Gatling guns

E99000

Gatling guns are early rapid-fire, hand-cranked machine guns that revolutionized 19th-century warfare by dramatically increasing infantry firepower.

Aliases (1)

Statements (49)
Predicate Object
instanceOf firearm
machine gun
rapid-fire weapon
action revolving barrel cluster
caliber .50 caliber
.58 caliber (early models)
1-inch caliber (some models)
category 19th-century weapons
rotary guns
countryOfOrigin United States
designedFor defensive positions
infantry support
era 19th century
feedSystem Bruce feed
gravity-fed hopper
magazine feed
hasAdvantage high rate of fire compared to single-shot rifles
mechanical reliability
reduced jamming compared to early automatic guns
hasPart feed system
firing mechanism
hand crank
multiple rotating barrels
inception 1861
influenced development of modern machine guns
inventor Richard Jordan Gatling
material brass
steel
mechanism externally powered rotation
mountedOn field carriages
fortifications
naval mounts
namedAfter Richard Jordan Gatling NERFINISHED
patentDate 1862
patentHolder Richard Jordan Gatling
powerSource manual hand crank
rateOfFire up to 600 rounds per minute
replacedBy Maxim gun
usedBy British Army
Imperial Russian Army
Union Army
United States Army
other 19th-century militaries
usedIn American Civil War
Franco-Prussian War
Spanish–American War
various colonial wars
uses black powder ammunition
metallic cartridges

Referenced by (2)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Satsuma Rebellion
militaryTechnologyUsed
Battle of San Juan Hill
usedWeapon

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