Maxim machine gun
Maxim machine gun
The machine gun invented by H.S. Maxim. Maxim conducted a principle test in 1883 and obtained a patent in 1884. The Maxim machine gun was the world's first truly successful automatic weapon powered by gunpowder gas. Its caliber is 11.43 mm and the gun weighs 27.2 kg. It adopts a short-recoil (19 mm) automatic barrel and a water-cooled barrel. It uses a 6.4-meter-long canvas belt with an ammunition capacity of 333 rounds. The belt can be connected. The theoretical rate of fire is 600 rounds/min, which can be fired in single or continuous rounds; it can also be adjusted to a slow rate of 100 rounds/min through the rate of fire adjuster. The Maxim machine gun has a complex structure, and the water-cooled barrel is relatively bulky. The canvas belt becomes less reliable when it gets wet, but it has been widely used in modern wars.
Maxim Heavy Machine Gun - American engineer Hiram Stevens Maxim was born in poverty and became a well-known inventor through diligent self-study. In 1882, when Maxim went to England for an inspection, he found that when soldiers were shooting, their shoulders were bruised and bruised due to the recoil of old-fashioned rifles. This shows that the recoil of the gun has considerable energy, which comes from the gunpowder gas generated when the bullet is fired. Maxim found the ideal power for the automatic continuous shooting of weapons from the recoil phenomenon that people are accustomed to and turn a blind eye to. Maxim first conducted modification experiments on an old Winchester rifle. He used the gunpowder gas ejected by the bullet when shooting to complete a series of actions such as unlocking, ejecting the shell, feeding ammunition, and re-locking, thus realizing the single-barreled gun. Automatically fire continuously and reduce the recoil of the gun. Maxim first successfully developed the world's first automatic rifle in 1883. Later, based on the experience he gained from the rifle, he further developed and perfected his barrel short-recoil automatic shooting principle. He also changed the traditional way of supplying ammunition and made a 6-meter-long canvas ammunition chain. Feed the machine gun continuously. In order to cool down the barrel, which is heated due to continuous high-speed shooting, Maxim also uses water cooling. Maxim built the world's first machine gun capable of automatic continuous firing in 1884, with a rate of fire of more than 600 rounds per minute.
After the success of the Maxim heavy machine gun, many countries have imitated it, and some inventors and designers have improved and developed the principle and structure of the Maxim heavy machine gun. In 1892, the famous American mechanical designer Browning and the Austrian Army Lieutenant von Odeklek almost simultaneously invented the earliest gas-guided automatic principle machine gun that utilizes the energy of gunpowder gas. This automatic principle is used by most of today's machine guns. use. The Model 1814 machine gun designed by American firearms designer B.B. Hotchkiss was the earliest air-cooled machine gun. This machine gun eliminated the bulky water-injection sleeve on the water-cooled machine gun, making the machine gun lighter. .
This is a truly fully automatic machine gun. Its automatic action is accomplished by utilizing gunpowder gas energy. At the moment when the bullet is fired, the bolt and the barrel are knocked together, and the barrel stops after the gun recoils 19 mm, and is unlocked through the toggle mechanism. At the same time, the bolt continues to recoil, and part of the energy of the barrel is transferred to the barrel through the acceleration mechanism. machine gun, so that it can complete the extraction and ejection of the case, thereby driving the ammunition supply mechanism, making the firing machine ready to fire, compressing the recoil spring, hitting the buffer, and then recoiling under the action of the spring force, pushing the second bullet into the gun chamber. Lock, fire again. This is repeated more than 10 times per second, and more than 600 rounds of bullets can be fired per minute.
This kind of mechanical movement is complex and abstract to describe, but if you take a look at it in person, people will immediately be impressed by its ingenuity and ingenuity. In order to ensure that there were enough bullets to meet this need for rapid firing, Maxim invented a canvas bullet belt with a length of 6.4 meters and a capacity of 333 rounds. There is also a locking device on the end of the ammunition belt, which can connect more ammunition belts for long-term firing.
After the mechanism was completed, Maxim wanted to conduct shooting tests secretly, but unexpectedly the news leaked out. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge heard the news and rushed to the small workshop to visit. When the royal family moved, the whole city followed, and a large number of celebrities Important people arrived one after another.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the toggle mechanism of the Maxim machine gun moved as quickly and flexibly as a human elbow joint, and the bullets roared and fired like a hurricane. The viewers were all stunned. Since then, Maxim and his machine guns have become famous all over the world.
