Gatling gun patentIn 1865, a U.S. patent was issued to Richard Jordan Gatling for the Gatling gun, invented 1861, which was the first to successfully combine reliability, high firing rate and ease of loading into a single device (No. 47,631), which he in the patent description, he called a "battery-gun." The gun was a hand-cranked to rotate a cylinder of ten barrels. Each loaded from a gravity-feed magazine on top and fired on each revolution. He was motivated to invent the weapon after he noticed the majority of dead returning from the American Civil War died of illness, rather than gunshots. He thought if a rapid-firing gun could enable one man to do what previously required many, then armies could be smaller, saving men from exposure to battle and disease.« |
