Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1895 — Using the Recoil. [ARTICLE]

Using the Recoil.

The recoil force of any gun is far more than sufficient to work the gun if properly employed. In alt patterns of quick-firing guns it is stored by means of helical steel springs, and thus is utilized to return the gun instantly to the firing point, and it is also utilized by the Elswick firm to open and close the breech. So far, automatic gear has already got beyond the experimental stage. What is now required is some simple and handy'arrangement which shall instantly bring the charge to the loading position when required, and not before, and as quickly run it home, and yet shaH permit the training and elevating to be absolutely continuous, so that the aim may be kept steadily on the mark, without reference to the working of the gear. In this way, any desirable rate and great precision of fire could be assured. The main difficulty would appear to be in making the gear simple, and not liable to pet out of order, and in keeping it effectually sheltered behind shields no larger than thoie now in nse. The problem is serious, but with the example of Maxim be sor 7 ..them, engineers will hardly regard it as insoluble.—[The Contemporary Review. The earliest attempt to use iron ore in thia country was in 1822.