The Lewis light machine gun was developed in the United States by Samuel McClean with the input of Lieutenant Colonel Lissak. The developers sold patent rights to the weapon to the newly formed "Automatic Arms Company" in Buffalo. The Automatic Arms Company, in turn, asked Colonel Isaac N. Lewis to bring the system to a state in which it would suit potential buyers. In 1911, Lewis presented the machine gun to the Secretariat of War and the Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Four copies were purchased for testing (which is typical of the first test carried out in Maryland at the Air Force School), but the Armaments Directorate did not find this weapon interesting for the army. Lewis went to Belgium, where he was able to establish the production of a machine gun.
In 1913, the Lewis machine gun was adopted by the Belgian army (it also became the first country to use it in battle, in 1914 during its retreat). At the same time, Russian specialists became interested in the machine gun. In early July, a sample of a machine gun was sent to St. Petersburg by the "Belgian Society of Automatic Weapons". During the tests carried out at the Officer Rifle School, the system was undeveloped. The main complaints concerned the cooling of the barrel, which did not allow more than 600 shots to be fired. Despite this, GAU made a proposal to purchase for testing in 1914 10 McClen-Lewis machine guns, 3 Hotchkiss machine guns (for airplanes) and 2 Berthier machine guns (Berthier-Pasha). The Military Council approved this purchase on July 25, 1913. With the outbreak of the First World War, the funds allocated for the Berthier and Hotchkiss were used "to strengthen the military fund," and interest in Lewis, apparently, remained. After 10 "Lewis" were tested in the Officer Rifle School, the Head of GAU ordered to send them to the Officer Cavalry School. In turn, the Officer Cavalry School abandoned the machine guns, and they were transferred "to the Corps airfield." The positive feedback given by the Head of GAU inspired the company to offer on August 8 - after the start of the war - the supply of 5 thousand lightweight submachine guns with 56 rounds of magazines. However, they did not issue new orders at that time. And when the need for such weapons became obvious, deliveries had to wait until the end of 1915. In 1914, with the outbreak of war, the machine gun was adopted by the British army. Initially, the contract was signed with BSA (Birmingham Small Arms), and although the production of Lewis took 6 times less time than the easel Vickers and was 5 times cheaper, the company could not establish production weapons on the required scale. In this regard, the contract was transferred to the American Savage Arms Company. And only after stable production had been established, part of the contract was "ceded" to Russia.
The machine gun had a gas-operated automatic engine. Powder gases were discharged through a transverse hole located at the bottom of the barrel. The piston rod had a long stroke. The barrel bore was locked when the bolt was turned. The characteristic features of the machine gun were a spiral (snail-shaped) return-combat spring, a disk magazine of a relatively large capacity (there was no feeder spring), and air cooling of the barrel.
The cooling system uses an original siphon circuit. An aluminum radiator with high longitudinal ribs, covered with a cylindrical casing, was put on the barrel. The front cover narrowed, going beyond the muzzle of the barrel. During the shot, a vacuum was formed in the muzzle of the powder gases, as a result of which air from the breech was blown through the radiator.
The gas chamber is of a closed type. From below, a regulator with holes of different diameters was screwed into the gas chamber, which alternately stood opposite the transversely located outlet of the chamber. The regulator was turned with the lower key. The piston rod had obturating belts, and the piston had a bowl-shaped recess. The rear and front parts of the bolt carrier (rod) were rigidly connected by pins. In the rear there was a rack, rack and combat platoon. The reloading handle was inserted into the stock from the left or right. The recoil-fighting spring was located at the bottom in a special box and drove the gear into rotation, which was interlocked with the piston toothed rack. This solution left free space in the receiver, protected the spring from heating, but was unnecessarily complicated.
