Editing Machine gun (section)

===18th century===
<!-- "pyroballistic" redirects here -->
[[File:Puckle gun Photo.jpg|thumb|right|Replica [[Puckle Gun]] from [[Bucklers Hard]] Maritime Museum]]

In 1708, it was reported from Constantinople that a French officer had invented a very light cannon that could fire from a single barrel 30 shots in 2 and a half minutes for a total rate of fire of 12 shots a minute.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/inventairesomma01histgoog/page/n138/mode/2up?q=Trente+Coups|title=Inventaire sommaire des archives historiques (Archives anciennes. Correspondance)|year=1898|publisher=Paris, Imprimerie nationale}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://perso.numericable.fr/cf40/articles/4041/4041060A.htm|title=Le Chasseur Français N°595 Janvier 1940 p. 60|access-date=2022-03-08|archive-date=2022-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308161025/http://perso.numericable.fr/cf40/articles/4041/4041060A.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1711, a French lawyer called Barbuot  presented to the parliament of Dijon a crank-operated 'war machine' made up of 10 carbine barrels and loaded via a 'drum' capable of firing in vollies. It was said to be accurate at 400 to 500 paces and to strike with enough force to pierce 2 or 3 men at a time when close. It was also claimed to be able to shoot 5 or 6 times before infantry came within musket range or cavalry within pistol range and with no more space between each shot than the time needed to prime a pistol, cock it and release the hammer as well as being nearly as manoeuvrable as cavalry. An alternative and heavier version was said to be able to throw grenades and it was also proposed to equip the machine with a bellows for clearing smoke that built up during firing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/inventairesomma01histgoog/page/n152/mode/2up?q=Continuellement|title=Inventaire sommaire des archives historiques (Archives anciennes. Correspondance)|year=1898|publisher=Paris, Imprimerie nationale}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://perso.numericable.fr/cf40/articles/4041/4041060A.htm|title=Le Chasseur Français N°595 Janvier 1940 p. 60|access-date=2022-03-08|archive-date=2022-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308161025/http://perso.numericable.fr/cf40/articles/4041/4041060A.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Another early revolving gun was created by [[James Puckle]], a London lawyer, who patented what he called "The [[Puckle Gun]]" on May 15, 1718. It was a design for a manually operated 1.25 in. (32&nbsp;mm) caliber, [[flintlock]] cannon with a revolver cylinder able to fire 6–11 rounds before reloading by swapping out the cylinder, intended for use on [[ship]]s.<ref name="bannerman">Original patent claim reproduced in: Francis Bannerman Sons, ''Bannerman Military Goods Catalogue #28'' (1954) p. 103</ref> It was one of the earliest weapons to be referred to as a machine gun, being called such in 1722,<ref name="Paul Wilcock">{{cite web|url=http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/17394/1/BUCCLEUCH_PROJECT_Royal_Armouries_version_2_5_FinalProofEDIT.pdf|title=The Armoury of His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry|publisher=University of Huddersfield|access-date=2015-08-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304022855/http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/17394/1/BUCCLEUCH_PROJECT_Royal_Armouries_version_2_5_FinalProofEDIT.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=live}}</ref> though its operation does not match the modern usage of the term. According to Puckle, it was able to fire round bullets at [[Christians]] and square bullets at [[Turkic peoples|Turks]].<ref name="bannerman" /> However, it was a commercial failure and was not adopted or produced in any meaningful quantity.

