Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Machine gun
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===19th century=== In the early and mid-19th century, a number of rapid-firing weapons appeared which offered multi-shot fire, mostly volley guns. Volley guns (such as the [[Mitrailleuse]]) and double-barreled pistols relied on duplicating all parts of the gun, though the [[Nock gun]] used the otherwise-undesirable "chain fire" phenomenon (where multiple chambers are ignited at once) to propagate a spark from a single flintlock mechanism to multiple barrels. Pepperbox pistols also did away with needing multiple hammers but used multiple manually operated barrels. Revolvers further reduced this to only needing a pre-prepared cylinder and linked advancing the cylinder to cocking the hammer. However, these were still manually operated. In 1805, a British inventor from Northampton designed a cannon that would prime, load and fire itself 10 times a minute.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TQ9HSQuyzWcC&q=Cannon+Invented+Minute|title = Annual Register|year = 1805|last1 = Burke|first1 = Edmund|access-date = 2022-04-30|archive-date = 2023-12-16|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091523/https://books.google.com/books?id=TQ9HSQuyzWcC&q=Cannon+Invented+Minute#v=snippet&q=Cannon%20Invented%20Minute&f=false|url-status = live}}</ref> In 1806, a Viennese copper engraver and mechanic known as Mr Putz invented a machine cannon that could load, fire and clean itself once every second or potentially up to 60 times a minute though the rate of fire was limited by the overheating of the barrel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Eo4HvPvGpGkC&dq=Kanone+erfunden+minuten&pg=PA12|title=Zeitung für Industrie und Handlung|year=1806|access-date=2022-09-08|archive-date=2023-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091524/https://books.google.com/books?id=Eo4HvPvGpGkC&dq=Kanone+erfunden+minuten&pg=PA12#v=onepage&q=Kanone%20erfunden%20minuten&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1819, an American inventor from Baltimore designed a gun with 11 barrels that could fire 12 times in a minute for a total rate of fire of 132 shots a minute.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/233569326/?terms=Times%20A%20Minute&match=1|title=Newspapers.com|access-date=2022-04-20|archive-date=2022-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428143856/https://www.newspapers.com/image/233569326/?terms=Times%20A%20Minute&match=1|url-status=live}}{{subscription required}}</ref> In 1821, a muzzle-loading repeating cannon capable of firing 30 shots in 6 minutes or 5 shots per minute was demonstrated in England by the French-American "Fire King" Ivan Ivanitz Chabert. It was worked by a "wheel" fed by paper cartridges from a store attached to the cannon and ignited using a match from a match-holder somewhere else on the cannon.<ref>{{BNA |id=0000174/18210113/002/0001|title=Muzzle-loading cannon firing 5-shots-per-minute demonstrated}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/39626007/?terms=Charged%20And%20Discharged&match=1|title=Newspapers.com|access-date=2021-09-20|archive-date=2021-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920212405/https://www.newspapers.com/image/39626007/?terms=Charged%20And%20Discharged&match=1|url-status=live}}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{BNA |id=0000045/18230412/009/0003|title=Muzzle-loading cannon firing 5-shots-per-minute demonstrated by Chabert}}</ref> In 1825 an Italian book attempting to catalogue all topographic features of all known countries on Earth mentioned that in France there were 'mechanical rifles' used to defend warehouses that were capable of firing 120 shots without reloading.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UdZCAAAAYAAJ&dq=120+colpi+per+parte&pg=PA138|title = Geografia moderna universale: ovvero descrizione fisica, statistica topografica di tutti i paesi conosciuti della terra, Volume 10|year = 1825|last1 = Pagnozzi|first1 = G. R.|access-date = 2023-10-30|archive-date = 2023-12-16|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091525/https://books.google.com/books?id=UdZCAAAAYAAJ&dq=120+colpi+per+parte&pg=PA138#v=onepage&q=120%20colpi%20per%20parte&f=false|url-status = live}}</ref> In 1828, a [[swivel gun]] that did not need cleaning or muzzle-loading and was capable of being made to any dimensions and used as an ordinary cannon at a moment's notice and firing 40 shots a minute was invented by a native of Ireland.<ref>{{BNA |id=0001057/18280703/010/0003|title=Irish native invents swivel gun that can fire 40-shots-per-minute}}</ref> Also in 1828 a revolver cannon capable of firing 12 shots a minute and worked by 2 artillerymen was invented by a Frenchman called Lesire-Fruyer. In 1854 this cannon would be put on display at the French Museum of the Marine.