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#1 The first machine gun was invented by Hiram Maxim in London in 1883. It was a device that discharged six cartridges automatically, on a single trigger pull. The date can be deduced from patent number 3493, which Maxim registered on 16 July 1883 for an invention of improvements in machine or battery guns, and in cartridges for the same and other firearms.

#2 Hiram Stevens Maxim, an American, arrived in England in August 1881. He was already an established inventor, with over eighty US patents filed in his name. He later admitted to being a chronic inventor. His first stop was Paris, where he met an American Jew whom he had known in the states. He was told to invent something that would enable Europeans to cut each other's throats with greater ease.

#3 Maxim's first gun, the Forerunner, was just the start of a lengthy process of development that he undertook before launching his product. The first firing of the Prototype took place on 24 January 1884. The date is known because the spent cases of the first two cartridges fired are preserved in the Imperial War Museum.

#4 The Maxim gun was powered by the energy released by the firing of a cartridge. The action of the weapon is easiest to understand if broken down into a sequence of operations. The breech of the gun is locked by means of a toggle mechanism.