The Machine Gunners

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In 1832, a machine capable of firing 500 rifle shots a minute was devised by Hamel, a French mechanic. [56] In 1788, a Swiss soldier invented a machine worked by 10 men capable of discharging 300 balls in 3 minutes. [39] The first known ancestors of multi-shot weapons were medieval organ guns. An early example of an attempt at the mechanisation of one of these would be an 'engine of war' produced in the mid-1570s in England capable of firing from 160 to 320 shots 4, 8, 12 or 24 bullets at a time at a rate of fire up to roughly 3 times the rate of fire of the typical arquebusier of the day. It was also claimed that the gun could be reloaded 'as often as you like' and fired no matter the weather though the English government never adopted the weapon despite testing being carried out at the Tower of London. [6] [7] The first firearms to have the ability to fire multiple shots from a single barrel without a full manual reload were revolvers made in Europe in the late 1500s. One is a shoulder-gun-length weapon made in Nuremberg, Germany, circa 1580. Another is a revolving arquebus, produced by Hans Stopler of Nuremberg in 1597. [8] 17th century [ edit ] Davenport, Richard Alfred (1841). "Lives of Individuals who Raised Themselves from Poverty to Eminence Or Fortune". The two halves of Chas's world are further divided into conflicting groups. Westall pits adults against young people, heroes against cowards, safety against terror, life against death, sanity against insanity, peace against war, and friends against enemies. But none of these conflicts are clearcut. Chas and his friends become confused as to who the enemy really is, wondering, in the conclusion, whether it would be worse to have the Germans or their own parents invading the fortress. The turmoil these conflicts create permeates the novel, heightening the tension Chas feels and symbolizing his internal conflict over the lure of the comfortable dependency of childhood and the counter-lure of the independent state of maturity.

Hearne, Betsy. "Review." Booklist (November 1, 1976): 412-413. This reviewer finds Westall's book to be a convincing observation on human nature. office, Great Britain Patent; Woodcroft, Bennet (23 December 2017). "Abridgments of the Specifications Relating to Fire-arms and Other Weapons, Ammunition, and Accoutrements: A.D. 1588–1858-Pt. II. A.D. 1858–1866". Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, pub. at the Great seal patent office. p.163. a b "SAAMI.org terminology glossary". Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute. Archived from the original on 2003-08-24 . Retrieved 2015-08-23. First published in 1975, I read this in the late seventies, aged 9 or 10. I've since read it twice more as an adult and am always gripped by the excitement, the suspense, the build-up and the action. As an adult I can see new aspects to the book, tales of friendship and evolving relationships, heartwarming and heartwrenching at the same time.HyperWar: The Machine Gun (Vol. I/Part III)". Ibiblio.org. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017 . Retrieved 23 December 2017. Needham, Joseph (1987). Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic. Cambridge University Press. p.408. ISBN 978-0-521-30358-3. The first successful machine-gun designs were developed in the mid-19th century. The key characteristic of modern machine guns, their relatively high rate of fire and more importantly mechanical loading, [5] first appeared in the Model 1862 Gatling gun, which was adopted by the United States Navy. These weapons were still powered by hand; however, this changed with Hiram Maxim's idea of harnessing recoil energy to power reloading in his Maxim machine gun. Dr. Gatling also experimented with electric-motor-powered models; as discussed above, this externally powered machine reloading has seen use in modern weapons as well. My grandfather prompted me to read this book when I was about 11 and I thought that it was absolutely brilliant. On all the times I've read it since, it has lost none of it's original lustre and, if possible, has got even better now that I understand everything better.

Find sources: "Machine gun"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( July 2023) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) But, at the same time, you would have to admit it made an impact, left a mark, spoke to the young me in ways I probably couldn't quite understand. In 1790, a former officer in the French military known as Joseph-François-Louis Grobert invented a 'ballistic machine' or 'pyroballistic machine' with multiple barrels operated by 4 men and a continuous rotational movement capable of firing 360 rifle shots a minute in a variety of calibers. [42] [43] After school, Chas and his friends “Cem” (short for Cemetery, his dad is the local undertaker) Jones and Audrey Parton return to the wood to retrieve the machine gun. Taking turns sawing it off, they finally free the gun and sneak it out of the wood up the leg of Cem��s Guy Fawkes effigy.* They get caught in an air-raid by Chas’ father, who takes the Guy and puts it in his greenhouse for safe keeping. The next morning Chas hides the machine gun in an old drain pipe. A few days later, Cem tells Chas he had returned to the plane and found four thousand rounds of ammunition clips for the gun.

I have finished reading The Machine gunners finally! it was a really good book, it was very interesting, especially when they found the machine gun. I mean if you found a machine gun you would go mental, haha. Overall this book was a great read, i read it in 3 days of the holidays. i would definitly read another book from Robert Westall, Canon invented by Simeon 'Larochelle' Gautron". 7 November 1846. p.1 – via British Newspaper Archive. a b c d Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p. 70 The book is set in the North East of England near to where I grew up so it was nice to read about places I've been to. Westall paints a very realistic picture as to what life was like during the blitz; the food shortages, the constant stress of being bombed, the fear of being invaded. Also in 1775, a breech-loading volley gun, similar to the later mitrailleuse, was invented by a Frenchman called Du Perron which was worked by 3 or 4 men and capable of discharging 24 barrels 10 times a minute for a total rate of fire of 240 shots per minute. [34]