blog post 4

article link http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/mgun_maxim.htm

• The Maxim machine gun was invented by Hiram S. Maxim in 1884 and was the worlds first automatic machine gun
• The Maxim machine gun was water cooled and had a water jacket placed around the barrel
• The gun was also belt fed to allow for little or no reload
• What made this gun automatic was the genius system that Hiram Maxim came up with which is using the gas that creates the recoil from the powder charge to load the next bullet itself
• This weapon was used by being put on a sled and having a team of soldiers lifting and moving it
• The maxim machine gun can shoot up to 600 rounds per minute although it usually gets around half that
• The maxim machine gun was shown to the British in 1887 but it was denied
• Later that year he showed his invention to Kaiser Wilhelm 2 who made a exact copy of it