Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat. Later it was also famously used in the assault on San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War.[1]
Developed following the 1851 invention of the Fafschamps mitrailleuse by the Belgian Army, the Gatling gun was designed by the American inventor Dr. Richard J. Gatling in 1861 and patented in 1862.[2] Gatling wrote that he created it to reduce the size of armies and so reduce the number of deaths by combat and disease, and to show how futile war is.[3]
Although the first Gatling gun was capable of firing continuously, it required a person to crank it; therefore it was not a true automatic weapon. The Maxim gun, invented in 1884, was the first true fully automatic weapon, making use of the fired projectile's recoil force to reload the weapon. Nonetheless, the Gatling gun represented a huge leap in firearm technology. Prior to the Gatling gun, the only rapid-fire firearms available to militaries were mass-firing volley weapons as the French Reffye mitrailleuse in 1870-71 or grapeshot as fired from field cannons, similarly to a very large shotgun. The latter were widely used during and since the Napoleonic Wars. Although the rate of fire was increased by firing multiple projectiles simultaneously, these weapons still needed to be reloaded after each discharge, which for multi-barrel systems like the mitrailleuse was cumbersome and time-consuming. This negated their high rate of fire per discharge thus making them impractical for use on the battlefield. In comparison, the Gatling gun offered a rapid and continuous rate of fire without having to manually reload by opening the breech.
The Gatling gun's operation centered around a cyclic multi-barrel design which facilitated cooling and synchronized the firing/reloading sequence. Each barrel fired a single shot when it reached a certain point in the cycle, after which it ejected the spent cartridge, loaded a new round, and in the process, cooled down somewhat. This configuration allowed higher rates of fire to be achieved without the barrel overheating. Some time later, Gatling-type weapons were invented that diverted a fraction of the gas pressure from the chamber to turn the barrels. Later still, electric motors and hydraulics supplied external power to operate the Gatling gun, like the GAU-8 Avenger and M134 Minigun.
Modern Gatling-style guns were reintroduced into use in the 1940s, when weapons with very high rates of fire were needed in military aircraft, and remained the principal cannon armament of United States military fixed-wing aircraft for fifty years. These modern weapons use either electricity, gas or ammunition-discharge gas to rotate the barrel.
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History
The original Gatling gun was a field weapon, which used multiple rotating barrels turned by a hand crank, and firing loose (no links or belt) metal cartridge ammunition using a gravity feed system from a hopper. The Gatling gun's innovation lay neither in the rotating mechanism (featured by many revolvers of the day)| nor the use of multiple barrels to limit overheating (used by the mitrailleuse gun); rather, the innovation was the gravity feed reloading mechanism, which allowed unskilled operators to achieve a relatively high rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute.[2]
The Gatling gun was first used in warfare during the American Civil War. The gun was not accepted by the Union Army until 1866, but a "sales engineer" of the manufacturing company demonstrated it in combat.[4] Admiral Astete of the Peruvian Navy took with him from the US dozens of Gatling guns to Peru in December of 1879 during the Peru-Chile War of the Pacific. Gatling guns were used by the Peruvian navy and army, especially in the Battle of Tacna (May 1880) and the "Battle of San Juan" (January 1881) against the Chilean army invaders. Lieutenant A.L. Howard of the Connecticut National Guard had an interest in the company manufacturing Gatling guns, and took a personally-owned Gatling gun to Saskatchewan in Canada in 1885 for use with the Canadian military against the Métis during Louis Riel's North-West Rebellion.[4]
Early multi-barrel guns were approximately the size and weight of artillery pieces, and were often perceived as a replacement for cannon firing grapeshot or canister shot.[4] Compared to earlier weapons such as the Mitrailleuse, which required manual reloading, the Gatling gun was more reliable, easier to operate, and had a lower but continuous rate of fire. The large wheels required to move these guns around required a high firing position which increased the vulnerability of their crews.[4] Sustained firing of gunpowder cartridges generated a cloud of smoke making concealment impossible until Smokeless powder became available in the late 19th century.[5] When fighting troops of industrialized nations, Gatling guns could be targeted by artillery they could not reach and their crews could be targeted by snipers they could not see.[4]
The Gatling gun was used most successfully to expand European colonial empires by killing warriors of non-industrialized societies including the Matabele, the Zulu, the Bedouins, and the Mahdists.[4] Imperial Russia purchased 400 Gatling guns and used them against Turmen cavalry and other nomads of central Asia.[6] The Royal Navy used Gatling guns against the Egyptians at Alexandria in 1882.[5]
Because of infighting within Army Ordnance, Gatling guns were again used by the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War.[7] A four-gun battery of Model 1895 ten-barrel Gatling Guns in .30 Army made by Colt's Arms Company was formed into a separate detachment led by Lt. John "Gatling Gun" Parker.[8] The detachment proved very effective supporting the advance of American forces at the Battle of San Juan Hill, where three of the Gatlings with swivel mountings were used with great success against the Spanish defenders.[9] During the American charge up San Juan and Kettle Hills, the three guns fired a total of 18,000 .30 Army rounds in eight and one-half minutes (an average of over 700 rpm per gun) against Spanish troop positions along the crest of both hills, wreaking terrible carnage.[10] Despite this remarkable achievement, the Gatling's weight and cumbersome artillery carriage hindered their ability to keep up with infantry forces over difficult ground, particularly in Cuba, where roads were often little more than jungle footpaths. By this time, the U.S. Marines had been issued the modern tripod-mounted M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun in 6mm Lee Navy, which they employed to defeat Spanish infantry at the battle of Cuzco Wells.