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=naw0BY8lYh8C&dq=Lesire+Fruyer&pg=PA754|title = The Court Journal: Gazette of the Fashionable World, Literature, Music, and the Fine Arts|year = 1854}}</ref> In France, in 1831, a mechanic from the Vosges department invented a lever-operated cannon that could fire 100 shots a minute.<ref>{{BNA |id=0000876/18310616/039/0004|title=French mechanic invents lever-operated cannon that fires 100-shots-per-minute}}{{subscription required}}</ref> In 1832, a machine capable of firing 500 rifle shots a minute was devised by Hamel, a French mechanic.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pbkAAAAAYAAJ&q=%22500+Coups%22+Hamel&pg=RA1-PA4|title = Annales|year = 1831|access-date = 2020-10-17|archive-date = 2023-12-16|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091525/https://books.google.com/books?id=pbkAAAAAYAAJ&q=%22500+Coups%22+Hamel&pg=RA1-PA4#v=snippet&q=%22500%20Coups%22%20Hamel&f=false|url-status = live}}</ref> In the 1830s, General Sir [[John Scott Lillie]], a British veteran of the [[Peninsula War]] invented the "Lillie Rifle battery".<ref>Féret, Charles (1900) ''Fulham Old and New'' vol. II, p. 273.</ref> In the mid-1830s, a machine gun was designed by John Steuble ([[Swiss people|Swiss]]), who tried to sell it to the Russian, English and French governments. The English and Russian governments showed interest but the former refused to pay Steuble, who later sued them for this transgression, and the latter tried to imprison him. The French government showed interest at first and while it noted that mechanically there was nothing wrong with Steuble's invention it turned him down, stating that the machine both lacked novelty and could not be usefully employed by the army. The gun was reportedly breech-loading, fed by cartridges from some kind of hopper and could fire 34 barrels of one-inch calibre 4 or 6 times for a total of 136 or 204 shots a minute.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lenotre|first=G|title=Vieilles Maisons, Vieux Papiers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AbhSCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT81|year=2014|publisher=Tallandier|isbn=979-1-02-100758-1|page=81|access-date=2019-08-26|archive-date=2023-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091901/https://books.google.com/books?id=AbhSCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT81|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.lastchancetoread.com/docs/1836-05-29-john-bull.aspx |title=Infernal Machine |work=John Bull "For God, the King, and the People!" |access-date=2019-08-26 |issue=807 |volume=XVI |via=LastChanceToRead.com |archive-date=2019-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616224420/http://www.lastchancetoread.com/docs/1836-05-29-john-bull.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k427393c|title=La Presse|date=1838-05-22|website=Gallica|language=fr|access-date=2019-08-26|archive-date=2019-08-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812230059/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k427393c|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite report|author=Koenigliches Kings Ministerium|title=Die von dem Schweizer Johann Steuble erfundene, von Alexander Heilbronn in London zum Kaufe angebotene neuartige Kriegswaffe (Salvengeschütz), 1836–1837|publisher=Bayerische Hauptstaatsarchiv|language=German, French}}</ref><ref>{{BNA |id=0000151/18361123/018/0005 |title=Machine gun invented by John Steuble that fires up to 204 shots-per-minute}}</ref> [[File:French Infantry Machine Guns.jpg|thumb|A detachment of French infantry with 2 Saint-Etienne Model 1907 machine guns (c. b1914)]] A biography of [[William Lyon Mackenzie]] mentions that in 1839 a Detroit-based inventor was working on a cannon that could be fired 50 to 60 times in a minute.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=W6Ps12rXowEC&q=Cannon+%22Sixty+Times%22+Minute&pg=RA1-PA237|title = The Life and Times of Wm. Lyon Mackenzie: With an Account of the Canadian Rebellion of 1837, and the Subsequent Frontier Disturbances, Chiefly from Unpublished Documents|last1 = Lindsey|first1 = Charles|year = 1862|access-date = 2021-08-24|archive-date = 2023-12-16|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091902/https://books.google.com/books?id=W6Ps12rXowEC&q=Cannon+%22Sixty+Times%22+Minute&pg=RA1-PA237#v=snippet&q=Cannon%20%22Sixty%20Times%22%20Minute&f=false|url-status = live}}</ref> In 1842, Dr. Thomson or Thompson, an American, invented a cannon fed by pre-loaded breech-pieces with 4 barrels that was operated by means of a revolving cylinder and could be fired 50 times in as many seconds or even up to 500 times in 500 seconds.