108 



ORDNANCE. 



which are revolved in front of a solid fixed 

 block. This block hw an owning through which the 

 cartridge* are introduced, and another through which 

 the aae are extracted. An important feature is. that 

 at t lie imtant of firing the banvls are .still, anil the 

 meuluniimi if such that the loading, firing, ami < \ 

 trmrting take plan- during tliis pause A cartridge is 

 placed in the feeding-trough, which a pktoo pMoM 

 into a barrel ; the barrel then begins to revolve, and 

 the cartridge is carried on till it arrives before the 

 firing-pin, which extends into the solid pan of the 

 breech, and which has been drawn back against a 

 .Miring by means of a cam. When the cartridge is in 

 tin- proper position the barrel ceases to revolve, the 

 cartridge is struck by the firing-pin and discharged ; 

 then the revolution begins again, and the empty car- 

 tridge-shell is carried on till it conies to the extractor ; 

 an. it tier cartridge is by this time in the firing positaOfL 

 the barrels again cease to revolve, and the empty shell 

 is withdrawn and drop|>cd to the ground. 



Shuts from the gun firing a shell weighing 1 Ib. 

 will penetrate the sides of a torpedo-boat at toe dis- 

 tance of 1J mile, and they can be delivered with great 

 accuracy and rapidity. 



Besides the revolving-cannon there are Hotohkia 

 rapid-firing guns, having one barrel only, wherein the 

 cartridge is placed and fired by a trigger. This gun is 

 of recent development, the United States being the 

 first to order guns of this kind, the ones ordered being 

 6-poundcrs, 3-pounders, and 1 -pounders, for the Bos- 

 ton. Atlanta, and Dolphin. The great advantage of 

 having the charge, projectile, and firing-fulminate all 

 in one case, so that the loading is all 'lone at once, is 

 so evident that there has sprung up a demand fur large 

 calibres, and the Hotehkiss company have extended the 

 use of this fixed ammunition, as it is called, to 9-, 14-, 

 and 33-poundcrs. These will penetrate at the muzzle 

 5.5, 6.7. 9.5 inches of wrought-iron respectively. 



Another remarkable American invention is the 

 Maxim automatic machine gun, which is loaded and 

 fired by the energy of r il of a preceding shot, load- 

 ing and firing itself in fact after once being started, 

 leaving the aiming only to be done. Smoke is con- 

 sumed and the report muffled. The cartridges are 

 . side by side in a belt, and are fed into the gun 

 by a bell-crank lever, one arm attached to the barrel 

 ami the other to a glide having two clutches projecting 

 downwards. On recoil the clutches move to the right 

 and engage a fresh cartridge, and the return of the 

 barrel moves the cartridge into a position to be seized 

 by a carrier. The first round is fired by hand, the mm 

 recoiling opens the breech, withdraws a loaded car- 

 tridge from the belt, extracts the empty shell, corks 

 tii" hammers, compresses a spring which, when the 

 recoil is at an end, forces the barrels hack into the firing 

 II. the return of the barrel expelling the empty 

 case, pushing the loaded cartridge into the breech, 

 closing the breech and pulling the trigger. This is 

 truly a wonderful piece of mechanism, and the inventor 

 is .-anguine as to being able to apply the principle to 

 larg ( c calibres. 



The Maxim-pun has been built of a size to fire rifle- 

 balU up to a 3-lb. shell. 



The rifle-calibre gun is shown in Plate XL. 



The ouutide of the gun is shown in Fig. 1, the fixed 

 parts in firing are shown in full lines, excepting the 

 crank A C B. The crank is part of the recoil s- 

 tli" arm A coming into violent contact with the 

 ' ary arm D on firing, A by its shape moving up 

 on D with a gradually increasing an; motion through 

 about l.V), the most rapid motion being when the toe 

 of the nrtn I) boars against the lower part of A. the 

 rotary motion being mopped bv the arm B taking 



Eiat the spring-buffer E. The spiral-spring I-', 

 n dotted, is in a l~n on the left of the pun-easinc. 

 pring is extended one inch bv the recoil, and the 

 chain O is wound up a little nt it* after end by tho 

 revolution of the abaft, still further extending the 



spring. U'hen the handle H is stopned by K the 

 spring tends to bring all port* back to the firing posi- 

 tion, the part 11. which stops the crank-handle, being 

 BO made as to stop all relmund. 



