Richard Jordan Gatling
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Inventor of the Gatling Gun.
1818-1903
Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling was an American inventor best known for
his invention of the Gatling gun, the first successful rapid-
repeating fire arm.
The son of farmer and inventor Jordan Gatling, Gatling was born in
Hertford County, North Carolina and by the age of 21 had invented the
screw propeller for steamboats, only to discover it had recently and
independently been patented by John Ericsson. He worked as a court
clerk, teacher, and storekeeper. While running his own store, he
invented a "wheat drill", a planting device, and manufactured these
for sale. By 1845 he was earning enough from this device to devote
himself to selling and marketing it full-time.
However, during the winter of 1845-46, Gatling contracted smallpox
and became seriously ill. This illness, as well as the (unrelated)
deaths of several of his sisters over the years, may have influenced
him to study medicine. Gatling graduated from Ohio Medical College in
1850 but continued his career as an inventor rather than practicing
medicine.
By the late 1850s, Gatling was already well-known as an inventor
thanks to his many agricultural inventions, having won several medals
and made a fortune from them. However, his "revolving battery gun"
created his most lasting legacy.
He invented the Gatling gun in the summer of 1861 after he noticed
that the majority of dead returning from the American Civil War died
of illness, rather than gunshots. In 1877, he wrote: "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."
He founded the Gatling Gun Company in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1862.
The company merged with Colt in 1897. In the interim he further
developed the device, and while experimenting with improving gatling
guns he made an electric motor powered one, creating the first
minigun. Miniguns and electric powered gatling cannons of various
size would go on to be used as aircraft weapons on airplanes and
helicopters starting in the later half of the 1900s, as well as with
some ground forces. The hand-cranked gatling gun was declared
obsolete by the United States Army in 1911, though electrically
cranked Gatling Guns would see use again later that century.
In his later years, Gatling patented improvements related to toilets,
bicycles, steam-cleaning of raw wool, pneumatic power, and many other
fields. World-famous, he was elected as the first president of the
American Association of Inventors and Manufacturers in 1891, serving
for six years. Although still quite wealthy at the time of his death,
he had made and lost several fortunes in bad investments.
Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling died at his home in New York City on
February 26, 1903.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Jordan_Gatling"
