Caldwell machine gun

The Caldwell machine gun is a machine gun of Australian origin developed by Thomas Frederick Caldwell in 1915.

History

The Caldwell machine gun was designed by Thomas F. Caldwell of Melbourne, who moved to the United Kingdom to bring his invention to the notice of British Army authorities. The weapon was in appearance similar to the Maxim gun, but came with two barrels, capable of working in conjunction or separately with a discharge of 500 rpm. It used pan magazines containing 104 rounds instead of the belt feed of the Maxim gun, which was prone to jamming.
As reported at the time:

Overview

The weapon has two barrels and is chambered for the .303 British round. The cooling jacket is similar to the Maxim gun but comes with a steam valve. The Caldwell is lighter and simpler than the Maxim and can be field-stripped in under one minute without the use of tools. The rate of fire of the Caldwell is variable as the gun is fired with a hand crank with the rate of fire dependent on the operator.