THE MACHINE GUN OF THE FUTURE.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1547, 13 May 1885, Page 2

THE MACHINE GUN OF THE FUTURE.

The Gazette has had an intereiaw with Mr Maxim, the inventor of what he claims to be " the machine gun of the future — an i-.istrmaeut which renders absolete every machine-gun in Her Majesty's navy." Mr Maxi n, who is of pure new England stock descanted for some time in his ow*i qnaint way, upon the excellence of the weapon which l»ears his name, and said many interesting things about the people who had been to see his invention, and their surprise at finding that it w»uld not only keep on firing by itself, but that it would load itself, lock itself, cock itself, turn out the empty cartridge, and go on firing as long as there were cartridges in the magazine. " The English Govern , ment," said Mr Maxim, " has the ; first offer of my patent rights, and meanwhile I cannot part with a single gun." As he spoke he was arranging the belt of cartridges, which, when once worked into the interior of the machine by a band action, an operation talking about a quarter of a minute, makes the gun ready for firing. " Now," said Mr Maxim, "we can fire this at any rate you like up to 600 a minute. Adjust the indicator any rate of speed yoa like, from one shot per minute up to the maximum of 600. You set her a-going by firing the Brst shot yourself," and suiting the action I to the word, he fired a regulation cartridge which was immediately thrown out below by the gun by automatic action of the chamber. He then stopped firing, and explained the way in which the internal mechanism operated. The details need Hot be entered into here. Suffice it to say that th«y are exceedingly simple, the parts »>eing few and easy to be understood by the most uu mechanical of men •f whom, no deubt, Tommy Atkins ia one of the chief. When each cartridge is fired, the recoil, instead of wasting on itself, instead of kicking the gnu over, withdraws the empty cartridge, cocks the gun, places the n«w cartridge in the chamber, drives it home, and fires it off, the whole of the operations being executed by the momentum of the recoil. That force is either immediately used or stored" up to be utilised at any degree ef speed that the gunner deems necessary. Shutting down the lid, Mr Maxim set the machine going *t a gi eater rate of speed than at first ard asked oar representative to fire off the rest. He complied by adjusting the iuUicutor to the highest poasiblu

speed, and the remaining 21 shots rattled off continuously in abont 2£ sees. The empty cartridges rolled out npon the floor, apparently all in a heap. " How lons will it keep going like that Mr Maxim f — "As long as you will find anybody ready to pay for car tridges,' ; he replied. " I will provide the gun if any ody will provide the cartridges, which are wound into the gnn by the force liberated by each explosion. When you come to the three hundred and thirty third, yon simply hock another belt or to that which is finishing in the interior of the gnn,and so on " ad infinitum." As long as yon go on hooking belts of cartridges the gun will go on firing. It will never gat too hot, nor will it get out of gear by firing any number of cartridges at the ! maximum speed. This gun has fired some 20,000 cartridges already, and it is as good as ever, showing no sign of wear. It is the nearest approach to perpetnal motion that is to be found in the armonry of civilisation. Give it an endless supply of cartridges and it wonld go on for ever. If one of these guns had been in General Stewart's square when the Arabs came on, not one man wonld have reached the British line, the square would have been left' intact, and Colonel Bnrnaky amen? other officers would still be alive."