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The Gatling Gun, invented by Richard Jordan Gatling in 1862, was an early machine gun with multiple rotating barrels capable of firing 3,000 rounds per minute. It was replaced by more sophisticated designs but the multi-barrel design is still used in anti-aircraft weapons and vehicle-mounted artillery. The invention was made possible by the development of self-contained cartridges. Gatling’s invention inspired the development of lighter and more reliable machine guns, but the multi-barrel design still has advantages. The design was adopted for aircraft-mounted weapons in the twentieth century, commonly known as Vulcans.
The Gatling gun, developed by Richard Jordan Gatling in 1862, was an early type of machine gun. It integrated multiple barrels that could be rotated, maintaining a continuous flow of fire. With a little refinement, the Gatling Gun design was capable of firing 3,000 rounds per minute, an impressive achievement. More sophisticated machine guns were developed in the 1880s and the Gatling Gun was largely replaced in the field by less ungainly designs. However, the multiple barrel design is still used on anti-aircraft weapons and vehicle-mounted artillery.
Before the development of self-contained cartridges, the Gatling Gun could not exist. In the mid-1800s, gun manufacturers began combining bullets and gunpowder into one neat cartridge, which was much easier and less messy to load. Previously, soldiers had to load gunpowder and then shells, a painstaking process that took up precious time on the battlefield.
Gatling’s invention took advantage of this advance in firearms technology. He designed a very large field artillery piece that was designed to be rolled on wheels. A central hub was used to mount multiple gun barrels. When the Gatling Gun’s barrels were rotated, they fired, ejecting the spent cartridge and allowing a fresh cartridge to drop from a gravity-fed hopper. The Gatling Gun was hand cranked, allowing the soldier to control the rate of fire.
Several historians have suggested that Gatling developed the weapon to make warfare so terrible that nations would find other ways to solve their problems. Gatling himself, however, thought otherwise. In a letter to the United States marketing the Gatling gun during the Civil War, Gatling emphasized that the weapon would be very effective against the enemy. Gatling was a frustrated inventor who often lacked the ability to patent products. His gun was a major source of potential income.
The mechanized firing process planted the seeds of the idea of a real machine gun in the minds of other inventors. Lighter and more reliable machine guns were developed, but the multi-barreled design still had advantages. A single barrel machine gun can overheat and fail. Multiple barrels, like those of a Gatling Gun, allow a soldier to fire a large number of projectiles without overheating the barrel while maintaining a continuous and constant rate of fire. The design was adopted for aircraft-mounted weapons in the twentieth century, although these weapons are powered by electric motors, rather than by hand. These modern machine guns are commonly known as Vulcans.
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