Four lugs were located at the rear of the shutter frame, and two spring ejectors were mounted in the front. The shutter was turned by a gas piston stand sliding in the screw groove of the frame. The drummer was mounted on the same stand. The non-rotating tail of the bolt, inserted into the back of the frame, carried guide protrusions. The upper protrusion drove the feeder. The trigger mechanism allowed for extremely continuous fire. It was assembled in a trigger box, which was attached to the receiver with a latch and a protrusion. A shot from the rear sear allowed intense fire without the danger of igniting cartridges in a heated chamber. While pressing the trigger, he turned the trigger, while the sear of the lever came out from under the cocking of the piston rod. The fuse function was performed by a bar that overlapped the slot of the receiver, locking the reloading handle. The mobile system had a stroke equal to 163 millimeters.
The shutter, while moving backwards, removed the spent cartridge case from the chamber and turned the lever reflector located in the receiver on its left wall. The reflector head protruded from the wall, entered the groove of the shutter frame and pushed the sleeve with a blow to the right.
The original power system was an attempt to abandon the tape while maintaining the drive of the feed mechanism from the mobile automation system, as well as to synchronize the operation of the mechanisms. The disk magazine included a cup, which was divided into 25 sectors by rods and wall protrusions. In the sectors, cartridges were stacked in two rows along the radius. In the center of the disc there was a bushing with a central hole and a helical groove. The feed mechanism, mounted in the receiver, had a feeder, a dog with a spring, two stops and a tongue with a guide plate with a spring. The equipped magazine was put on with a central hole on the glass of the receiver (arrow forward). The first cartridge was opposite the stop and the tongue plate. When moving back, the shutter, with the protrusion of its tail, moved along the curved groove of the feeder, rotating it to the left. The feeder dog shifted the magazine cup, while the left stop limited its rotation, not allowing more than one step to be taken. The cartridge was wrung out with a tongue plate and moved to the receiving window of the box. The shutter, when moving forward, picked up the cartridge, and the feeder, turning to the right, jumped over the next protrusion of the cup with its dog. The spike of the store wrung out the left limiter. The right stopper blocked the rotation of the cup to the right. Since the magazine sleeve was stationary, the cartridges sliding with the noses of the bullets along the screw groove of the sleeve went down. Thus, with each turn, a new cartridge was placed under the tongue plate.
A folding frame sight with a diopter rear sight and a set screw was mounted on the receiver cover. The triangular front sight was mounted on the connecting ring of the casing, but this arrangement did not contribute to accuracy. The aiming line was 818 millimeters long. The design of the machine gun consisted of 88 parts.
The bipod for the Lewis machine gun was a rigid triangular with a connecting rod with a clamp and a fork. The bipod could be attached with a fork backward or forward. When fastened back, the firing sector increased (in addition, less space was required at the edge of the trench), when fastened back, stability increased. Lightweight bipod attached to the connecting ring of the casing on hinges.
The tripod machine for the Lewis light machine gun - the machine was supplied to Russia in small quantities - had two front and one rear legs with openers and shoes. The legs were attached to the frame on hinges, which made it possible to change the height of the line of fire. The machine gun was attached to the swivel bar with a clamp. For vertical coarse aiming there was a mechanism with an arc. Fine aiming was carried out by a screw mechanism, which changed the relative position of the bar and the arc. Of course, the tripod provided better accuracy, but it did not make the Lewis "versatile."
The Lewis machine gun was developed in the United States, and the bulk of the Lewis for Russia was also produced there, but we have this machine gun - thanks to the cartridge and the order issuing procedure - has always been considered "English". In addition to him, the Russian army was armed with a 37-mm McClean automatic cannon, the main task of which was to combat machine guns.
In the UK, the 1915 Lewis machine gun was fitted with a 47-round magazine in October 1916 and was designated Mkl. At the end of the war, it was replaced by the 1923 model. The old "Lewis" remained in the countries of the British Commonwealth, modifications with other calibers were supplied to Japan and Estonia. In December 1916, Savage received an order from the US Army for Lewis machine guns chambered for.30-06 Springfield. This order was associated with preparations for the entry of the United States into the war on the side of the Entente. True, in the American army "Lewis" was mainly used as an aircraft machine gun. By 1917, the Savage company had brought production of Lewis to 400 units per week.
