Maxim machine gun

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Maxim machine gun

Also known as: Vickers machine gun, Vickers-Maxim machine gun

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Maxim machine gun

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Category: Science & Tech

Key People:: Hiram Maxim

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Maxim machine gun, first fully automatic machine gun (q.v.), developed by engineer and inventor Hiram Maxim in about 1884, while he was residing in England. It was manufactured by Vickers and was sometimes known as the Vickers-Maxim and sometimes just Vickers. These guns were used by every major power. The Maxim gun was recoil-operated and was cooled by a water jacket surrounding the barrel. The Maxim was in large part responsible for the epithet “the machine gun war” for World War I. ...(100 of 82 words)

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