Gatling gun
From Freepedia
The Gatling gun was the first successful rapid-repeating fire arm. Unlike previous devices it was the first 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, 1865. In modern use it often refers to guns of similar rotating barrel design. The Gatling gun is not, however, the first machine gun, as machine guns are required to be automatic (automatic referring to a fully self-repeating firearm).
Contents |
History of the gun
The Gatling gun was designed in 1861 during the Civil War. However, in 1862, the U.S. government did not purchase any, for they lacked triggers and were far too heavy to be set up quickly in combat. Even when Gatling improved the design, it still lacked the critical trigger and still weighed an unwieldy 90 lb (41 kg). However, Union General Benjamin Butler bought 12 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 in service late in the war by the Northern army. Though Gatling was a Southern sympathizer, the Union had seized the blueprints and Southern factories lacked the manufacturing capability to produce them, anyway. If the gun had been used more frequently and earlier in the war, the war may have ended far more rapidly.
The Gatling gun was hand-crank operated with six barrels (so the gun did not overheat) revolving around a central shaft. The bullets were fed to the gun through a hopper on top of the gun. Each barrel had its own firing mechanism. Cartridge holders were divided into 16 sections, each holding 25 cartridges. After 1861, new brass bullet cartridges similar to modern cartridges replaced the paper cartridge (Richie 78-79), but Gatling did not switch to them immediately. However, after Gatling finally did make the adjustments, he solved an additional problem- firing the gun produced a large cloud of smoke, obscuring the gunner's sight.
The model of 1881 was designed to use the Bruce feed system that would accept .45/70 cartridges. While one track fed the gun, another could be loaded for continuous fire. Inaccuracy was a problem; the end of the barrel was wider. To correct this, Gatling switched to rim fire cartridges. 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 gun was a rotary device, powered using a crank. A cylinder of ten barrels would be loaded and fired for each revolution. The gun was produced in calibres ranging from one inch (25.4 mm) down to 0.45 inch (11.43 mm). It was operated by a crew of four.
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, 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 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.
The smallest calibre gun also had a Broadwell drum feed in place of the curved magazine of the other guns. The cartridge holder was divided into sixteen sections each holding 25 cartridges. As each section was emptied the drum rotated bringing a new section into use until all 400 rounds had been fired.
The concept was made obsolete with the development of the gas or recoil blowback concept, which is the basis of modern machine guns.
Combat use
The Royal Navy adopted them for use on board ships. The Naval Brigades serving during the Zulu Wars used them alongside their artillery and they also saw action during the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882.
Modern Gatling Guns
Although the principle was unused for many years, Gatling-style guns with rotating barrels were to return with the requirement for very high rate-of-fire weapons in military aircraft and ship-based anti-missile defence systems, with electric motors replacing mechanical cranks for rotation. One example is the M61 Vulcan 20 mm cannon, the most commonly used member of a family of weapons designed by General Electric. The Vulcan is a six-barrelled electric Gatling capable of firing more than 6,000 rounds per minute, a rate unachievable with a conventional machine gun. A variety of similar weapons are available in calibers ranging from 5.56 mm to 30 mm, the rate of fire being somewhat proportional to the size and mass of the ammunition (which also determines the size and mass of the barrels). During the Vietnam War, the 7.62 mm calibre M134 Minigun was created for helicopters as an offensive and defensive weapon. Able to fire 4,000 rounds a minute, the Minigun proved to be one of the deadliest weapons ever built and is used in helicopters today.
In addition to their incredibly high rate of fire, many modern gatling guns have the advantage of being operated by external power sources (as opposed to being powered by the energy of the fired cartidge). This increases their reliability as a cartridge's failure to fire does not cause the weapon's operations cycle to be interrupted. In addition certain other classes of stoppage, such as faulty extraction and many of those associated with feeding, are eliminated or reduced considerably due to the external power source.
The gun was also made famous in the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie Predator where the character played by Jesse Ventura was armed with a M134 Minigun, though it is impossible for a single person to actually carry and fire the Minigun because of the recoil. The recoil in the movie's minigun was so great that the actor had to be propped up in scenes where he fired the Minigun, even though it was only firing blank ammunition. Furthermore, it takes the equivalent of 6 car batteries to provide the current needed for the weapon's electric motor.
See also
External links
- List of Military Gatling & Revolver cannons
- U.S. Patent 36836 -- Gatling gun
- http://www.world.guns.ru/machine/minigun-e.htm
- Nazarian`s Gun`s Recognition Guide
Categories: Early machine guns | Multi-barrel machine guns | Rotary cannons | Weapons of the United States