In 1729, a report was written in France on a machine capable of firing 600 balls in a few minutes.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/ark/1147433 | title=Mémoires, rapports, correspondance concernant diverses inventions et propositions, 1729–1784 : Machine pour tirer 600 balles en quelques minutes; moulins à bras pour le service des vivres; « pompes et agrès servant à remédier aux accidents... &#124; Service historique de la Défense | access-date=2023-11-18 | archive-date=2023-11-18 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231118052952/https://www.servicehistorique.sga.defense.gouv.fr/ark/1147433 | url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1720, a French inventor called Philippe Vayringe invented a small cannon that could fire 16 shots in succession, which he demonstrated before the Duke of Lorraine.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6noDAAAAQAAJ&dq=Shots+In+Succession&pg=PA34|title=Lives of Individuals who Raised Themselves from Poverty to Eminence Or Fortune|year=1841|last1=Davenport|first1=Richard Alfred|access-date=2022-11-01|archive-date=2023-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216090902/https://books.google.com/books?id=6noDAAAAQAAJ&dq=Shots+In+Succession&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q=Shots%20In%20Succession&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1737, it was mentioned that Jacob de Weinholtz, a Dane who was serving in the Portuguese army, had invented a cannon capable of firing 20 to 30 shots a minute though requiring 15 people to work it. The cannons were brought along with a [[Luís de Meneses, 1st Marquis of Louriçal#The journey to India|Portuguese fleet sent to India]] to take part in a colonial war in the 1740s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c2BSCmD0YmEC&q=Coups+En+Une+minute&pg=PA1170|title=Mercure français|year=1737|access-date=2021-09-18|archive-date=2023-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216090902/https://books.google.com/books?id=c2BSCmD0YmEC&q=Coups+En+Une+minute&pg=PA1170#v=snippet&q=Coups%20En%20Une%20minute&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUZSHKhKJ4gC&q=Weinholtz+Portuguese+Cannon&pg=PA49|title = SAWANTS OF WADI Coastal Politics in 18th and 19th Centuries|last1 = Mhamai|first1 = S. K.|year = 1984}}</ref> Also in 1737, it was mentioned that a German engineer had invented a 10-pounder cannon capable of firing 20 times in a minute.<ref>{{BNA |id=0000085/17370528/009/0002|title=German 10-pounder firing 20 times a minute}}</ref> In 1740, a cannon able to shoot 11 times per minute was developed by a Frenchman called Chevalier de Benac.<ref>{{BNA |id=0000191/17400927/004/0002|title=Chevalier de Benac develops canon that shoots 11 times a minute}}</ref> Meanwhile, not long after in England, in 1747 a cannon able to simultaneously charge and discharge itself 20 times in a minute was invented by James Allis and presented to the Royal Society of England.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fa5jAAAAcAAJ&q=James+Allis+1747+Cannon&pg=PA30|title=A Century of the Names and Scantlings of Such Inventions, as at Present I Can Call to Mind to Have Tried and Perfected, Etc. With Historical and Explanatory Notes, and a Biographical Memoir by C.F. Partington|first=Edward SOMERSET (2nd Marquis of|last=Worcester.)|date=April 3, 1825|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1750, in Denmark, a Prussian known as Captain Steuben of the Train of Artillery invented a breech-loading cannon worked by 4 people and fed by paper cartridges capable of firing 24 times in a minute and demonstrated it to the King of Denmark along with some other high-ranking officials in the same year.<ref>{{BNA |id=0000570/17500227/007/0004|title=Breech-loading canon demonstrated to King of Denmark}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2B82AAAAMAAJ&q=Steuben+1750+New+Cannon&pg=PA91|title = The Universal Magazine|year = 1750}}</ref> In 1764, Frenchman Ange Goudar wrote in his work ''The Chinese Spy'' that he had assisted in Paris in the proofing of a 'great gun' capable of firing 60 times in a minute.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6JFAQAAMAAJ&q=Invented+Cannon+Minute&pg=RA1-PA354|title = The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure|year = 1764}}</ref> In 1773, another cannon capable of firing 23 or 24 times in a minute and cleaning itself after every shot was invented by [[Thomas Desaguliers]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9JE-AAAAYAAJ&q=Cannon+Invented+Desaguliers&pg=RA1-PA131|title=The Annual Register|year=1803}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JgEkAAAAMAAJ&q=Desaguliers+Cannon+Invented+23+Minute&pg=PA244|title = History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery|last1 = Duncan|first1 = Francis|year = 1879}}</ref> In 1775, it was mentioned that in England two large cannons invented by an unidentified matross at Woolwich had achieved a rate of fire of 59 shots in 59 and a half seconds.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/601820514/?terms=Cannon%20Minute%20Invented&match=1|title=Newspapers.com|access-date=2021-09-18|archive-date=2021-09-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918173902/https://www.newspapers.com/image/601820514/?terms=Cannon%20Minute%20Invented&match=1|url-status=live}}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmQyAQAAMAAJ&q=cannon+invented9&pg=PA339|title = Scots Magazine, and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany|volume= 37|author = Sands, Brymer, Murray and Cochran|year = 1775}}</ref>

Also in 1775, a breech-loading [[volley gun]], similar to the later mitrailleuse, was invented by a Frenchman called Du Perron which was worked by 3 or 4 men and capable of discharging 24 barrels 10 times a minute for a total rate of fire of 240 shots per minute.<ref>''Nouveau Règlement pour la filature des soies'', (no publisher name or imprint), [https://books.google.com/books?id=u_sSFRA5Q70C&pg=PA25 p. 25] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091357/https://books.google.com/books?id=u_sSFRA5Q70C&pg=PA25#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=2023-12-16 }}, 1775 {{OCLC|405531902}}</ref>

