MACHINE GUN 



3562 



MACHINE GUN 



Hydraulic Engine 



Hydraulic Ram 



Hygrometer 



Injector 



Kinetograph 



Knitting Machine 



Lathe 



Lens 



Level 



Lightning Rod, subtitle 



under Lightning 

 Linotype 

 Lock 

 Magneto-Electric 



Machine 

 Micrometer 

 Microscope 

 Mimeograph 

 Monotype 

 Mowing Machine 

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 Numbering Machine 

 Opera Glass 

 Ophthalmoscope 

 Pedometer 

 Periscope 

 Planing Machine 

 Plummet 

 Polariscope 

 Printing Press 

 Pulmotor 

 Pump 

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 Radiometer 

 Rain Gauge 

 Ratchet 



Reaping Machine 

 Safety Valve 

 Screw 

 Seismograph 



Sewing Machine 



Sextant 



Slide Rule 



Slot Machine 



Snowplow 



Solar Engine 



Solar Microscope 



Spectroscope 



Speedometer 



Spinning Jenny 



Spinning Wheel 



Spirometer 



Steam Engine 



Steam Hammer 



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Stereopticon 



Stereoscope 



Stethoscope 



Talking Machine 



Telautograph 



Telegraph 



Telephone 



Telescope 



Theodolite 



Thermograph 



Transit Instrument 



Trip Hammer 



Turbine Wheel 



Typewriter 



Valve 



Vise 



Voltmeter 



Watch 



Water Wheel 



Wedge 



Weighing Scale 



Wheel and Axle 



Windlass 



Windmill 



MACHINE GUN, a military weapon spe- 

 cially designed to maintain a rapid fire, deliv- 

 ering sometimes as many as 450 bullets per 

 minute. The War of the Nations, which con- 

 vulsed Europe in 1914, was largely a struggle 

 of heavy artillery and machine guns instead of 

 light artillery and rifle fire, as in previous wars. 

 Machine guns assumed such importance and 

 were so effective that rifles became of second- 

 ary importance, valuable chiefly in impetuous 

 charges on the enemy's lines, and even then the 

 final rush of the attacking force towards the 

 enemy's trenches, preceded always by big gun 

 bombardment, was supported by machine-gun 

 fire. In the hand-to-hand conflict that ensued 

 the soldiers relied largely on the bayonet. 



The modern machine gun is not the result 

 of one invention, but of a series of inventions 

 and improvements. As now employed in war, 

 the object of the machine gun is to concen- 

 trate the power and deadliness of a great num- 

 ber of rifles in one particular place. One ma- 

 chine gun delivering 300 shots per minute 

 upon a bridge over which hostile troops were 



attempting to cross would be equal in effect 

 to sixty rifles in the hands of expert sharp- 

 shooters. A concentration of machine-gun fire 

 is more deadly than shrapnel, and more 

 dreaded than the fiercest bayonet charge. 



The Maxim. The accompanying illustration 

 shows the various parts of the most approved 

 machine gun of the present day. This gun, 



edefhijk m n 



PARTS OF A MAXIM MACHINE GUN 



(a) 

 (b) 

 (c) 



(d) 

 (e) 

 (/) 

 (9) 

 (h) 



Handle block 

 Firing trigger 

 Safety catch to 



prevent accidents 

 Sight rack 

 Rear sight 

 Recoil plate 

 Crank 

 Firing pin 



(i) Carrier 

 O') Feed box 

 (fc) Barrel 



(I) Ejector tube spring 

 ( m ) Water jacket f 01 

 cooling barrel 

 (n) Front sight 

 (o) Nozzle 



perfe 



named after Sir Hiram Maxim, its invent 

 was the first machine gun which automatically 

 performed the operations of loading, firing and 

 removing the empty cartridges. It was adopted 

 by the British army in 1889, and so 

 did it prove that few improvements have 

 found necessary. Maxim first offered his 

 vention to the United States military auth 

 ties but they received him without enthusias 

 He then took it to Europe, where it was very 

 eagerly accepted. It has since been adopted 

 with certain modifications by nearly all Euro- 

 pean armies. 



The barrel is surrounded by an outer tu 

 or jacket filled with water, to prevent overhea 





ing. The cartridges are supplied from a 

 which passes over a feed wheel behind 

 breech. It is claimed that the full capacity 



