Opening the text

The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.Byrn, Edward W. (Edward Wright)

History

The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.

Name: The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
Author: Byrn, Edward W. (Edward Wright)

Byrn, Edward W. (Edward Wright)

Inventions -- History; Inventions -- History -- 19th century

_The Machine Gun._--During the Civil War a gun made its appearance
which, although of small calibre, rivaled in its deadly effectiveness
the wholesale slaughter of the cannon. It was a new type, and was known
as the machine gun, or battery gun, in which balls of comparatively
small size were discharged uninterruptedly and in incredible succession.
It was the invention of Dr. R. J. Gatling, and was covered by him in
patents No. 36,836, November 4, 1862, and No. 47,631, May 9, 1865, and
in many subsequent patents for minor improvements, and is now
universally known as the Gatling gun. It consisted of a circular series
of barrels mounted on a central shaft, and revolved by suitable gears
and a hand crank. The cartridges were automatically and successively fed
into the chambers of the barrel, and its several hammers were so
arranged in connection with the barrels that the whole operation of
loading, closing the breech, discharging and expelling the empty
cartridge cases was conducted while the barrels were kept in a
continuous revolving movement by turning the hand crank. In Fig. 274 is
shown a modern example of the Gatling gun equipped with the Accles feed.
Ordinarily the gun has ten barrels, with ten corresponding locks, which
revolve together during the working of the gun. When the gun is in
action there are always five cartridges going through the process of
loading, and five empty shells in different stages of being extracted,
and many hundred shots a minute can be fired. Many modifications of this
gun have been made by Hotchkiss and others. Maxim, Nordenfelt, and
Benet have each made valuable inventions in machine guns of a somewhat
different type, some of which utilize the force of the exploding charges
to react on the feed and firing mechanism, and thus furnish the power to
continue the consecutive operation of the gun, so that no hand crank is
required, but the gun works itself with an incessant hail of balls until
its supply of cartridges is exhausted.

[Illustration: FIG. 274.--GATLING GUN ON UNITED STATES ARMY MODEL
CARRIAGE.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.Byrn, Edward W. (Edward Wright)

History

The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.

Byrn, Edward W. (Edward Wright)

Inventions -- History; Inventions -- History -- 19th century

_The Machine Gun._--During the Civil War a gun made its appearance
which, although of small calibre, rivaled in its deadly effectiveness
the wholesale slaughter of the cannon. It was a new type, and was known
as the machine gun, or battery gun, in which balls of comparatively
small size were discharged uninterruptedly and in incredible succession.
It was the invention of Dr. R. J. Gatling, and was covered by him in
patents No. 36,836, November 4, 1862, and No. 47,631, May 9, 1865, and
in many subsequent patents for minor improvements, and is now
universally known as the Gatling gun. It consisted of a circular series
of barrels mounted on a central shaft, and revolved by suitable gears
and a hand crank. The cartridges were automatically and successively fed
into the chambers of the barrel, and its several hammers were so
arranged in connection with the barrels that the whole operation of
loading, closing the breech, discharging and expelling the empty
cartridge cases was conducted while the barrels were kept in a
continuous revolving movement by turning the hand crank. In Fig. 274 is
shown a modern example of the Gatling gun equipped with the Accles feed.
Ordinarily the gun has ten barrels, with ten corresponding locks, which
revolve together during the working of the gun. When the gun is in
action there are always five cartridges going through the process of
loading, and five empty shells in different stages of being extracted,
and many hundred shots a minute can be fired. Many modifications of this
gun have been made by Hotchkiss and others. Maxim, Nordenfelt, and
Benet have each made valuable inventions in machine guns of a somewhat
different type, some of which utilize the force of the exploding charges
to react on the feed and firing mechanism, and thus furnish the power to
continue the consecutive operation of the gun, so that no hand crank is
required, but the gun works itself with an incessant hail of balls until
its supply of cartridges is exhausted.

[Illustration: FIG. 274.--GATLING GUN ON UNITED STATES ARMY MODEL
CARRIAGE.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.

The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.

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