1 shows the sights, K the feed-box, L the trigger. 



A ntral loiiL'Uudinul section is shown in Fig. _', the 

 parts being in the firing position. 



The lock consists of a hring-pin . a main spring li. 

 a hammer c. and a catch r. all mounted in the detach 

 able belt N N N. When the trigger L is pulled the 

 r.l ( I i- drawn back, and with it the lower end of the 

 eateh .. this movement of the catch releasing the 

 hammer, the main-spring throwing the firing-tin 

 forward, striking the cartridge and exploding it. rig. 

 :5 shows the parts when the breech is closed, F; 

 the parts when at the end of recoil. Figs. 5 and 6 are 

 I sections corresponding to the outside views of Figs. 3 

 and 4, and Fig. 7 is a perspective view corresponding 1 

 to Fig. 4. 



The limit of recoil of the barrel is one inch, but at 

 the beginning of recoil the shaft C and the crank U 

 begin to rotate, and all other movable parts are thus 

 drawn away from the barrM. The sliding -piece T has 

 an undercut groove on its forward face which fits the 

 head of a cartridge. anl in this way serves the double 

 purpose of a breech closure and a carrier to transfer 

 cartridges from the licit to the gun. As it moves a?way 

 from the barrel it withdraws the empty cartridge-case 

 from the bore and a loaded cartridge from the belt, 

 and. as its motion to the rear continues, it passes from 

 the guides that sustain it and drops, partly by gravity 

 and partly by means of a spring, into such a position 

 as to bring the loaded cartridge into line with the 

 barrel and the empty ease into line with the discharge- 

 tube P. The hammer is cocked through the motion 

 of the crank II bringing the connecting-rod S in contact 

 with the hammer-extension S. The soring brings all 



firts back into the firing position, as shown in 1'V. I 

 he empty and full cartridges are pushed into the 

 proper places, the carrier is lifted l-y the arm U and 

 the IM-H crank V, the liell-crank being of such shape 

 that the lifting takes place after the cartridge has been 

 | thrust home, while the movement of the connecting- 

 -rod releases the safety -catch/ Now if the pressure 

 i be continued on the lever g the gun will again fire, 

 and continue to do BO as long as the pressure lasts and 

 the ammunition is supplied. 



A safety-catch i> fitted, which, when turned out as 

 in Fig. '2, makes it impossible to pull the trigger. 



The cartridges, which are placed in a belt, are fed 

 into the gun by a bell-crank lever, one end fastened to 

 the barrel and the other to a slide having two fingers 

 nding downwards. When the barrel recoils these. 

 fingers move to the right and take hold of a cartridge, 

 and. on the return of the barrel, move the cartridge so 

 that it can be taken by the carrier. 



At a recent official trial conducted by the Austrian 

 government an average rapidity of 600 rounds per 

 minute was obtained, while the gun was being pointed 

 in every direction permitted by the mounting. In all. 

 1 :i.;')i il rounds were fired, and the gun behaved remark- 

 ably well, the loading and firing mechanisms working 

 faultlessly. The barrel is .surrounded by a water- 



Jaokot . to keep down the heat, holding water sufficient 

 >r the firing of 1000 rounds in rapid succession. The 

 water can IK* at any time renewed in 20 seconds. _ 



Mr. Maxim has built a rapid-firing gun wherein the 

 loading only must be done by hand. _ When fired, the 

 barrel recoils through a distance of 4 inches, the brooch 

 remaining closed. The return to the firing position 

 drops the breech-lock, cocks the hammer, nnd extracts 

 the empty rase. The insertion of the cartridge brings 

 into operation a mechanism for closing the breech. 

 Mr. Maxim has patented also a dynamite gun in which 

 an explosive mixture is used to expel the projectile. 

 The projectile is first started by a mixture of air and 

 a volatile hydrocarbon under pressure, and when the 

 projectile has passed over a little, mure, dun one-quarter 