In 1776, a gun capable of charging and discharging itself 120 times 'by the motion of one hand only' in a minute was invented in England by an inventor from the county of Westmoreland.<ref>{{BNA |id=0000045/17760406/002/0001|title=120-times-a-minute discharging gun invented}}</ref>

In 1777, [[Philadelphia]] [[gunsmith]] Joseph Belton offered the [[Continental Congress]] a [[Belton flintlock|"new improved gun"]], which was capable of firing up to twenty shots in five seconds; unlike older repeaters using complex lever-action mechanisms, it used a simpler system of [[superposed load]]s, and was loaded with a single large [[paper cartridge]]. Congress requested that Belton modify 100 flintlock muskets to fire eight shots in this manner, but rescinded the order when Belton's price proved too high.<ref name=peterson>{{cite book |title=Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526–1783 |author=Harold L. Peterson |author-link=Harold L. Peterson |pages=217–18|year=2000 |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |isbn=978-0-486-41244-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Journals of the Continental Congress |url=https://archive.org/details/journalscontine09statgoog |author=United States Continental Congress |publisher=USGPO |year=1907 |pages=324, 361}}</ref>

In 1779, a machine made up of 21 musket barrels worked by 3 men was produced by a British inventor called William Wilson Wright which he claimed could be fired 3 times quicker than a single man could load and fire a musket 3 times.<ref>{{BNA |id=0000045/17790717/002/0003|title=wright-musket-machine}}</ref>

In 1788, a Swiss soldier invented a machine worked by 10 men capable of discharging 300 balls in 3 minutes.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zk4DAAAAMAAJ&dq=300+Balls+In+3+Minutes+Swiss&pg=PA356 |title=The Gentleman's Magazine |via=Google Books |year=1789 |accessdate=2022-02-27 |archive-date=2023-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091522/https://books.google.com/books?id=zk4DAAAAMAAJ&dq=300+Balls+In+3+Minutes+Swiss&pg=PA356#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

Also in 1788, it was reported that a Prussian officer had invented a gun capable of firing 400 balls one after the other.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/001284/pdf/m1284-0271.pdf|title=Maryland Gazette: Thursday, August 28, 1788|website=msa.maryland.gov|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426085357/https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc4800/sc4872/001284/pdf/m1284-0271.pdf|archive-date=26 April 2022|access-date=20 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{BNA |id=0000230/17880526/001/0002|title=prussian-gun-firing-400-balls}}</ref>

In 1790, a former officer in the French military known as Joseph-François-Louis Grobert invented a 'ballistic machine' or 'pyroballistic machine' with multiple barrels operated by 4 men and a continuous rotational movement capable of firing 360 rifle shots a minute in a variety of calibers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7K8-hwOLWlUC&q=Fusil+Minute+Grobert&pg=RA1-PA52|title=Procès-verbal des séances de l'Assemblée nationale: 1789–1791|author1=France|year=1789|access-date=2021-08-06|archive-date=2023-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091523/https://books.google.com/books?id=7K8-hwOLWlUC&q=Fusil+Minute+Grobert&pg=RA1-PA52#v=snippet&q=Fusil%20Minute%20Grobert&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.0036748811&view=plaintext&seq=302&q1=360|title=Procès-verbal de l'Assemblée des communes et de l'Assemblée nationale, imprimé par son ordre|publisher=Chez Badouin, Impr. de l'Assemblée nationale|access-date=2021-06-30|archive-date=2021-07-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182842/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nnc1.0036748811&view=plaintext&seq=302&q1=360|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1792, a French artist known as Renard invented a piece of ordnance that could be operated by one man and fired 90 shots a minute.<ref>{{BNA |id=0000341/17920824/009/0002|title=French artists invents ordnance that can fire 90-times-a-minute}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L0Y3AAAAYAAJ&q=Renard+Ordnance+1792&pg=PA849|title=The Gentleman's Magazine|year=1792|access-date=2021-08-06|archive-date=2023-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091523/https://books.google.com/books?id=L0Y3AAAAYAAJ&q=Renard+Ordnance+1792&pg=PA849#v=snippet&q=Renard%20Ordnance%201792&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

Also in 1792, a French mechanic called Garnier invented a musket battery made up of 15 barrels capable of firing 300 shots in 2 minutes for a total rate of fire of 150 shots a minute or 10 shots per minute per barrel and of being operated by one man.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://sul-philologic.stanford.edu/philologic/archparl/navigate/49/2/8/ | title=Archives Parlementaires | access-date=2022-04-26 | archive-date=2022-10-31 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221031193907/https://sul-philologic.stanford.edu/philologic/archparl/navigate/49/2/8/ | url-status=live }}</ref>