Gatling Gun

A Gatling gun is a gun with multiple firing pins and breeches connected to multiple rotating barrels. Each barrel fires a single shot as it reaches a certain point in the cycle after which it ejects the spent cartridge, loads a new round, and in the process, somewhat cools down. This configuration allows higher rates of fire without the problem of an overheating single barrel, though accuracy suffers. The gun was designed by the American inventor Dr. Richard J. Gatling in 1861 and patented in 1862.

Although it was not an automatic firearm, the Gatling gun is considered by some to have been the first machine gun. While the Gatling gun did not automatically reload under its own power, it was capable of firing continuously. The first Gatling gun relied on a hand crank for external power. The Maxim gun, invented in 1884, was the first self-powered machine gun. Some time later, Gatling-type weapons were invented that diverted a fraction of gas from the chamber to spin the rotating barrels. Later still, electric motors supplied external power.