The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-21

with a view of making machine gun
which would be operated by the back
ward action of the cartridge in the
chamber at the instant of firing. He
tried many devices, no one Of which
was entirely successful, and he then de-
termined to allow the barrel to recoil
with the mechanism.
In the meantime, finding that his
quarters We're not suitable for his pur-
pose, he hired other premises and pro-
Vided himself with all the necessary
tools and appliances in order to enable
him to conduct his experiments on his
own premises. But before making a
machine gun he decided to make an
apparatus which might be considered
more of a dynamometer than a gun,
consisting of two steel bars mounted
IN such a manner that the various parts
OF the mechanism could be attached in
any position. Everything was made
adjustable, and with this apparatus he
was able to determine the force and
character of the recoil and to ascertain
all the data necessary to enable him to
construct a successful automatic fire
arm.
The cartridge employed was what is
known as the Royal Laboratory ma
chine gun cartridge, such as was then
used in the Nordenfeldt and Gardner
guns. With that apparatus he was
| able TO put seven cartridges into the
magazine, and he found that the whole
went off in less than a second or at
the rate of about 600 rounds in a min
ute. This was the first successful ap-
y a fms. Of
apparatus that would successfully load
and fire itself
About that time it became evident to
Mr.. Maxim that there We're many ways
OF operating a gun by energy derived
from the burning powder He saw that
1t would not do to depend altogether
upon patents for automatic guns that
worked only by the recoil energy. and
he therefore determined to take out a
series of patents all over the world and
10 show in the patents every conceiva-
BILE means of working machine guns by
energy derived from the burning pow
der. His work being original, he had
TO make his own drawings, and with
these patents We're applied for in all
the principal countries in the world
Some systems worked by the movement
OF the cartridge in the chamber 9TH
ers by the gases working upon the pis-
ton or escaping from the muzzle; others
by the recoil of the barrel, and others
by various other means Guns with
four, eight, and twelve barrels, in
which each barrel worked the mechan-
ism of the neighboring barrel, were
patented
Thereafter Mr.. Maxim continued the
work Of developing his ideas, and he
has since shown a gun weighing forty
pounds which fired 1000 rounds in a
minute and half, and 1000 rounds in
slightly ever three mintes, a record
which has never been beaten. He
claims that as he was the first man in
the field, and as no one had ever made
an automatic gun before, he was able
to take out any number Of master pat
ents, which show every conceivable way
of working an automatic arm, and to
get very broad claims. Maxim guns
are now made in England, Germany,
France, Sweden and Spain.
AS to the future of automatic guns.
Mr.. Maxim says he believes that in the
immediate future the automatic sys-
firearms. As to the possibilities of
what might be done, he says that in
England, with the appliances now
available, where single steel forgings
weighing 80 tons may be made if re-
quired, and in this country, where he
believes perfect steel forgings weighing
2OO tons may be obtained it would be
possible to make very large automatic
guns with barrels all in one piece.
which would require half the time, half
the steel and half the expense of a
built-up gun of the same size.
Moreover, as a. large gun made all in
one piece would have great longi-
tudinal strength, there would be no
danger of its bending, as is the case
With the large buiIt-up guns now in
use. In fact. it would now be possible
with a slight alteration in present ap-
planes to make an automatic gun
weighing $50 tons, having a bore OF
from seventeen to eighteen inches, that
would give muZzle velocity to its
projectiles of over 1900 feet second
and would fire from two to three
rounds in a. minute.
An automatic gun is a gun in which
are performed by energy derived from
the burning powder, and these guns
must not be COMPOUNDED with guns
which are operated by hand In guns
of the eating. the Gardner and the
Pratt & Whitney type the cartridges
are placed in a hopper Immediately
over the gun. and fed into the APP
paratus and fred by turning a crank
The same is true of the Hotchkiss can
non. but as the energy for working
these guns is derived from hand power
they are not automatic guns.
There are many ways of working an
automatic gun. Those patented by Mr.
Maxim in London may be divided into
three principal types:
First-Those in which the barrel and
the mechanism recoil together. the en-
ergy Of the recoil being stored in
springs at each discharge and given
out again for the purpose of loading
and firing the arm.
SecOnd-Those in which the cartridge
case moves backward in the barrel at
the instant Of firing, the work done
by the backward movement being util-
lied for loading and firing the arm.
Third--Those in which the gases es-
Gaping from the barrel are employed
for performing the same functions.
The first automatic gun ever made
in the world belonged to the first class
namely, one in which the barrel and
the mechanism recoiled together. This
was produced at Mr.. Maxim's expert
mental factory at Hatton Garden. Lon
don, IN 1884, but it was not before 1886
that the automatic gun entered into
serious competition with other systems
| At first it was ridiculed by everyone