“Hiram Maxim and His Machinegun: a Great Force Harnessed to a Useful Purpose”

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

“Hiram Maxim and His Machinegun: a Great Force Harnessed to a Useful Purpose”

NDIA International Small Arms Symposium, Exhibition & Firing Demo 2008 “Hiram Maxim and His Machinegun: A great force harnessed to a useful purpose” By Stephen C. Small, Ph.D. as of 1500hrs – 13 May 08 Agenda • The Early Years • His Automatic Machinegun • Marketing the Maxim Machinegun • Colonial Wars • Ordnance Department Tests •20th Century Warfare • The Human Cost • Summary The Early Years The Young Inventor at The United States Electric Lighting Co. Embarks for Europe His Automatic Machinegun “Cannot this great force be harnessed to a useful purpose?” 1884: The Initial Attempt 1885: The First Recoil-Operated Machinegun The principle Marketing the Maxim Machinegun 1888: The Testing of the Maxim by U.S. Army Prototype Maxim Machinegun Gatling Gun The U.S. Navy Adopts the Maxim “Pom-pom” Gun 1893: Maxim sold his new weapon to the British Army The Prince of Wales The Russian Army Kaiser William II “This is the gun; there is no other!” An International Best Seller knighthood from Queen Victoria Colonial Wars and Insurgences 1893: The Matabele War 1898 - The Battle of Omdurman 1899 - Philippine Insurrection The Ordnance Dept. Tests Machineguns The U.S. Ordnance Dept. Tests the Maxim Gun - Again U.S. Army Chief of Ordnance, Brigadier General Buffington John M. Browning 1909: The Benet-Mercie Machine-Rifle 1913: U.S. Army Selects a Maxim “Vickers” Platform Mounted Maxim Machinegun Platform Mounted Maxim Machinegun 20th Century Warfare 1904-5: The Russo-Japanese War World War I Strengthened Defense The Engineer’s War Filling The Water Jacket Aircraft and Anti-Aircraft Maxims 1917: America Enters World War I Americans & The Chauchat Machinegun Hotchkiss 8mm M1914 Machinegun Browning M1917 Machinegun 1917-18: American Machinegun Production The Human Cost 1916 – The Battle of the Somme Summary Questions?.

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Arms and Machine Guns from the Year 1863 up to the Present Day
Royal United Services Institution. Journal ISSN: 0035-9289 (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rusi19 Personal Reminiscences of the Evolution of Small- Arms and Machine Guns from the Year 1863 up to the Present Day Lieut.-Colonel W. N. Lockyer Chief Inspector of Small-Arms R.A. To cite this article: Lieut.-Colonel W. N. Lockyer Chief Inspector of Small-Arms R.A. (1898) Personal Reminiscences of the Evolution of Small-Arms and Machine Guns from the Year 1863 up to the Present Day, Royal United Services Institution. Journal, 42:248, 1121-1151, DOI: 10.1080/03071849809417413 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03071849809417413 Published online: 11 Sep 2009. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 6 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rusi20 Download by: [The University Of Melbourne Libraries] Date: 17 June 2016, At: 12:25 VOL. XLII. [Aiithors aZotie are responsi6Ze for fhe contenfs of fheir respectizfe PGpers.3 PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF THE EVOLU- TION OF SAIALL-ARkIS AND RIACHINE GUNS FROhI. .THE YEAR lSG3 UP 'I'O THE PRESENT DAY. By Lictrt.-CoZonrl ll! AT. LOCKYER, R.A., Chief Irrsprctorof SnioZZ-Arm. Wednesday, June 20th, ISDS. Rear-Admiral the Rt. Ron. Lord CHARLESBEIZESFOKD, C.B., N.P., in the Chair. I.-RIFLES, ETC. I MAKE the year 18G3 the starting point for two reasons :- 1. Because it was just the close of the muzzle-loading pcriod. 2. Because it was in that year that I became personally acquainted with the Service rifle, since which time I have continually kept up my acquaintancewith thcService small-arms, making all kinds of experirncnts; and for the last sixteen years my duty has been to inspect and tcst the various arms during their mannractnre, after they are finished before issue, and again when in use in the hands of the troops.