Basic design
The Gatling gun was hand-crank operated with six barrels revolving around a central shaft, similar to the Puckle Gun. Early models had a fibrous matting stuffed in among the barrels which could be soaked with water to cool the barrels down. Later models eliminated the matting-filled barrels as being counterproductive. The ammunition was initially a steel cylinder charged with black powder and primed with a percussion cap, because self-contained brass cartridges had not yet been fully developed and become available. The shells were gravity-fed into the breech through a hopper or stick magazine on top of the gun. Each barrel had its own firing mechanism. After 1861, new brass cartridges similar to modern cartridges replaced the paper cartridge, but Gatling did not switch to them immediately.
The Model 1881 was designed to use the 'Bruce'-style feed system (U.S. Patents 247,158 and 343,532) that accepted two rows of .45/70 cartridges. While one row was being fed into the gun, the other could be reloaded, thus allowing sustained fire. The final gun required four operators. By 1876 the Gatling gun had a theoretical rate of fire of 1,200 rounds per minute, although 400 rounds per minute was more readily achievable in combat.
Each barrel fires once per revolution at about the same position. 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, and 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 then dropped to the ground.
The grouped barrel concept had been explored by inventors since the 18th century, but poor engineering and the lack of a unitary cartridge made previous designs unsuccessful. The initial Gatling gun design used self-contained, reloadable steel cylinders with a chamber holding a ball and black-powder charge, and a percussion cap on one end. As the barrels rotated, these steel cylinders dropped into place, were fired, and were then ejected from the gun. 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 caliber gun also had a Broadwell drum feed in place of the curved magazine of the other guns. The drum, named after L. W. Broadwell, an agent for Gatling's company, comprised twenty stick magazines arranged around a central axis, like the spokes of a wheel, each holding twenty cartridges with the bullet noses oriented toward the central axis. This significant invention does not appear to have been patented separately, and may have been included in the April 9, 1872 patent, U.S. 125,563; a post and base, apparently for mounting a Broadwell drum, is visible in Figure 13 of U.S. 125,563. As each magazine emptied, the drum was manually rotated to bring a new magazine into use until all 400 rounds had been fired.
By 1893, the M1893 Gatling was adapted to take the new .30 Army smokeless cartridge. The new M1893 guns featured six barrels, and were capable of a maximum (initial) rate of fire of some 800-900 rounds per minute. Dr. Gatling later used examples of the M1893 powered by electric motor and belt to drive the Gatling's crank[11]. Tests demonstrated that the electric Gatling could fire at up to 1,500 rpm for short periods.
The M1893, with minor revisions, became the Model 1895, and 94 guns were produced for the U.S. Army by the Colt's Arms Company. Four M1895 Gatlings under Lt. John H. Parker saw considerable combat service during the Santiago campaign in Cuba in 1898. Model 1895 was similar to the model 1893, but was designed to accept only the Bruce feeder. All previous model were unpainted, but the M1895 was painted olive drab (O.D.) green, with some parts blued.
The Model 1900 was very similar to the model 1895, but with only a few components finished in O.D. green. The U.S. Army purchased a quantity of Model 1900 guns. All Gatling Models 1895-1903 could be mounted on an armored field carriage.
