The Washington times., 1917-12-23
Continued from Page 49,

Continued from Page 49,
tions, falls into the recofl-operated
and the water-cooied.
Exclusive OF the mount, the gun
weighs about twenty-eight and one.
half pounds, when the water-jaoket
upon which cooling depends, is empty
and about thirty-slx pounds when the
water Jacket has been fIled.. This
jacket surrounds the barrel and
through II cold water constantly CIR
culates, reducing the tendency Of the
weapon to oYerheat The, gun was
ordinarily designed for, British ammu-
milton, but has been altered to take
the same cartridge a. Is used in the
United states army rifles, and which
are fed into the gun from belt con-
tanning about 25e rounds.
Ha. Heavy ReeoIL
In order to understand tn, mech
anism Of the VicI<ers, IL mus be Un-
derstood that, when a high power
cartridge il exploded in a modern
weapon a terrific recoil, the common
eneet OF which is seen in the "klckr
OF a gun. IL brought about Now sup
pose that the FIRST cartridge in the
reed belt OF lViekers has just been
nred. The bullet flies from the barrel
AZ about the same time the recoil is
exerted against the bTeech OF the
weapon, which locks the cartridge in
the chamber. In the Viekers gun,
tne barrel and the lock, together with
olher component parts, are construct
% 70 slide back one inch, giving way
before the force OF the. recoiI. This
movement opens the hreech Of the
gun and carries backward with IL
that part of the breech block known
as the. -extractors which pulls the
empty shell from the CHAMBER, OF the
weapon, The backward movement
also operateS q mechanism which
a fresh cartridge from the
feed belt. When the recoiling portion
OF the gun reaches its extremes, a
eoled spring operates to seud Il for
ward again. carrying the live cart
rloge INTO the weapon and firing IL.
This operation automatically repeats
until the feed belt is exhausted.
-Does Same Work.
The heavy Browning gun is de-
signed TO do the same work as the
Vicker's-Maxim. Because this weapon
IS an entirely new product OF Ameri-
;an genius, having been developed by
the inventor OF the automatic pistol,
he military authorities are guarding
he secrets Of its operation very jeai-
ously. II can be said. however, that !
The new gun will weigh about thirty
'lx pounds. and that one OF its fea-
.ures viii be an INTERCHANGEABLE sys. |
EN- Of air-cooling and waeer-cooling. |
With this improvement. it is possible |
% use the gun in regions where water |
5 difficult to get.
The Lewis gun, which has been Se- |
ected as the weapon OF intermediate
ype, weighs about twenty-five pounds, |
md fires coo rounds OF 80 caliber ser-i
'ice ammunition per minuts. 1t IL I
he weapon which will be used prin- 4
ipafly upon the fighting battle-planes /
Il the air hsets OF the United States
Irmy. The, Lewis is an air-cooled.
weapon, fed from drums
isch OF which hold forty-seven cart
idges.
Power to operate the Lewis gun Is
rawn from the gases which form in
he chambers OF firearms upon the
xplosion OF the powder charge.
'hese gasses are very powerful, ex-
rting, at the moment OF detonatIon,
many thousands OF pounds pressure,
'er square inch in the chambers OF
modern weapons. In the ordinary
ihe, all of this power Is lost.
In the Lewis machine gun. however,