[Show full text]
The Martini Henry 2
The Journal of the Historical Breechloading Smallarms Association Volume 4, No. 8 ISSN: 0305-0440 © 2016 The Historical Breechloading Smallarms Association, BCM HBSA, London WC1N 3XX The cover picture A sketch of the action of the original type of Gehendra rifle made by John Walter during research for the book: “Guns of the Gurkhas”. Advice to authors he HBSA Journal is published annually and welcomes contributions on topics concerning Tbreechloading arms from the 18th century onwards, covering developments in smallarms technology, ammunition, sights and accoutrements. Short articles of a few hundred words can be published, and major works should not normally exceed 12,000 words. Manuscripts should be sent to the editor electronically, with text and illustrations separately. Permission should be obtained from any copyright holder of illustrations and such permission should be acknowledged in the article. References should be listed at the end of the article using the Havard referencing style: http://goo.gl/CBDmp. Articles are subject to peer-review and may be edited with the author’s agreement. Authors are requested to contact the editor ([email protected]) before submitting a manuscript. Layout and Artwork David Butterworth Tel 020 8816 8472, [email protected] www.davidbutterworth.co.uk Print Print Impressions Ltd. Unit 18, West Station Industrial Estate, Maldon, Essex CM9 6TW Tel 016 2192 8083 Historical Breechloading Smallarms Association Volume 4, Number 8 November 2016 Patron: Commander The Lord Cottesloe KStJ JP
[Show full text]
Maxim Silencer Company Photographs 2015.288
Maxim Silencer Company photographs 2015.288 This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on September 14, 2021. Description is written in: English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard Audiovisual Collections PO Box 3630 Wilmington, Delaware 19807 [email protected] URL: http://www.hagley.org/library Maxim Silencer Company photographs 2015.288 Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 Historical Note ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Scope and Content ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 5 Related Materials ........................................................................................................................................... 6 Controlled Access Headings .......................................................................................................................... 6 Collection Inventory ....................................................................................................................................... 6 - Page 2 - Maxim Silencer Company photographs 2015.288 Summary Information Repository:
[Show full text]
Mg 34 and Mg 42 Machine Guns
MG 34 AND MG 42 MACHINE GUNS CHRIS MC NAB © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com MG 34 AND MG 42 MACHINE GUNS CHRIS McNAB Series Editor Martin Pegler © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 DEVELOPMENT 8 The ‘universal’ machine gun USE 27 Flexible firepower IMPACT 62 ‘Hitler’s buzzsaw’ CONCLUSION 74 GLOSSARY 77 BIBLIOGRAPHY & FURTHER READING 78 INDEX 80 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com INTRODUCTION Although in war all enemy weapons are potential sources of fear, some seem to have a deeper grip on the imagination than others. The AK-47, for example, is actually no more lethal than most other small arms in its class, but popular notoriety and Hollywood representations tend to credit it with superior power and lethality. Similarly, the bayonet actually killed relatively few men in World War I, but the sheer thought of an enraged foe bearing down on you with more than 30cm of sharpened steel was the stuff of nightmares to both sides. In some cases, however, fear has been perfectly justified. During both world wars, for example, artillery caused between 59 and 80 per cent of all casualties (depending on your source), and hence took a justifiable top slot in surveys of most feared tools of violence. The subjects of this book – the MG 34 and MG 42, plus derivatives – are interesting case studies within the scale of soldiers’ fears. Regarding the latter weapon, a US wartime information movie once declared that the gun’s ‘bark was worse than its bite’, no doubt a well-intentioned comment intended to reduce mounting concern among US troops about the firepower of this astonishing gun.