After that, Maxim invented a hydraulic buffer that was later widely imitated, allowing the machine gun to fire a single shot, or a burst of 10 or 20 rounds, or adjust to a slow rate of fire of 100 rounds/minute. . Maxim even imagined adding a mechanism to the gun so that the machine gun could continue firing after the finger took off the trigger until the bullets on the cartridge belt were exhausted. In this way, the machine gunner can still make a tragic contribution after being killed in action. In 1891, Maxim successfully invented a gas-operated automatic rifle. At the age of 56, the machine gun recoil-type automatic pistol named after Ma Qin came out. Since then, the field of automatic weapons has widened. "Maxin" became synonymous with machine guns and automatic weapons.
Today, what we should keep in mind is that it was in the Maxim machine gun that mankind first used the recoil spring, reliable ejection system, belt feeding mechanism, acceleration mechanism, Reliably adjust the bottom clearance of the bullet, adjust the rate of fire, adjust the hydraulic buffer and other mechanisms. To this day, professional firearms developers still adhere to the three basic principles of gunpowder gas energy automatic shooting pioneered by Maxim - barrel recoil, bolt recoil and gas guide. The English version of "Encyclopedia of Weapons and Equipment" says: "The emergence of the Maxim machine gun marked the end of an era. "The tactics that have been used since the Napoleonic era are completely useless."
Rampaging the battlefield
p>As soon as the Maxim machine gun was born, it immediately showed excellent performance on the battlefield. In 1893, 50 Rhodesian infantrymen used 4 Maxim machine guns to repel a fierce attack of 5,000 Zulus. 3,000 corpses were left behind. In 1895, in the Battle of Chitral in Afghanistan and the Battle of Sudan, Maxim machine guns also caused heavy casualties to the attacking enemies. In 1898, in the Battle of Omdurman in Sudan, 20,000 Islamic mendicants were killed. The monks were massacred by the British invaders, and an estimated 15,000 people fell in front of the Maxim machine gun position. During the Boer War that began in 1899, the Boers suffered a devastating blow from the Maxim machine gun during the charge.
But it was not until the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 that the fierce machine gun exchanges between Japan and Russia made the use of machine guns receive mainstream battlefield attention. In that war, the Russian army used Maxim machine guns, and the Japanese army used another famous machine gun. - Hatsikis machine gun. The former is superior to the latter in terms of power and reliability. Especially in the battle near the Yalu River, the Russians used the Sokolov low-wheel Maxim machine gun with a shield to shoot for the first time, which showed its intention. Unexpected effects.
The powerful power of the machine made many famous mechanical designers at that time invest in the development of machine guns. The American Browning, the leader in pistol design, was not willing to follow suit and launched one after another. There are many types of machine guns. Among them, the improved version of the Browning M1901 machine gun entered the main battlefields of Europe with the US army in the late World War I, but it did not play much role due to quality problems. Its recoil plate was not strong enough, so it fired continuously. The recoil plate broke. Later, Browning added two lugs to the recoil plate of the receiver, creating a new design concept.
In the early days of the war, the Belgian army relied on the power of military dogs. The machine gun was used to retreat in a hurry. The weight of the Maxim machine gun made it difficult to maneuver.
The Hatchykiss machine gun, which once competed with the Maxim machine gun in the Russo-Japanese War, was also widely used in World War I. Application. At that time, because the shooting frequency was too high, the high temperature generated by friction could easily deform the barrel of a gun whose smelting and metal material technology was not yet mature. At first, people thought of replacing the barrel, and later developed the water-cooling method that was widely popular during World War I. Type machine gun. This makes the barrel look thick and round. A typical feature of the water-cooled barrel is that there is a thin water pipe at the front to facilitate water circulation. Later, in order to expand the heat dissipation area. People also added some wrinkles to the cooling tube.
At that time, each machine gun generally required four people to complete the control and shooting, one person to supply ammunition, one person to observe and lookout, and one person to coordinate the command. But this configuration is not absolute. When necessary, three or two people can complete the shooting.
