all his men lost their
lives because they waited until the
Arabs with their sharp swords were
close upon them. and then they resorted
to this gun, and it failed them. Next
came this gum"
Mr.. Maxim placed his hand on the
brass cannon at his side, and looked
proudly around the room. Then he
said:
when 1 went south many years ago
and fired my first musket the recoil
knocked me down. Ever since l was
a bov l had experimental with tools
and wood in making little cannons, and
when / fell down a new idea came to
me. l wondered if l could not put
that vigorous recoil to some good use.
When l went to London / experimental
long while, and this gun is the re.
suit. The principle is simple. The
cartridges are fixed to long strip oi
canvas, which passes right angle
, through the gun. press button, the
, trigger is released, and the first shot is
fired. The recoil of the gun is all spent
/ in pushing the lock-piece back against
: a spring and pulling the canvas strip
so that another cartridge falls into the
place. AS soon as the lock piect
touches the spring it is released again
! Another shot is fired, and the recoi
pushes it back again and so keeps up a
long as l hold my finger on the button
or as long as there is single cartridge
in the strip. OF course there are man,
details of mechanism, but that is tn,
, principle of the thing"
Mr.. Maxim wheeled the gun arounC
and pointed it into the mOunth of al
, iron pipe.
These pipes" he explained, ''ar
not used in actual warfare. hav
! placed them here so that I can hav
Something to catch the bullets and lie
I the smoke escape.
e There are 333 rounds on each can
vas strip. and the gun fires at the rat
1 of ten a second. or about 600 minute
5 The Russian army has 1000 rounds ol
strip"
g Mr.. Maxim calmly sat down benin
8 his gun and pressed an iron button
The gun did the rest. There was
r rafting din for five seconds, and
v shower of empty shells fell from a
: opening in the under side of the GU
and scattered over the floor.
n A dog on the street began to bar
v violently, and presently crowd stoo
in front of the clubhouse, attracted
the sound of the fusillade. Fifty empt
: shells were counted on the floor. MI
q Maxim said:
h There are twenty rounds left o
this strip and here they 60"
4 There was another racket that Taste
q two and half seconds and all tn
. shell had been fired Then Mr.. Maxir
told some interesting facts about hi
q gun.
r THE quickest work we ever did wa
h to fire 2 200 shots in three minutes
!. By aiming the gun at its highest eleva
i ton we can fire 600 rounds into tn
= air, and the last shot will be fired b.
r fore the first bullet reaches the ground.
t Presently Mr.. Gatling arose:
'.Inasmuch as l was the first ma
e who ever made machine gun l wi
h crave your indulgence for d few mt
o ments. lived in indianapolis durin
4 the war, and often saw regiments lea1
ing for the front of battle. Many {
4 them came back in boxes, and that ST
o me a-thinking. l found that most {
a them died of sickness or privatior
3 and few of bullets. So I said to m,
self: If / can invent gun wit
q which one man can do the work of
: hundred, can't the other ninety-nir
4 stay home? So invented the Gatlin
|, gun.
"The Gatling gun is also an automi
q tic gun. The navy has put an electrl
n motor to one of my guns. and you ca
q fire one shot or 5000 shots. On or
n occasion we fired 63, 700 rounds frol
q the gun without stopping. At anothe
time we fired 1000 shots into the al
a and the last cartridge blank was out {
!. the gun before the first bullet -ha
h touched the ground.
'.All these Inventions however, wi
4 help to preserve peace. War is b
y coming a terrible thing. What wit
. o the Maxim gun and the Gatling gu
- governments will be less anxious
: plunge into war"
u Correct Spelling.
A man who prides himself on spell