Editing Synchronization gear (section)

==== The Nelson gear ====
The [[M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun#Marlin Rockwell M1917/M1918 versions|Marlin]] gas operated gun proved less amenable to synchronization than the Vickers. It was found that "rogue" shots occasionally pierced the propeller, even when the gear was properly adjusted and otherwise functioning well. The problem was eventually resolved by modifications to the Marlin's trigger mechanism,<ref name=BAP20>Bureau of Aircraft Production 1918, p. 20.</ref> but in the meantime the engineer [[Adolph Lincoln Nelson|Adolph L. Nelson]] at the Airplane Engineering Department at McCook Field had developed a new, mechanical gear especially adapted to the Marlin, officially known as the ''Nelson single shot synchronizer.''<ref name=Woodman18>Woodman 1989, pp. 199–200.</ref>  In place of the push rod common to many mechanical gears, or the "pull rod" of the Sopwith-Kauper, the Nelson gear used a cable held in tension for the transmission of firing impulses to the gun.<ref name=Woodman17/>

Production models were largely too late for use before the end of the First World War, but the Nelson gear became the post-war U.S. standard, as Vickers and Marlin guns were phased out in favour of the [[M1919 Browning machine gun|Browning .30 calibre machine gun]].