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PRESENT DAY

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 242 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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PRESENT

PRESENT See also:
DAY (O. Eng. dreg, Ger. Tag; according to the New English Dictionary, " in no way related to the Lat. dies")
DAY, JOHN (1574-1640?)
DAY, THOMAS (1748-1789)
DAY See also:

MACHINE-GUNS Hitherto we have been dealing with weapons worked by See also:

hand-See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power applied to a See also:

lever or winch-handle, the See also:

motion of this lever being translated by suitable mechanism into those by which the cartridges are loaded, fired, extracted and ejected—the See also:

cycle continuing as See also:

long as the lever is worked and there are cartridges in the " hoppers " which feed the See also:

gun. In the See also:

MODERN

modern " automatic " machine-gun, moreover, the loading, firing, extracting and ejecting are all performed automatically by the gun itself, either by the recoil of its See also:

BARREL (a word of uncertain origin common to Romance languages; the Celtic forms, as in the Gaelic baraill, are derived from the English)

barrel, or by a small portion of the gases of See also:

EXPLOSION

explosion being allowed to See also:

ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli

escape through a See also:

minute hole in the barrel near the muzzle. The following details of the See also:

BRITISH

British See also:

MAXIM, SIR HIRAM STEVENS (184o- )

Maxim, Hotchkiss and See also:

COLT, SAMUEL (1814-1862)

Colt types are reproduced from the See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article " Machine-guns," Ency. Brit. loth ed. The See also:

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea of using the recoil, or a portion of the gases of ex- i Attached to the See also:

REAR

rear of the barrel (b) on either See also:

side are two side plosion, for the working of the See also:

BREECH (common in early forms to Teutonic languages)

breech mechani in is by no means plates (h), between which in guides 0 See also:

WORKS

works the See also:

AGGREGATION (from the Lat. ad, to, gregare, to collect together)

aggregation of parts- e D, F, J, K, L, P, T and V, which constitute the See also:

lock, and (in See also:

BEARINGS

bearings) new;- the latter See also:

SYSTEM

system having been proposed and patented the See also:

CRANK

crank See also:

AXLE (in Mid. Eng. axel-tre, from O. Norweg. oxull-tre, cognate with the O. Eng. exe or eaxe, and connected with Sansk. dksha, Gr. a wv, and Lat. axis)

axle E, crank E', and connecting See also:

rod I (see See also:

FIGS

figs. 7 to II). (certainly in a very crude and probably unworkable See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form) by I The connecting rod I joins the lock and crank, being attached to the side levers J of the former by means of the interrupted See also:

SCREW (O.E. scrue, from O. Fr. escroue, mod. ecrou; ultimate origin uncertain; the word, or a similar one, appears in Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Schraube, Dan. skrue, but Skeat, following Diaz, finds the origin in Lat. scrobs, a ditch, hole, particularl

screw U; the latter enables the lock to be detached and removed. The crank axle E extends through both sides of the breech casing (d), slots.(k, fig. 7), allowing —it a See also:

LONGITUDINAL

longitudinal See also:

MOVEMENT

movement of about an See also:

INCH (O. Eng. ynce from Lat. uncia, a twelfthpart; cf. " ounce," and see As)

inch. To its See also:

LEFT

left-hand end, outside the breech casing, is attached the fusee See also:

CHAIN (through the O. Fr. citable, chcene, &c., from Lat. catena)

chain Y of the recoil See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring X (see dotted lines in fig. 7), and to its right-hand end a See also:

bell See also:

TRUNK (Fr. tronc, Lat. truncus, cut off, maimed)

trunk lever, B B'; the See also:

ARM (a common Teutonic word; the Indo-European root is ar, to join or fit; cf. the Lat. armus, shoulder, and the plural word arma, weapons, Gr. apphs, joint, and the reduplicated apapilKSV, to join)

arm B, which terminates in a knob, being turned by the crank handle, the arm B' working against the buffer stop C. In figs.

