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On November 4, 1862, Dr. Richard J. Gatling introduced the first really practical and successful machine gun. The“Gatling Gun” was a hand-cranked multi barrel weapon which was used by the United States government until 1911.
The Gatling Gun started the trend of high powered weaponry. Dr. Gatling was a gentle man who thought that the invention of his gun would make warfare so devastating that men would not fight anymore.
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Excerpts from "GATLING: The Man And The Gun"
By Richard C. Hoffman
FROM PAGES 2-3
In 1861 Dr. Gatling lived near a railroad depot in Indianapolis. He witnessed the young volunteers being shipped out to fight in the Civil War. He also saw the bodies of the dead being brought back for burial. On one occasion he noticed that of the 19 corpses shipped home only three had been hit by bullets. There were far less soldiers killed in battle than those who died from sickness.
In 1877 Dr. Gatling wrote a letter to Lizzie Jarvis, a niece of the late Col. Colt, and expressed his reasons for designing his gun.
"It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine - a gun - which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease [would] be greatly diminished.".
FROM PAGE 24
The model 1881 was designed to use the Bruce feed system designed by L. F. Bruce. This system consisted of a bronze frame that held a strut bar with two T-shaped slots machined along its face that would accept the heads of .45/70 cartridges. This bar was attached to the frame and would swing back and forth. When one slot was emptied the bar would swing and line up the full track with the feed hopper. The major advantage of this system is that while one track was feeding the gun a person could be loading the other track giving you an uninterrupted string of fire. The model 1881 went back to having exposed barrels.
FROM PAGE 26
In 1911 the U. S. Military declared the Gatling Gun obsolete until it was revived in the 1950s. The Gatling Gun is the basis for a number of the US militaries most advanced weapons systems including the Vulcan, the Mini-Gun, and the Phalanx System. Proving that Dr. Gatlings system was way ahead of its time.
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This photo of Dr. Gatling was taken on his 80th birthday and was in Scientific America magazine.
This is a commemorative medal produced by Colt Firearms in 1961 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of Dr. Gatling’s most important invention.
This is a reprint of the original Model 1862 Gatling Gun Patent drawing.
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