Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/88

LEFT MACHINE GUN 62 MACHINE GUN pressure of the powder gas to a plunger mechanism. At the beginning of the Great War ahnost every possible machine gun owned by any of the warring powers was brought into action, including many of the Colt and Hotchkiss type. During the war the tendency was to design for in- creased production rather than for im- American Marine Corps used the Lewis gun. One reason advanced for the adop- tion of the Browning gun was the fact that additional quantity production coula be more quickly reached than with the Lewis gun. The Browning gun is the invention ot John M. Browning of Utah, a designer of automatic weapons, who has securec THE BROWNING MACHINE GUNS A. Browning Machine Gun Rifle. proved models, and because of the de- mands of production both in the guns and ammunition a general standardiza- tion was effected. The French used the light Chauchat automatic rifle and the heavy Buteaus; the English used the Vickers heavy type and the Lewis guns in both heavy and light type. The American army, after exhaustive tests, adopted the Browning machine gun, in both the heavy and light models, as its standard weapon. This invoked much criticism, as the Lewis gun, invented and perfected by Isaac Newton Lewis (CohD- nel U. S. A., retired) was being used with great success by the British. The B. Heavy Browning Machine Gun over one hundred and thirty patents on such weapons, among them the patent for the original Colt machine gun. Their outstanding feature is their extreme simplicity and their adaptability to quantity production. The heavy Brown- ing gun weighs less than thirty-five pounds, is fitted with water jackets, gas actuated, and ammunition is supplied in belts. This type may be mounted in air craft, on a portable tripod, or perma- nently set. When used in an airplane, the water-cooling system is removed. The light type, resembling an ordinary rifle outwardly, is air cooled, weighs fif- teen pounds and is fired from the hip.