<ref>{{BNA |id=0000359/18420922/002/0001|title=Cannon invented that can be fired 50-times-per-minute}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Weekly Globe, Volume 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YOJSAAAAYAAJ&dq=Gun+Invented&pg=PA609|year=1842|publisher=Blair & Reeves|page=609|access-date=2022-06-21|archive-date=2023-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091902/https://books.google.com/books?id=YOJSAAAAYAAJ&dq=Gun+Invented&pg=PA609#v=onepage&q=Gun%20Invented&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1846, Mr. Francis Dixon, an American, invented a cannon that loaded, primed and discharged itself through the use of a brake at a rate of fire of 30 to 40 shots a minute. A variation of it was worked by clockwork-like machinery and could be made to move by itself a certain distance along rails before firing 10 times and returning to its original position.<ref>{{BNA |id=0000183/18461027/019/0002|title=Self priming and discharging Canon invented with 30 to 40 shots-per-minute}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/604751348/?terms=Discharges%20Itself%20Cannon&match=1|title=Newspapers.com|access-date=2021-09-19|archive-date=2021-10-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025180053/https://www.newspapers.com/image/604751348/?terms=Discharges%20Itself%20Cannon&match=1|url-status=live}}{{subscription required}}</ref> Also in 1846, in Canada, inventor Simeon "Larochelle" Gautron, invented a cannon that was similar to a wooden model of a repeating cannon he constructed in 1836 but for which he had made a number of improvements since then which could be fired 10 or 12 times in a minute when the typical muzzle-loading cannon of the day could be fired at only a fraction of that speed, and an English newspaper reporting on it claimed it could be fired up to 60 times in the same period of time, and clean itself after every shot. It was worked by a crank, could be worked by one man when the typical cannon of the day required twelve or more, was fed by paper cartridges from a revolving cylinder and used separate percussion caps for ignition. Larochelle tried to interest the Canadian military in his invention but was turned down for reasons of complexity and expense which, while it drew some criticism from the French language Canadian press, led to the inventor discontinuing development of it in favour of more profitable activities. A model of Larochelle's cannon is still on display at the Musee National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec.<ref>{{BNA |id=0001283/18461107/005/0001|title=Canon invented by Simeon 'Larochelle' Gautron}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2645275?docsearchtext=Larochelle|title=Le Journal de Québec|language=fr|access-date=2021-02-02|archive-date=2021-02-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206033140/https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2645275?docsearchtext=Larochelle|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://collections.mnbaq.org/fr/oeuvre/600011681|title=Canon de Larochelle – Gautron dit Larochelle, Siméon|website=Collections | MNBAQ|access-date=2021-04-03|archive-date=2021-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516092513/https://collections.mnbaq.org/fr/oeuvre/600011681|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1847, a short description of a prototype electrically ignited mechanical machine gun was published in Scientific American by J.R. Nichols. The model described is small in scale and works by rotating a series of barrels vertically so that it is feeding at the top from a "tube" or hopper and could be discharged immediately at any elevation after having received a charge, according to the author.<ref>{{cite book|title=Scientific American|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P680AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA172|year=1847|publisher=Munn & Company|page=172|access-date=2019-01-10|archive-date=2023-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091902/https://books.google.com/books?id=P680AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA172#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1848, the Italian Cesare Rosaglio announced his invention of a machine gun capable of being operated by a single man and firing 300 rifle shots a minute or 12,000 in an hour after taking into account the time needed to reload the "tanks" of ammunition.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAdSAAAAcAAJ&q=Rosaglio+Dodici+Colpi&pg=PP18|title=Foglio ufficiale. L'Indipendente dell' alto Po|first=Anonymus|last=AC09990011|date=April 10, 1848|publisher=Feraboli|via=Google Books|access-date=October 17, 2020|archive-date=December 16, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091902/https://books.google.com/books?id=LAdSAAAAcAAJ&q=Rosaglio+Dodici+Colpi&pg=PP18#v=snippet&q=Rosaglio%20Dodici%20Colpi&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In June 1851, a model of a 'war engine' allegedly capable of firing 10,000 ball cartridges in 10 minutes was demonstrated by a British inventor called Francis McGetrick.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GrgXAAAAYAAJ&q=Mcgetrick&pg=PA353|title=Index and introductory. Raw materials. Machinery. vol. 2. Manufactures. Fine arts. Colonies. vol. 3 Foreign states|first=Robert|last=Ellis (F.L.S.)