This is a beautiful example of a very scarce early Marlin Arms Corp. Model 1915 light weight machine gun. This model was originally developed by John M. Browning in 1895 and is only one of 2,816 produced. In his original design, John Browning used a gas-operated small "swing-lever" mechanism mounted on the underside of the barrel to operate and cycle the gun. This downward swinging motion of this lever during operation gave the machine gun the distinctive name "Potato Digger". These were originally produced by Colt prior to WWI, with the production of the arm taken over by Marlin Rockwell at the start of WWI. They received the rights and tooling to manufacture these machine guns, as well as the standing military contracts for the Russian and Italian governments. These weapons saw limited use by American Forces during WWI; however, they were used as a training weapon after WWI. The Marlin Company eventually redesigned it in WWI for both aircraft and tank armament use. They were also issued and used by some of the National Guard units and the North Russia and Siberia Expedition Forces sent to intervene in the Russian Civil War. Measuring 42 inches in overall length, the Marlin is fitted with a blade front and flip-up elevation adjustable rear sights, and a heavily ribbed barrel and a wooden pistol grip. The top breech end of the barrel is marked: BROWNING PATENTS/ PATENTED IN THE UNITED STATES/JULY 30. AUGUST 20 1895" over, "CAL .30 (to distinguish it from the earlier 30-40 and 30-03 rounds) No. 14151/A". The very front edge of the receiver is also marked "U.S.A./INSPR J.A.D. 1917/CAL. 30 MODEL 1906/NO. 1217", followed by "MARLIN ARMS CORPORATION/NEW HAVEN CONNECTICUT". It comes complete with an original large brass gun mount with its integral elevation wheel, a early pre-WWI green painted tripod with the small rear mounted wooden swing seat, a very rare early brown canvas machine gun cover, and a WWII .30 cal metal ammunition can (empty).