Although the Lewis was very heavy - almost half the weight of the Vickers easel - of all the variety of light machine guns used in World War I, it turned out to be the most "long-serving". In the mid-1920s, he was the only one in Russia that continued to be listed as a service weapon of rifle units. In our country, these machine guns last showed themselves in the first months of the Great Patriotic War, when they were issued to the militia and new formations. However, at that time, "Lewis" were used by other armies. The last "big war" of "Lewis" was the Korean War, but later they surfaced in various parts of the world.
Being the most successful model of a light machine gun of its time, the Lewis machine gun also became widely known as an aircraft machine gun. On October 11, 1915, General Belyaev, assistant to the Minister of War, wrote: "I believe it is necessary … to order Lewis's company a thousand machine guns to equip airplanes." That is, the Lewis machine gun was originally purchased by Russia for aviation. General Hermonius reported on July 14, 1916: “50 Lewis air machine guns marked“Aviation”were sent on July 10-23 to the name of the Naval General Staff. In Great Britain, the aircraft modification of the Lewis Mk 2 machine gun was adopted in November 1915 - just a month after the land Mkl was adopted (although the Lewis was used in aerial combat since 1914). The Mk 2 was distinguished by the presence of a second control handle located in place of the butt, a sleeve-collecting bag, a 97-round magazine, a casing and a radiator were shortened on some of the machine guns, and a flame arrester was installed. In 1918, the radiator was removed - the oncoming air flow in flight cooled the barrel sufficiently. In May 1918, the Lewis began to be converted into Mk 2 with changes in automation parts and an enlarged gas outlet. The automatics have been changed to increase the rate of fire. This machine gun, produced anew, received the designation Mk 3. When the aircraft "Lewis" in World War II began to be used on the ground, it turned out that the massive radiator was not very necessary for the light machine gun.
The procedure for unloading the Lewis machine gun: By lowering it down, turn on the fuse located on the left above the trigger guard. Pressing the latch located inside the magazine opening, separate it. Remove the cartridge from the receiving window (from under the feed lever) of the receiver. Pull up the fuse to turn it off. By pressing the trigger, smoothly release the bolt carrier from the cocked.
The procedure for partial disassembly of the Lewis machine gun:
1. Unload the machine gun.
2. Separate the butt plate and butt. To do this, press the latch located at the bottom behind the pistol grip and turn the butt by 1/8 of a turn to the left.
3. The trigger box is separated. To do this, push the trigger to push the box back.
4. The box with the reciprocating mainspring and the gear is separated.
5. Separate the receiver cover by sliding it back.
6. Remove the feed lever from the cover. To do this, move the feed lever latch forward; turn the lever to the right so that the cutout is in position against the lip on the glass.
7. Remove the bolt carrier and bolt from the receiver. To do this, pull back the loading handle. Remove the handle from the frame by moving it to the side. Remove the bolt and bolt carrier.
8. The bolt is separated from the bolt carrier.
The assembly is carried out upside-down. When assembling, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that when attaching the feed lever, the protrusion of the tail of the bolt enters the curved groove on the feed lever; before attaching the box, the return-combat spring must be compressed (partially twisted).
Technical characteristics of the Lewis light machine gun:
Cartridge -.303 "British" (7, 71 * 56);
Weapon weight without bipod and cartridge - 10, 63 kg;
The mass of the equipped store is 1, 8 kg;
Weapon length - 1280 mm;
Barrel length - 660 mm;
Rifling - 4 right-handed;
Bullet muzzle velocity - 747 m / s;
Sighting range - 1850 m;
Rate of fire - 500-600 rounds per minute;
Combat rate of fire - 150 rounds per minute;
Magazine capacity - 47 rounds;
The height of the line of fire on the bipod is 408 mm;
Machine type - tripod;
Machine weight - 11, 5 kg;
Angles of vertical guidance of the machine gun on the machine - from -62 to +42 degrees;
The angle of horizontal guidance of the machine gun on the machine is 360 degrees.
