The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1918-03-21

with machine guns in the early '9os.
AS a result of these experiments he
produced the Colt machine gun. Some
thing over 20 years ago the Colt ma
chine gun was adopted by the United
States army and navy
1t played prominent part In the
Spanish war. During the Boxer up
rising in China that heroic story of the
company of United States marines
who saved the foreign legations from
destruction could never have been
written If it had not been for Mr..
Brownings machine gun. 1t was the
effective use made of two of these
guns which kept the Chinese back.
The first automatic pistol designed
by Mr.. Browning was produced by the
Fabrique Rationale dArmes de Guerre
of Liege, Belgium. 1t was one of these
pistols that. killed the Austrian arch
duke. When the war broke out over
million of these automatic pistols
had been manufactured.
|
Better Known in Europe.
| 1t is because of the manufacture of
these pistols in Belgium that John M.
Browning is better known in Europe
as an inventor Of arms than he is in
his own country. The Colt automatic
pistol which was adopted in 1911 by
competitive test by the United States
for the use of the army, navy and ma
tional guard is an invention of Mr.
Browning's.
When hostilities broke out in Eur
ope Mr.. Browning's new automatic
rifle was being made in the factory at
Liege. A few thousands had been sold
abroad, but before any were shipped
to this country the Germans seized the
factory and transferred the machinery
to Germany.
Despite his modesty Mr.. Browning
his inventions. In 1906 he received the
much coveted John Scott legacy medal
Ifrom the Franklin Institute of Phila-
delphia and in 1914 he was decorated
by the king of the Belgians with the
decoration Of Chevalier de fOrder de
Leopold.
The latest machine gun invented by
Mr.. Browning is an innovation"in the
machine gun field 1t is so light that
1t can be fired from the shoulder like
an ordinary rifle. 1t weighs but Is
pounds.
The machine gun is a gas operated
gun. The bullets are expelled by
gases which exert pressure of 50,-
600 pounds to the square inch. Not
only this, but the powder gases are
hot, incredibly hot They attain a
destructive heat of 1000 degrees F.
Heat Of Gases Hurts Gun.
This will explain to you why it is
that machine guns must be fired only
a few shots at time. The terrific
heat of the gases would wear down the
steel of the barrel if the firing We're
continued even few minutes. So this
death dealing weapon, which can fire
breath at the end of about 20 shots
For this reason two machine guns
working alternately can accomplish
the greatest destruction.
The jar of the firing throws the ma
chine gun off the mark. The gunner
must stop every 20 or 80 shots and get
his range again. This, of course, gives
the gun a chance to cool But even
with the most judicious handling ma
chine guns are so delicate that they
must be repaired after a few thousand
rounds have been fired. The heat of
the gases eventually washes away the
steel But with all of it's faults a
modern machine gun can do the work
of about rs rifles.
Any one who has ever heard the
stacato bark of a machine gun can
not help admiring the ingenious me-
chanism which enables it to make the
recoil place a cartridge in it's chamber,
fire the cartridge, throw out the empty
shell, take a new cartridge from the
belt and repeat the performance with
startling rapidity.
Must Be Kept Cool.
AS can be plainly seen, the great
problem in making machine guns is to
provide them with a means of cool
ing Some machine guns are water