Richard Gatling - The Gatling Gun :: essays research papers

Richard Jordan Gatling was born in January 1818 in Winton northbound Carolina, and died at the age of 85 in 1903. Gatlings career as an inventor began when he assisted his father in the construction of machines for sowing cottonseeds, and also for press clipping cotton plants. He spent a lot of time in the fields with his father who helped him build some of his inventions. Richard Jordan Gatling was a medical restitute with numerous patents for his farm equipment inventions. To his credit he came up with the famous 1862-model Revolving onslaught Gun, that is now referred to as the Gatling hit man. The 1862-model was one of the first reliable Revolving subs, but serene had a few problems that needed to be fixed. Richard was not the first to build a multi- force out weapon, but his was the first multi-fire gun use in warfare because of its fast, rapid fire, and ease to use. Major General Ben F. Butler purchased 12, 1862-model gatling guns for $1000 severally and used them s uccessfully at the battle of Petersburg in 1863. In 1865 Gatlings ameliorate model, the 1865-gun was tested by the Ordnance Department. One of the changes between the improved Gatling gun and the old one, was that the new weapon used rim fire copper-cased cartridges kinda of the steel-chambered subject kind. Though this model did not see service, it was adopted formally in 1866. The military was so pleased with the performance of the Gatling gun that it has been used in every battle since it was invented to this day and has been continuously upgraded and improved. Having received disposal approval, Gatling began to sell his guns throughout the world. This was a big mark in Richardss future, he had gone from working in the fields to developing a gun that is used throughout the military of the world. The gun was a hand-crank-operated weapon with six barrels revolving around a central shaft. Having a gun that revolves was very difficult because the barrels would not always line up correctly when being fired. The original gun was actually designed to fire the standard military issue paper cartridge of the day, .58 lineament. A .58 caliber bullet has a diameter of an inch and is capable of damaging anything it hits. The paper cartridge was placed inside a steel or brass section chamber with a percussion nipple on the back sack just like the muzzle loading rifles and pistols of there time.