8, 9 and 11 the breech is shown closed, and it will be noticed that the crank See also:

PIN (a doublet with " pen " from Lat. pinna, feather, pinnacle, which is said to contain the same root as irirvs, pine tree, and properly to mean a sharp point or end)

pin I' is above the straight See also:

LINE

line joining the See also:

AXIS (Lat. for " axle ")

axis of the barrel, the striker T, and the crank axle E. As the crank is prevented from further movement upwards by the crank handle B taking against the check-lever G (fig. 7), it is clear that the pressure on See also:

DISCHARGE (adapted from the O. Fr. discharge, modern decharge, from a med. Lat. discargare, to unload, dis- and earn care, to load, cf. " charge ")

discharge of the See also:

CARTRIDGE (corruption of Fr. cartouche)

cartridge cannot cause the crank axle to rotate, and so open the breech as shown in figs. to and I2. The withdrawal of the lock and opening of the breech are effected as follows: The See also:

TOTAL

total travel in recoil of the barrel is about one inch, but on discharge the barrel, the side plates and lock all recoil together for about a See also:

QUARTER (through Fr. from Lat. quartarius, fourth part)

quarter of an inch without any disturbance of the locking as explained above, and by the See also:

time this See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short travel is completed the See also:

BULLET (Fr. boulet, diminutive of boule, ball)

bullet has left the muzzle. The arm B' of the crank handle then engages the buffer stop C and causes the crank axle E to rotate and the crank E' to fall and so draw back the lock from, and open, the breech. At the same time the fusee chain Y is See also:

WOUND (O. Eng. wund,connected with a Teutonic verb, meaning to strive, fight, suffer, seen in O. Eng. winnan, whence Eng. " win ")

wound up See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round the left-hand end of the crank axle E and the spring X extended. In the meantime the knob of the buffer handle B swings over, and just as the lock reaches its rearmost position (as in figs. to and I2) strikes the See also:

FLAT (a modification of O. Eng. flet, an obsolete word of Teutonic origin, meaning the ground beneath the feet)

flat buffer spring H, and, rebounding, assists the crank in revolving in the See also:

REVERSE

reverse direction; the spring X also contracts, and, unwinding the fusee chain, draws back the lock again and closes the breech, a fresh cartridge having been placed in the barrel as explained below. The gun is fired by means of the trigger F, which is actuated b--the-See also:

PROJECTION

projection (l) on the trigger See also:

bar (S), the latter being See also:

DRAWN

drawn bac~C when the See also:

BUTTON (Fr. bouton, O. Fr. boton, apparently from the same root as bouter, to push)

button (m) on the push lever (n) is pressed forwards. If, therefore, the button he kept permanently pressed, the projection (l) will always See also:

lie in the path of the trigger F just as the lock reaches its forward position and the breech is closed, and the gun will See also:

FIRE (in O. Eng. f j'r; the word is common to West German languages, cf. Dutch vuur, Ger. Feuer; the pre-Teutonic form is seen in Sanskrit pu, pavaka, and Gr. irup; the ultimate origin is usually taken to be a root meaning to purify, cf. Lat. purus)

fire museums, there can be no doubt that (See also:

Sir) Hiram S. Maxim was the first to produce a finished automatic gun of See also:

PRACTICAL

practical value. His See also:

PATENTS

patents in connexion with this particular class of weapon date back to 1884, and his gun on the recoil system was, after extensive trials, adopted into the British See also:

army in 1889 and into the See also:

NAVY

navy in 1892. It is very possible that See also:

Bessemer's idea did not See also:

bear See also:

FRUIT (through the French from the Lat. fructus; frui, to enjoy)

fruit earlier because the fouling left by the old forms of " See also:

black " or smoky powders was See also:

apt to clog the moving parts and to choke any small See also:

PORT

port.

With modern smokeless powders this difficulty does not arise. The Maxim gun,i as will be seen from figs. 7 and 8, consists of two parts, the barrel casing (a) and breech casing (d), secured firmly maxim together. The former (a), which is cylindrical in form, Gus-. contains the barrel (b), and the See also:

WATER

water surrounding it to keep down the very high temperature attained by rapid fire, and the See also:

steam See also:

TUBE (Lat. tuba)

tube (c), which by the See also:

ACTION

action of a sliding See also:

VALVE (Lat. valva, a leaf of a double or folding door, allied to volvere, to roll, as of a door on its hinges)

valve allows of the escape of steam but not of water.

End of Article: PRESENT DAY

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