[Show full text]
William Stanley Lighted a Town and Powered an Industry
William Stanley Lighted a Town and Powered an Industry by Bernard A. Drew and Gerard Chapman preface by Samuel Sass Berkshire History Fall 1985 Vol. VI No. 1 Published by the Berkshire County Historical Society Pittsfield Massachusetts Preface: At a meeting of engineers in New York a half century ago, a paper was read which contained the following description of a historic event in the development of electrical technology: For the setting we have a small town among the snow-clad New England Hills. There a young man, in fragile health, is attacking single-handed the control of a mysterious form of energy, incalculable in its characteristics, and potentially so deadly that great experts among his contemporaries condemned attempts to use it. With rare courage he laid his plans, with little therapy or precedent to guide him; with persistent experimental skill he deduced the needed knowledge when mathematics failed; with resourcefulness that even lead him to local photographers to requisition their stock of tin-type plates (for the magnetic circuit of his transformer), successfully met the lack of suitable materials, and with intensive devotion and sustained effort, despite poor health, he brought his undertaking, in an almost unbelievably short time, to triumphant success. This triumphant success occurred in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in 1886, and the young man in fragile health was William Stanley. A century ago he demonstrated the feasibility of transforming to a higher level the generated alternating current voltage, for transmission at a distance, and reducing it at the consumer end to a usable level. One hears or reads on occasion that Stanley “invented” the transformer.
[Show full text]
Trow Point and the Disappearing Gun the Concrete Structure in Front of You Is What Remains of an Innovative Experiment in Gun Technology
Trow Point and the Disappearing Gun The concrete structure in front of you is what remains of an innovative experiment in gun technology. The trial of the ‘Hiram Maxim Disappearing Gun’ took place here on the 16th December 1887. Big guns A novel idea... Training ground The late 19th century was an era of huge change in warfare and weaponry Although the gun fired without problem, the water-and-air-pressure that would continue through to the major world wars. Gun technology moved powered raising and lowering mechanism was too slow and was from unreliable, dangerous and erratic cannons to long range, accurate and never used in combat. It took 8 hours to pressurise the pump before quick loading weapons. The ‘Mark IV 6 inch breech loading gun’ was a it was operational and in very cold weather the water would freeze, powerful example of the scale of change. It had a firing range of 30,000ft making it impossible to fire at all! (9000m), twice that of previous guns, and was capable of punching holes There were other attempts to develop retractable mounts but they through the iron armour of enemy ships. never went into widespread service. As the firing range of guns improved there was little need to hide soldiers from the enemy Now you see it...now you don’t! when reloading and it wasn’t long before attack from the air What was unique about this gun replaced the threat from the sea. emplacement at Trow Point was that it trialled a mounting system that would The gun and its mounting was removed, leaving just this concrete allow the Mark IV 6” gun to be raised and lowered.
[Show full text]
BRITISH MILITARY WEAPONS the Problem of Telling Their Story in a New Museum by William Reid
Reprinted from the American Society of Arms Collectors Bulletin 33:35-52 Additional articles available at http://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/resources/articles/ BRITISH MILITARY WEAPONS The Problem of Telling Their Story in a New Museum by William Reid Five years and five months ago, less a few days, I left the Armouries in the Tower o.f London where I worked for 13 years. From the oldest military museum in the world - the Tower was first opened to the public 400 years ago - I moved four miles west to the newest, to become the director of the National Army Museum. The museum began its existence in 1960 in the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, our equivalent of West Point. When I took over as its director in 1970 we had a new building (figure 1) in which to install a modern display telling the history of the British Army from the end of the Middle Ages up massive expansion in two World Wars, to imperial to today. To guide us our charter, signed by the withdrawal and today's relatively small Queen, defines the Army as '. including Britain's establishment. standing army, militia, yeomanry, volunteers, In addition to the temporal range of our subject Territorial Army and Territorial Army and we are also concerned with a vast geographical Volunteer Reserve; and the Indian Army up to sweep. This is a major problem for curator-s and Partition in 1947, the forces of the East India designers alike as the British Army raised its units Company and all other land forces of the Crown.' throughout the empire, incuding Jamaica, where The complexity of this task is all too apparent we bought slaves in 1801 for recruitment into our when the number and variety of these forces is West Indian regiments.
