Richard Jordan Gatling

Richard Jordan Gatling

Biography

Richard Jordan Gatling was an American inventor and entrepreneur. Despite being the inventor of many contraptions, he is most notable for developing the Gatling Gun. Originally producing the device to reduce the number of casualties during the civil war, the Gatling Gun became the first rapid firing weapon to be used in combat. Though the weapon went out of service in the early 20th century, it is still considered a technological marvel.

Richard Gatling was born in Hertford County, North Carolina, on September 12th, 1818. His father was a commercial farmer who primarily raised cotton. Working with his Dad, Gatling's first experience with machinery came from his father's farm, where he tinkered and improved farming machines that sewed and thinned out cotton plants. Early in his life at the age of 21, Gatling established himself as a prominent inventor and created the screw propeller for steamboats; however, he discovered after inventing it that the concept had already been patented.

After developing the screw propeller for steamboats, he established himself in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1844. Wanting to work on a new project, he took the cotton-sowing machine as a basis, and adapted it for sowing rice, wheat, and other grains. The introduction of these improvements and designs revolutionized the agricultural system within the area, and eventually in the country.

After improving the design of the cotton-sowing machine, he went on to become interested in the sciences, particularly within medicine. Through an attack he received from the smallpox, he became inspired to receive his M.D. degree in 1850 from the Ohio Medical College. But despite earning his M.D., he never went on to practice medicine. Instead, he devoted his attention back to inventing; that same year he earned his M.D. he developed the hemp-breaking machine. In 1857, he also went on to develop the steam plow.

Soon after the Civil War began, Gatling observed that the majority of soldiers died from disease due to nourishment or wounds rather then from actual combat. In 1877, he observed 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." Thus, basing his design the the Gatling seed planter he developed earlier in his career , he created the first functional Gatling Gun in 1861, and patented it November 4th, 1862.

When patented, the Gatling Gun was described to be a class of machine guns; an object being a gun that has the potential of firing rapidly, either by hand or machine. by design, it was described to have a frame of supporting cylindrical cam and a central revolving shaft bearing coils of wire. A group of barrels and a cylinder with reciprocating locks that in detail of the construction move in conjunction to fire at a rapid rate. It was also designed to have the "cartridges" be easily removed after firing, insuring that they could be used for further ammo storage.

Despite its impressive design, the Gatling Gun saw little use within the Civil War. Many falsely accused Gatling to be a "copperhead", a supporter of the South due to his heritage and past experiences living within the region. Union military and Generals alike refrained themselves from including them in combat. It wasn't until 1965 that the military began to incorporate a small quantity of models into their ranks, but by the time they did so the war was seemingly almost over.

But despite this, Gatling continued to improve its design, and in 1870 opened a factory to produce the weapon. By 1882 it could fire up to 1,200 round per minute. Eventually the Gatling Gun caught popularity in Europe, where it was sold to England, Austria, Russia, and a few South American nations for various conflicts of the time. The U.S. military also used it against the American Indians. Thus, due to the increase in popularity, in 1983 Gatling successfully developed an electricity-driven gun that fired 3,000 rounds per minutes; off this design he eventually created one of the first automatic gas-operated guns. However, in 1911 the U.S. army declared the weapon obsolete in favor of other rising technologies. Eventually he went to develop a motor-driven plow in 1900, but passed away on in New York City on February 26th, 1903, just before he could commercialize it. <ref>http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Richard_Jordan_Gatling.aspx</ref.

Richard's Gatling's Gatling Gun was a milestone in warfare technology; it served as the first automatic weapon to grace the fields of combat. Serving as a pioneer for the development of automatic weapons to come, the Gatling Gun went on to serve as a base for the production of automatic weaponry. Today, it is a novelty weapon, and an influential piece of technology within the history of technology and engineering.