The Fittipaldi machine gun is a

recoil-operated Recoil operation is an operating mechanism used to implement locked breech, autoloading firearms. Recoil operated firearms use the energy of recoil to cycle the action, as opposed to gas operation or blowback operation using the pressure of the ...

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...

USPTO The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

number 1,099,245, of June 9, 1914.

Description

The Fittipaldi machine gun uses the barrel of the Argentinian Mauser Model 1891 rifle as well as its bolt, the latter adapted for rectilinear action. It was fed by a non-disintegrating

belt Belt may refer to: Apparel * Belt (clothing), a leather or fabric band worn around the waist * Championship belt, a type of trophy used primarily in combat sports * Colored belts, such as a black belt or red belt, worn by martial arts practiti ...

and used a traditional

tripod A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...

as mount. A

water jacket A water jacket is a water-filled casing surrounding a device, typically a metal sheath having intake and outlet vents to allow water to be pumped through and circulated. The flow of water to an external heating or cooling device allows precise t ...

covered the entire length of its barrel, giving it an external appearance similar to the Lewis Gun.

History

The Fittipaldi machine gun was not adopted by the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the Army, land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the comman ...

. Little is known about its history or performance, including why it was not adopted. The prototype, dated to 1912, is on display in Room XVI "Freedom Walk" from the Museum of Arms of the Nation, Buenos Aires, Argentina.Armas Argentinas: Ametralladora Fittipaldi (Argentina)
Blog de las Fuerzas de Defensa de la República Argentina, retrieved 2013-8-3

References

{{reflist 7.65mm machine guns Machine guns of Argentina Early machine guns