Maxim Transitional Machine Gun 1885

In 1885, Hiram Maxim made a breakthrough in his design for an automatic machine gun. He realised that the gun should be easily field-stripped and his second prototype gun was too complicated. The Transitional MG (patented 8 July 1885) introduced the 'sliding carrier' to transfer a round from the feed belt to the chamber. The 'sliding carrier' design has been used in all subsequent Maxim and Vickers machine guns. This animation shows the operating mechanism.