During World War I, tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft, warships, and even "Zeppelin" airships were equipped with Maxim machine guns. Machine guns were mounted on motorcycles for mobile anti-aircraft shooting. This shows the trend of mechanized force development. On the contrary, the dog-pulled machine guns of the Belgian troops are evidence of the decline of animal-powered warfare. When the war first broke out, when the Belgian army was retreating steadily under the German offensive, it was a large group of loyal military dogs that pulled machine guns and completed the retreat. However, both motorcycles and military dogs reflected the shortcomings of the poor maneuverability of the Maxim machine gun. At that time, the Maxim machine gun weighed 27.22 kilograms and the Hatsakis machine gun weighed 14.97 kilograms. The most famous one in World War I The German Maxim MG08 machine gun weighs 26.54 kg. For artillery, this weight is insignificant, but for machine guns with battalions and companies as the basic combat units, soldiers are overwhelmed. So people began to try to create a light machine gun for single use.
From heavy to light
At that time, an American engineer named McClan designed a light machine gun that could be carried by one person, fed from a magazine, and used a bipod. But for various reasons afterwards, he transferred the design to Louis, an officer and inventor. In 1911, the Lewis machine gun was born in the United States.
But this machine gun has not been favored by the US military. Louis then moved to Europe, found a close friend in Belgium, got an order and started mass production. This machine gun weighs 12 to 25 kilograms and has a shoulder-butt. It can be carried and used by a single person more easily. There are 97 bullets in the magazine. The most distinctive feature of the Lewis machine gun is its thick, round barrel filled with flakes of metal. This method of heat dissipation is more convenient than air cooling without water cooling. Later, it was the promotion of this cooling method that eliminated the water-cooled type. In the late period of World War I, the Hatchykis gun family also launched the MK?1 light machine gun that relied on gas cooling. This machine gun also weighs 12 to 25 kilograms. It was originally designed for cavalry and was later used on armored vehicles.
The Lewis machine gun was first mass-produced in Belgium, and its combat effectiveness was first recognized by the Belgian army. At the beginning of World War I, when German frontline soldiers first heard the roar of the Lewis Mechanism's continuous firing, they called it the "Belgian Rattlesnake."
The Lewis machine gun has left a more prominent reputation in the history of the world's air force and aircraft. It is recognized by the world's small arms industry that the Lewis machine gun is the world's first aviation machine gun. In June 1912, American Captain Chandler loaded a Lewis machine gun onto a pusher Wright aircraft. After the plane flew over the target, it began to fire on the ground. Hundreds of reporters quickly spread the news to the world, making it a sensational news at the time.
In August 1914, less than a month after the start of the war, two British pilots brought a Lewis Mechanism onto the plane without authorization and fired a shell tray at the German aircraft at an altitude of 1,524 meters, but did not fire. middle. This operation was the first application of machine guns in air combat. But when the two pilots reported the matter to their superiors, they received a strict ban from the British military authorities on carrying machine guns on the aircraft. The British were afraid of offending Germany and triggering retaliation. But only a month later, as the war situation developed, the British army officially ordered the equipment of Louis machine guns on aircraft.
After World War I, Louis donated $1 million to the U.S. Treasury. The money was paid to him by the U.S. government for the purchase of the Lewis machine gun.
When World War I broke out, only Germany truly realized the importance of machine guns. At that time, the German Army equipped more than 12,500 Maxim machine guns. The Battle of the Somme is the most thrilling battle in the history of machine guns. In July 1916, the Germans fired wildly at 14 British divisions on the 40-kilometer offensive front with an average firepower density of one Maxim MG08 machine gun per 100 meters. In one day, 60,000 British soldiers were killed or injured. The lethality and bloody smell of machine guns reached its peak on this day. In November of that year, when the Battle of the Somme ended, Maxim, the originator of automatic weapons, died in Streatham, England, at the age of 76. At the time of his death, he had British nationality and was granted a British royal title. This shows that people at that time were in awe of the Maxim machine gun.
By the end of World War I, machine guns truly became the mainstream on the battlefield. On average, each French infantry division is equipped with 684 machine guns (including 576 light machine guns), the United Kingdom 400 (including 336 light machine guns), and Germany 324 (including 216 light machine guns). This greatly exceeds the number of machine guns per division at the outbreak of the war. The number of 24 machine guns. Machine guns developed fastest in the United States, the upstart of the war, from 18 guns per division before the war to 1,000 guns (including 775 light machine guns).