mrw311 - AnthologyMain MenuIntroductionThe Gatling Gun and Machine GunsRifles and HandgunsIronclad Battleships and Torpedo TechnologyThe Boer WarsStagnation and Fear of DestructionAnxious, Fictional Accounts of the FutureBibliographyMatthew Werkheiserbaf3c422a98f36dbd4c83c180176ff0854fcbc18
12016-11-27T00:07:43+00:00Cross Section of Maxim Gun4plain2016-12-16T12:59:59+00:00A cross section of a Maxim gun from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, a Russian multi-volume encyclopedia. Invented by Hiram Stevens Maxim, it is the first recoil operated machine gun in history. When a cartridge is fired, the recoil from spent shell is used to move the breech-block backwards, ejecting the spent casing and loading a fresh shell. During the Second Boer War, the British army utilized the Maxim design to develop the "Pom-Pom," a 1-pounder (37mm) auto-cannon. The weapon platform was not without its drawbacks - the increased heat of a single-barrel set up resulted in the need for a cooling system which was, in the case of the Maxim, generally a tank of water. Additionally, the barrel was prone to stripping as it heated up - the rifling was physically pulled out of the barrel as rounds were fired through it, necessitating the replacement of the barrel after a period of continuous fire. Teams were often equipped with what was, in essence, a large oven mitt that was meant to handle the hot barrel and water sheath when swapping barrels in the weapon.