|date=April 10, 1851|publisher=Spicer brothers|via=Google Books|access-date=October 17, 2020|archive-date=December 16, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091903/https://books.google.com/books?id=GrgXAAAAYAAJ&q=Mcgetrick&pg=PA353#v=snippet&q=Mcgetrick&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1852, a [[rotary cannon]] using a unique form of wheellock ignition was demonstrated by Delany, an Irish immigrant to America.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KaxLAAAAYAAJ&q=Repeating+Cannon&pg=RA1-PA208|title=United Service Journal: Devoted to the Army, Navy and Militia of the United States|first=William Ward|last=Tompkins|date=April 10, 1851|publisher=W.W. Tompkins|via=Google Books|access-date=October 17, 2020|archive-date=December 16, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091904/https://books.google.com/books?id=KaxLAAAAYAAJ&q=Repeating+Cannon&pg=RA1-PA208#v=snippet&q=Repeating%20Cannon&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1854, a British patent for a mechanically operated machine gun was filed by Henry Clarke. This weapon used multiple barrels arranged side by side, fed by a revolving cylinder similar to that used in a turret revolver that was in turn fed by hoppers, similar to the system used by Nichols. The gun could be fired by percussion or electricity, according to the author. In the percussion version of the gun, firing was carried out by separate percussion caps and the breeches could contain either loose powder and balls or paper cartridges.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P1wWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA163|title=Abridgments of the Specifications Relating to Fire-arms and Other Weapons, Ammunition, and Accoutrements: A.D. 1588–1858-Pt. II. A.D. 1858–1866|first1=Great Britain Patent|last1=office|first2=Bennet|last2=Woodcroft|date=23 December 2017|publisher=Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, pub. at the Great seal patent office|page=163|access-date=10 January 2019|archive-date=16 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091904/https://books.google.com/books?id=P1wWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA163#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> A model of this weapon, said to be capable of firing 1800 shots in a minute with great precision at 2000 yards and drawn by two horses, was constructed and tested though apparently not adopted for the military.<ref>https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000418/18540617/001/0003{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000937/18540624/065/0006{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000237/18540714/006/0003{{subscription required}}</ref><ref>https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000408/18540608/038/0003{{subscription required}}</ref> In the same year, water cooling was proposed for machine guns by [[Henry Bessemer]], along with a water cleaning system, though he later abandoned this design. In his patent, Bessemer describes a hydropneumatic delayed-blowback-operated, fully automatic cannon. Part of the patent also refers to a steam-operated piston to be used with firearms but the bulk of the patent is spent detailing the former system.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIp8wWI5T-cC&pg=PA259|title=Provisional Specifications Not Proceeded with|work=The Mechanics' Magazine|year=1855|publisher=R. A. Brooman|page=259|access-date=2019-01-10|archive-date=2023-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091904/https://books.google.com/books?id=fIp8wWI5T-cC&pg=PA259#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In America, a patent for a machine gun-type weapon was filed by John Andrus Reynolds in 1855.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US13293|title=Improvement in fire-arms|publisher=[[Google Patents]]|access-date=23 December 2017|archive-date=16 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091906/https://patents.google.com/patent/US13293|url-status=live}}</ref> Another early American patent for a manually operated machine gun with a blowback-operated cocking mechanism was filed by C. E. Barnes in 1856.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/MG/I/MG-1.html|title=HyperWar: The Machine Gun (Vol. /Part )|publisher=Ibiblio.org|access-date=23 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225122009/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/MG/I/MG-1.html|archive-date=25 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In France and Britain, a mechanically operated machine gun was patented in 1856 by Frenchman Francois Julien. This weapon was a cannon that fed from a type of open-ended tubular magazine, only using rollers and an endless chain in place of springs.