[Show full text]
Sir Hiram S. Maxim Collection
Sir Hiram S. Maxim Collection 2001 National Air and Space Museum Archives 14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway Chantilly, VA 20151 [email protected] https://airandspace.si.edu/archives Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Scope and Contents........................................................................................................ 2 Biographical / Historical.................................................................................................... 1 General............................................................................................................................. 2 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 2 Sir Hiram S. Maxim Collection NASM.1989.0031 Collection Overview Repository: National Air and Space Museum Archives Title: Sir Hiram S. Maxim Collection Identifier: NASM.1989.0031 Date: 1890-1916 (bulk 1890-1894, 1912) Extent: 1.09 Cubic feet ((1 records center box)) Creator: Maxim, Hiram H. Language: English . Administrative Information Acquisition Information Hiram H. Maxim, gift, 1989, 1989-0031, NASM Restrictions No restrictions on access Conditions Governing Use Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application
[Show full text]
Inventory of the Henry M. Stanley Archives Revised Edition - 2005
Inventory of the Henry M. Stanley Archives Revised Edition - 2005 Peter Daerden Maurits Wynants Royal Museum for Central Africa Tervuren Contents Foreword 7 List of abbrevations 10 P A R T O N E : H E N R Y M O R T O N S T A N L E Y 11 JOURNALS AND NOTEBOOKS 11 1. Early travels, 1867-70 11 2. The Search for Livingstone, 1871-2 12 3. The Anglo-American Expedition, 1874-7 13 3.1. Journals and Diaries 13 3.2. Surveying Notebooks 14 3.3. Copy-books 15 4. The Congo Free State, 1878-85 16 4.1. Journals 16 4.2. Letter-books 17 5. The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, 1886-90 19 5.1. Autograph journals 19 5.2. Letter book 20 5.3. Journals of Stanley’s Officers 21 6. Miscellaneous and Later Journals 22 CORRESPONDENCE 26 1. Relatives 26 1.1. Family 26 1.2. Schoolmates 27 1.3. “Claimants” 28 1 1.4. American acquaintances 29 2. Personal letters 30 2.1. Annie Ward 30 2.2. Virginia Ambella 30 2.3. Katie Roberts 30 2.4. Alice Pike 30 2.5. Dorothy Tennant 30 2.6. Relatives of Dorothy Tennant 49 2.6.1. Gertrude Tennant 49 2.6.2. Charles Coombe Tennant 50 2.6.3. Myers family 50 2.6.4. Other 52 3. Lewis Hulse Noe and William Harlow Cook 52 3.1. Lewis Hulse Noe 52 3.2. William Harlow Cook 52 4. David Livingstone and his family 53 4.1. David Livingstone 53 4.2.
[Show full text]
Historic Amusement Parks and Fairground Rides Introductions to Heritage Assets Summary
Historic Amusement Parks and Fairground Rides Introductions to Heritage Assets Summary Historic England’s Introductions to Heritage Assets (IHAs) are accessible, authoritative, illustrated summaries of what we know about specific types of archaeological site, building, landscape or marine asset. Typically they deal with subjects which lack such a summary. This can either be where the literature is dauntingly voluminous, or alternatively where little has been written. Most often it is the latter, and many IHAs bring understanding of site or building types which are neglected or little understood. Many of these are what might be thought of as ‘new heritage’, that is they date from after the Second World War. With origins that can be traced to annual fairs and 18th-century pleasure grounds, and much influenced by America’s Coney Island amusement park of the 1890s, England has one of the finest amusement park and fairground ride heritages in the world. A surprising amount survives today. The most notable site is Blackpool Pleasure Beach, in Lancashire, which has an unrivalled heritage of pre-1939 fairground rides. Other early survivals in England include scenic railways at Margate and Great Yarmouth, and water splash rides in parks at Kettering, Kingston-upon-Hull and Scarborough that date from the 1920s. This guidance note has been written by Allan Brodie and edited by Paul Stamper. It is one is of several guidance documents that can be accessed HistoricEngland.org.uk/listing/selection-criteria/listing-selection/ihas-buildings/ Published by Historic England June 2015. All images © Historic England unless otherwise stated. HistoricEngland.org.uk/listing/ Front cover A modern aerial photograph of Blackpool Pleasure Beach showing the complex landscape that evolved during the 20th century.
