European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 14, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Malcolm w. Browne new York times the Centennial year of a weapon thalmay Honvo kitted More people than any olm passed unobserved in 19b5.machine guns attract Billle notice irom Iho makers of military budgets because they Are relatively cheap. The Best ,50-Cal heavy machine gun Money can buy casts Only about $5.000. And automatic assault lies that can double As Light machine guns go of Only a Tew Hundred dollars each. Governments spend so heavily on nuclear submarines and missiles said an executive of a machine gun factory that the manufacture of trucks and guns gets the lowest priority. That s the Paradox of today s firmament  nevemtielai9.no army in the world can afield to do without machine guns and the models being manufactured today Are Likely to remain in service Lor Many ears George a. Strichman retiring Board chairman of Colt industries inc., said in an interview that he expects the m-16 assault Rulle to remain the primary United Stales infantry weapon until Well into the 21 is Century. The m 16. Which is produced by Colt lures a burst of bullets Wilh a single pull of the rigger and is thus a form of machine gun. Regardless of Manul alluring priorities moreover there seems to be no shortage of machine guns in the United slates or elsewhere in the world. The main supplier of machine guns to America s armed forces Saco defense inc. A subsidiary of the Swiss owned Alu suisse of America inc. Is situated in a tidily landscaped suburb of Portland. Maine. The quiet of the Community is disturbed Only slightly by the mulled thumping of Machona gun and Cannon fire inside the Plant s sound proof test ranges. Equipped with the latest in computer controlled Robol Offles. Lathes reamers. Heat treating and plating machinery Saco s Small but highly so held work Lorce of 800 lops up and modernizes the machine gun inventories of armed forces around the world including those of the United states. Two main objectives in All new designs said a Saco spokesman William a Gearan Are to increase the service lives of new guns while reducing their weight. But underlying these goats Are design principles Wilh a venerable heritage it. Saco s three main products Are the m-60 7,62mm machine gun the Standard Light machine gun of America s armed forces since 1960 Iha m-2 ,50-Cal heavy machine gun Glrst made in 1933. And he m-19 40mm machine Cannon Glrst tested at the close of the Vietnam War. Each of these guns works on a a thereat principle Gas recoil and blow Bach operation but i he three principles have one thing in common they were All patented by Hiram Maxim Between the years 1883 and 1685. Maxim who lived irom 1840 to 1916. Is rarely mentioned in the same breath Wilh Thomas a. Edison Alexander Graham Bell the Wright Brothers and the other great american inventors of his Day. But in the social history of the machine gun. The historian John Ellis Points Oul without Hiram Maxim much of subsequent world history might have been  the Maine born inventor moreover was As prolific As his More famous contemporaries. As Edison s chief rival in the design of electrical systems. Maxim installed the first electric lights in a new York City building the equitable insurance company in the late 1870s. Maxim s method of hardening the Carbon filaments of incandescent bulbs actually paved the Way Tor the Light bulb credited to Edison. Maxim s air plane might Well have flown before that of the Wright Brothers had la been powered by something lighter than a steam engine. In his autobiography my life Maxim described countless gadgets he invented some More successful than others. Among the products of his youth were an automatic sprinkler system for a flour Mill and an automatic Mousetrap. The latter was designed so thai Iha struggling of each victim would reset the Iraq for the next mouse. Maxim never reached the Pinacle of Success in his native land bul a turning Point came for him during a business trip he made to Europe. He later wrote to the times of London in 18821 was in Vienna where i met an american whom i had known in the Stales. He said hang your chemistry and elect Sicily h you want to. Make a pile of Money invent something that Wili enable these europeans to Cul each others throats with greater  Page 14 the stars and stripes Maxim took the advice seriously set up 0 workshop in London and within three years was building the world s first practical machine guns. Most of the earlier rapid fire guns notably the Mulli barrelled gun invented by the american Richard Jordan galling in 1861. Had to be cranked by hand. Maxim s gun required Only steady pressure on a trigger to maintain a continuous la ring Cycle. Including reloading Cocking and 1he election of spent cases. Military Mit Ortan have noted thai virtually All the important designers or developers of machine guns following Maxim were americans and thai most of i hem had logo to Europe to implement their ideas. Benjamin b. Hotchkiss Sel up his factory in Fiance. Col. Isaac n. Lewis went to England to make Tho Lewis gun John m. Browning built a plan in Belgium where the guns bearing his name Are still manufactured and Hugo Borchardt moved 10 Germany where Ono of his designs became the basis of the famous Luger pistol. During his childhood in Maine. Maxim had been knocked Over by the recoil of a powerful ride and had speculated on the possibility of putting recoil forces to work to operate guns automatically. In London. Maxim devised a Spring loaded Bolt action that could store up the recoil Energy released by a shot and use that Energy released by a shot and use that Energy for readying the weapon Lor the next Shol. Among the Mot Dill cull problem Maxim s machine gun action had to solve was the handling of powerful mile cartridges a Way had to be Lound to keep the gun s Breech lightly closed until each Bullet left the barrel. Otherwise a knew the empty Cartridge Case would Start to Leeve the chamber too soon and the Gas pressure in the barrel would burst the thin brass Case ruining the gun and possibly maiming the Shooler. Maxim s solution and the heart of his design toggle mechanism patterned on the human leg. The lag Lay straight and horizontal its awl Volling j. Foot pressed against the rear of the Bolt hol Spring the Boll would then cock the firing pin Ira Dettwi new Cartridge and fire repeating the Cycle indefinitely until the trigger was released or ammunition was. Exhausted. " today s recoil operated guns. Including the m-2 � heavy machine gun. Work essentially the Earne Way Jug. Although the complicated knee action toggle lock a i been replaced by a simpler lock a steel bar that is crammed up and Down in a vertical Slot. -3j Maxim Ohio Daisy of a  As he called ii immediately attracted ins interest of the Duke of Cambridge and British Royalty. -. A in one of his machine gun demonstrations Malmi i a Bullet s Energy is put to use 1 machine gun operates on action of a Spring loaded bal that stores up the recall Energy of a Bullet and use that Energy Lor readying the weapon Lor the next shot. 2 when Bullet is Llred farce of its recoil drives recoiling mechanism to the rear at Cartridge to this Mollon Bolt it secured by Breech lock which rides up from barrel Extension into notch. 3 by the time Bullet Leauada barrel Breech lock is pushed Oil its Cam and out of Ita Loch ing notch. This unlocks Iha Bolt. Tuesday