By Wikipedia
Published: October 29, 2006
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 The Gatling gun was the first highly successful rapid-repeating firearm. It was the first firearm to combine reliability, high firing rate and ease of loading into a single device. It was designed by the American inventor Richard J. Gatling, in 1861 and patented on May 9, 1862. In modern usage it typically refers to guns with a similar rotating barrel design.
Depending on how one defines the term, the Gatling gun is or is not the first "machine gun", despite frequent references to it as such; machine guns operate entirely on a fraction of the power of the fired cartridge, while the Gatling relies on external power (hand crank, or electric/hydraulic motor). The slang term 'gat' for gun is derived from the Gatling gun. History of the Gatling The Gatling gun was designed in 1861 during the U.S. Civil War. However, in 1862, the U.S. government did not purchase any, for the Gatling guns lacked triggers and were far too heavy to be set up quickly in combat. Even when Dr. Gatling improved the design, it still lacked the desired trigger and weighed an unwieldy 90 lb (41 kg). However, Union General Benjamin Butler bought twelve and used them successfully on the Petersburg front. During its debut in combat both Union and Confederate soldiers were awestruck by its power and effect. They were only put into limited service late in the war by the Northern army. The Gatling gun was hand-crank operated with six barrels revolving around a central shaft, based on the Puckle Gun. Early models had a fibrous matting stuffed in among the barrels which could be soaked with water to cool the barrels down; this was eliminated in later models as being counterproductive. The ammunition, initially a steel cylinder charged with black powder and primed with a percussion cap (as self-contained brass cartridges had not yet been invented), was gravity-fed into the breech through a hopper or stick magazine on top of the gun. Each barrel had its own firing mechanism. After 1861, new brass cartridges similar to modern cartridges replaced the paper cartridge, but Gatling did not switch to them immediately. The model of 1881 was designed to use the Bruce feed system (U.S. Patents 247,158 and 343,532) that would accept two rows of .45/70 cartridges. While one row was being fed into the gun, the other could be reloaded, thus allowing sustained fire. The final gun required four operators. By 1876 the Gatling gun could fire 1,200 rounds per minute, although 400 was more reasonable. Basic design The Gatling gun is a rotary device, originally powered using a crank. A cylinder of ten barrels, spaced equally around the side of the cylinder, rotates around a central axis. Each barrel fires once per revolution at about the same position. Originally, the Gatling gun was produced in calibres ranging from one inch (25.4 mm) down to 0.45 inch (11.43 mm). The barrels, a carrier, and a lock cylinder were separate and all mounted on a solid plate revolving around a central shaft, mounted on an oblong fixed frame. The carrier was grooved and the lock cylinder was drilled with holes corresponding to the barrels. Each barrel had a single lock, working in the lock cylinder on a line with the barrel. The lock cylinder was encased and joined to the frame. The casing was partitioned, and through this opening the barrel shaft was journaled. In front of the casing was a cam with spiral surfaces. The cam imparted a reciprocating motion to the locks when the gun rotated. Also in the casing was a cocking ring with projections to cock and fire the gun. Turning the crank rotated the shaft. Cartridges, held in a hopper, dropped individually into the grooves of the carrier. The lock was simultaneously forced by the cam to move forward and load the cartridge and when the cam was at its highest point the cocking ring freed the lock and fired the cartridge. After the cartridge was fired the continuing action of the cam drew back the lock bringing with it the spent cartridge which was then dropped to the ground. The grouped barrel concept was not new; it had been tried since the 18th century, but poor engineering and the lack of a unitary cartridge made previous designs unsuccessful. The initial Gatling gun design used self-contained, reloadable steel cylinders with a chamber holding a ball and black-powder charge, and a percussion cap nipple on one end. As the barrels rotated, these steel cylinders dropped into place, were fired, and were then ejected from the gun. The innovative features of the Gatling gun were its independent firing mechanism for each barrel and the simultaneous action of the locks, barrels, carrier and breech. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Gatling Gun".
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