March 5, 1885] 



A A TURE 



415 



The cartridges are placed in a belt formed of two bands 

 of tape, before they are placed in the box, and one end of 

 this belt is placed in the gun at the time of starting, the 

 action of the gun drawing in one cartridge every time 

 that one has exploded. The gun is really a veritable 

 gunpowder-engine, the recoil of the barrel, the block, and 

 the lock corresponding to the piston and cross-head of 

 the engine. The recoil drives the barrel and its attach- 

 ments backwards, opens the breech, cocks the hammer. 

 and expels the empty shell. The return of the block is 



effected by a spring. As the bolt returns, it forces a 

 loaded cartridge into the barrel and pulls the trigger. 



It would naturally be supposed that a gun which loads 

 and fires itself would be somewhat complicated. This, 

 however, is not the case when the gun is considered 

 simply as a self-loading gun. The additional parts which 

 form a part of Mr. Maxim's new gun are due rather to 

 the mode of feeding than to the fact that the gun is auto- 

 matic. It is certainly a very great advantage to have the 

 gun supplied from a very large magazine from below. 



Fig. 1. — Maxim Mitraille .se. Lateral elevation and front ' 



If, however, the magazine should be placed on top of 

 this new arm, as it is in other machine guns, and be 

 small in size and depend upon gravity to bring the 

 cartridges into their respective places, the gun would be 

 quite as simple as any existing guns. 



The rapidity of fire in this gun is regulated by a 

 cataract chamber, and the gun may be fired at any 

 speed from one round per minute up to 600 per 

 minute for guns of rifle calibre and slower for larger sizes. 



This gun possesses many advantages over existing 

 types of machine-guns, among which may be mentioned 

 the following : — 



As it furnishes its own power, it does not require to be 

 firmly fixed upon its platform as other guns do, so that it 

 is quite free to move in any direction while being fired. 



Cartridges which hang fire, and which have proved so 

 disastrous to other forms of machine guns, do not present 

 any obstacle to the operation of this arm. As each par- 



