CALDWELL MACHINEGUN.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15238, 27 March 1915, Page 7

CALDWELL MACHINEGUN.

• "• ' DISCS INSTEAD OF BELTS. ;. HAPID RATE OF FIRE. A cablegram .published, on Monday v.* «tatcd . t-a*. -tno -ialdweU .machino-gun ."".. bas been sold to'a .London, firm .or _v £65,000, and a royalty on all. guns pro- ~ duced. The message also reported tnat -' substantial order's are expected . ron * : the British Government, "and flaimcd that'tbe gun is likely to d-*-"*" ,-■"''*' place tbo Maxim. .' ", The inventor of the gun is MLr T. Jr. - \ Caldwell, ot Melbourne, who'is'.at pre- •*- ---fcent iv England. A "company was form-;:- '- ed a few months ago to enable Mr Caldwell to bring his invention under"/,, the notico of the Imperial authorities. /."'- The new "un differs in se.eral essential respects from the Maxim machine- " , - gun. It has two barrels, capable of -- working in combination or separately/- *-." each with a rate of discharge up to-'.. .. 500 shots per minute.-The "ammunition." ' is carried in two discs, each containing = 104 cartridges. In tho Maxim gun the -"• , cartridges are carried in belts of 350, . t and while the loading of the gun takeabout six. seconds, it is claimed-'that a Z disc oh the Caldwell can be changed in a third of that time. The-Tate of tiro #-?" from a Maxim is practically restricted '*_;- to the'maximum of 4So round»-per mm- - ' ute, the automatic action ,being ■,"■"'; tirely dependent on the recoil." In' the Caldwell tho action is entirely auto- _..'* matic, the gun being worked by a handle, go that the rato of fire is en- " „.<* tirely under the control of the operator. ;'.'■'.;. The elimination of the ammunition bolt, with its ever present danger of jamming the mechanism, i_. regarded as one of the most important feature- _""_-" of the new gun. Other advantages' ' . claimed for the Caldwell are:—Simplification of construction, the breech be- - ' ing dissembled . and reassembled -in "* about one minute without the aid ot*"" tools: it weighs only 3SIb. as against _ •' the Maxim's 601b: it can bo produced - at one-quarter of the cost, of the ' Maxim, and it is "fool proof."'