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/patentsforinven04offigoog| page=[https://archive.org/details/patentsforinven04offigoog/page/n271 265]| title=Patents for inventions. Abridgments of specifications| last1=Office| first1=Patent| year=1859}}</ref> The [[Agar machine gun|Agar Gun]], otherwise known as a "coffee-mill gun" because of its resemblance to a coffee mill, was invented by Wilson Agar at the beginning of the US Civil War. The weapon featured mechanized loading using a hand crank linked to a hopper above the weapon. The weapon featured a single barrel and fired through the turning of the same crank; it operated using paper cartridges fitted with percussion caps and inserted into metal tubes that acted as chambers; it was therefore functionally similar to a revolver. The weapon was demonstrated to President Lincoln in 1861. He was so impressed with the weapon that he purchased 10 on the spot for $1,500 apiece. The Union Army eventually purchased a total of 70 of the weapons. However, due to antiquated views of the Ordnance Department the weapons, like its more famous counterpart the Gatling Gun, saw only limited use. The [[Gatling gun]], patented in 1861 by [[Richard Jordan Gatling]], was the first to offer controlled, sequential fire with mechanical loading. The design's key features were machine loading of prepared cartridges and a hand-operated crank for sequential high-speed firing. It first saw very limited action in the [[American Civil War]]; it was subsequently improved and used in the [[Franco-Prussian war]] and [[North-West Rebellion]]. Many were sold to other armies in the late 19th century and continued to be used into the early 20th century until they were gradually supplanted by Maxim guns. Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weight of contemporary [[artillery]] pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement for cannon firing [[grapeshot]] or [[canister shot]].<ref name="proceedings">Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" ''United States Naval Institute Proceedings'' September 1972 p. 70</ref> The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position, which increased the vulnerability of their crews.<ref name="proceedings" /> Sustained firing of [[gunpowder]] cartridges generated a cloud of smoke, making concealment impossible until [[smokeless powder]] became available in the late 19th century.<ref name="p2">Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" ''United States Naval Institute Proceedings'' September 1972 p. 72</ref> Gatling guns were targeted by artillery they could not reach, and their crews were targeted by [[sniper]]s they could not see.<ref name="proceedings" /> The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires, since against poorly equipped indigenous armies it did not face such threats.<ref name="proceedings" /> In 1864, in the aftermath of the [[Second Schleswig War]], Denmark started a program intended to develop a gun that used the recoil of a fired shot to reload the firearm though a working model would not be produced until 1888.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.avisen.dk/sidste-skud-fra-det-danske-maskingevaer-madsen_7476.aspx|title=Sidste skud fra det danske maskingevær Madsen|website=www.avisen.dk|date=3 April 2008|access-date=3 April 2021|archive-date=6 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506185329/https://www.avisen.dk/sidste-skud-fra-det-danske-maskingevaer-madsen_7476.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1870, a Lt. Holsten Friberg of the Swedish army patented a fully automatic recoil-operated firearm action and may have produced firing prototypes of a derived design around 1882: this was the forerunner to the 1907 [[Kjellman machine gun]], though, due to rapid residue buildup from the use of black powder, Friberg's design was not a practical weapon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/MG/I/MG-3.html|title=HyperWar: The Machine Gun (Vol. I/Part III)|publisher=Ibiblio.org|access-date=23 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222003511/http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/MG/I/MG-3.html|archive-date=22 December 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Also in 1870, the Bavarian regiment of the Prussian army used a unique mitrailleuse-style weapon in the Franco-Prussian war. The weapon was made up of four barrels placed side by side that replaced the manual loading of the French mitrailleuse with a mechanical loading system featuring a hopper containing 41 cartridges at the breech of each barrel. Although it was used effectively at times, mechanical difficulties hindered its operation and it was ultimately abandoned shortly after the war ended ([[:de:Feldl-Geschütz|de]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Smithurst|first=Peter|title=The Gatling Gun|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pbSdCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA46|year=2015|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-0598-0|page=46|access-date=2019-01-10|archive-date=2023-12-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216091905/https://books.google.com/books?id=pbSdCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA46#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)