[Show full text]
The History of Sir Hiram Maxim
The History of Sir Hiram Maxim On a small hill overlooking Dexter's Lake Wasookeag on a June day in 1890, a gathering of townspeople watched history in the making as bullets whizzed into the lake waters at a rate of 666 per minute. The small-town quiet was shattered as the gun swayed back and forth to show how a fast-moving army could be cut down in minutes. From that location, about 10 miles from his Sangerville home, Sir Hiram Maxim's gun entered the battlefields of the Russo- Japanese War and later World War I, World War II, and even the battlefields of Korea and Vietnam. As a boy, Hiram Maxim lived at Brockway Mills, located off Silvers Mills Road. Born on the fifth of February, 1840 in a less than modest home - on a small knoll overlooking a stream, he tended sheep throughout the summer months. Legend has it, as a young lad he and his brother Hudson stood atop a large boulder outside their home and with raised arms pledged to themselves that someday they would become famous. Both men achieved fame and garnered themselves a place in the history books. Hiram's only schooling was what he gleaned from five years of learning in a one-room Sangerville schoolhouse. At the age of 14, he was apprenticed to Daniel Sweat, an East Corinth carriage maker who had recently returned to Sangerville. Hiram went to work for Mr. Sweat in Abbott and it was there that he perfected his first invention - an automatic mousetrap that soon rid the Abbot grist mill of mice.
[Show full text]
450 Maxim Machine Gun (Martini Henry Chamber)” Water Cooled Machine Gun; Introduced in NZ Service: 1896 Withdrawn: After 1901 When Converted to .303
NZART ID: 375, Arm Type: Machine Gun, Date of Draft: (V1) 13 June 2014, Compiled by: Phil Cregeen Pattern: “.450 Maxim Machine Gun (Martini Henry chamber)” water cooled Machine Gun; Introduced in NZ Service: 1896 Withdrawn: after 1901 when converted to .303. Makers: Maxim Nordenfelt Guns & Ammunition Co Ltd, Crayford Works, UK; Calibre: .450”, Bore: 7 groove RH twist 1 in 20” Henry rifling, Barrel length: 28.5 in. OA Length: 42.4 in. Weight: 60 Lb bare, Type of Action: Short recoil full auto; Cyclic rate: 400-500 rpm; Magazine: 250 round fabric belt. Sights: Tangent aperture sight graduated to 1000 yds.; Ammo: .450 Martini Henry Originally .45 Maxim later converted to .303 No 5700 mounted on Mk IV tripod at National Army Museum, Waiouru The Maxim gun was the first recoil-operated machine gun, invented by Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim in 1884. Maxim established the Maxim Gun Company with financing from Albert Vickers, son of steel entrepreneur Edward Vickers. Albert Vickers became the company's chairman, and it later joined hands with a Swedish competitor, Nordenfelt, to become Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company. Finally, the company was absorbed into the Vickers company, leading first to the Maxim-Vickers gun and then, after Vickers' redesign, the Vickers machine gun. Maxim guns were initially adopted for British Land Service in 1888, in .577/.450 calibre, .45 Maxim machine gun (M-H chamber), but in 1893 a .303 version was introduced and many of the earlier .450 guns were converted to .303, .303 Converted Maxim machine gun (magazine rifle chamber).
[Show full text]