A Toy Machine Gun That Fires Wooden Bullets
For use in the mimic battles which most boys like to stage in this war time, an interesting mechanical toy that a boy can easily make of materials picked up in the workshop, is a machine gun having a magazine for wooden bullets, and which can be made as a single or a double-barrel gun. The construction of the single-barrel arrangement is detailed in the [sketch] and the modification for a double-barrel gun is shown in the [smaller diagram]. It is a duplicate of the first type, suitably mounted as shown. The gun is fired by turning the crank on the wheel and the bullets can be quickly replaced in the magazine at the top.
The Machine Gun is Fired by Turning the Crank at the Wheel, the Pins on the Latter Drawing Back the Hammer, Which is Hooked Up with a Rubber Band
The support for the gun is made of wood and braced strongly at the base. The gun proper is set into the top of the vertical piece, as shown, and the magazine, which is bent from a piece of tin to the shape detailed in the sectional view, fits on top of the breach of the gun. The hammer, which drives the bullets, is made of a piece of stiff wire bent to the shape shown. The lower curved end is connected to a small nail set on a block at the shaft of the wheel. To fire the gun, the hammer is drawn back by contact with the small nails set into the side of the wheel. As the wheel is turned, the nails grip the hammer and then suddenly release it, driving out the lowest bullet each time. The bullets are piled in the magazine, as shown in the detailed view at the right, where the rear view of the gun barrel is indicated.—Edward R. Smith, Walla Walla, Washington.