In 1903, the Army converted their Model 1900 guns in .30 Army to fit the .30-03 cartridge that became the Army standard with the introduction of their new model 1903 Springfield rifle; these Gatlings were designated the Model 1903. The later Model 1903-06 was a Model 1903 Gatling converted to cal. .30-06. This conversion was principally carried out at the Army's Springfield Armory arsenal repair shops.
The Gatling guns, of all models were declared obsolete by the U.S. Army in 1911, after 45 years of service.
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Development of Modern Multi-barrel guns
After the Gatling gun was replaced in service by newer recoil- or gas-operated machine guns, the approach of using multiple rotating barrels fell into disuse for many decades.
During World War I, Imperial Germany was working on the Fokker-Leimberger, an externally-powered 12 barrel gatling gun in the 7.92x57mm round capable of firing over 7200RPM it had the spent brass ruptured[12][13].
After World War II, the U.S. Army Air Force determined that a automatic cannon of improved design with an extremely high rate of fire was required to achieve a sufficient number of large-caliber hits on fast-moving enemy jet aircraft. Using experience gained from 20mm and 30mm cannon utilized by the German Luftwaffe aircraft in the last war, a larger caliber cannon shell for the new gun was deemed desirable, as it contained room for an explosive with more destructive force than the .30 and .50 caliber machine gun cartridges previously employed, and thus capable of destroying aircraft with only a few hits on target.
In June 1946, the General Electric Company was awarded a U.S. military defense contract to develop an aircraft gun with a high rate of fire which GE termed Project Vulcan. While researching prior work, ordnance engineers at recalled the experimental electrically-driven Gatling weapons of the turn of the century. In 1946, a Model 1903 Gatling Gun borrowed from a museum was set up with an electric motor drive and test-fired by General Electric engineers. The 40-year old design managed to achieve a fire rate of 5,000 rounds per minute for a short time.
In 1949 General Electric began testing the first model of its modified Gatling design, now called the Vulcan Gun. The first prototype was designated the T45 (Model A). It fired calibre .60 ammunition and fired at about 2,500 rounds per minute from its six barrels driven by an electric motor. In 1950, GE delivered ten initial model A .60 cal. T45 guns for evaluation. Thirty-three model C T45 guns were delivered in 1952 in three calibers: .60 cal., 20mm, and 27mm, for additional testing. After extensive testing, the T171 20mm gun was selected for further development. In 1956, the T171 20mm gun was standardized by the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force as the M61 20mm Vulcan aircraft gun.
While electric motors were used to rotate the Vulcan barrels, a few examples of self operated gatling-derived firearms use the recoil or gas impulse from their ammunition, such as the GShG-5.45/GShG-7.62 machine gun and GSh-6-23 and Slostin machine gun, which use a gas-operated drive system.
One of the main reasons for the resurgence of the electrically powered multiple-barrel design is the weapon's tolerance for continuous high rates of fire. For example, 1000 rounds per minute of continuous fire from a conventional single-barrel weapon ordinarily results in rapid barrel heating followed by stoppages caused by overheating. In contrast, a five-barreled machine gun firing 1000 rounds per minute fires only 200 rounds per barrel per minute, an acceptable rate of fire for continuous use. The only limiting factor is the rate at which loading and extraction can occur. In a single-barrel design, these tasks must alternate; a multiple barrel design allows them to occur simultaneously, using different barrels at different points in the cycle. The design also solves the problem of defective ammunition, which can cause a normal machine-gun to malfunction when a cartridge fails to load, fire, or eject from the weapon. As it is powered by an independent source, the gun simply ejects the defective round along with the rest of the cartridges while continuing to operate.
M61 Vulcan, Minigun, and other designs
The M61 Vulcan 20 mm cannon is the most prolific member of a family of weapons designed by General Electric and currently manufactured by General Dynamics. The M61 is a six-barreled 20mm rotary cannon, which fires at up to 6,600 rounds per minute[14]. Similar systems are available in calibers ranging from 5.56 mm to 30 mm (the prototype T249 Vigilante AA platform featured a 37 mm chambering). Another multi-barrel design well-known among aviation enthusiasts is the GAU-8 Avenger 30 mm cannon, carried on the A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog) attack aircraft, a heavily-armored close air-support aircraft. It is a seven-barreled cannon designed for tank-killing and is currently the largest bore multi-barrel weapon active in the U.S. arsenal, and heaviest autocannon ever mounted into an aircraft, outweighing the WW II German Bordkanone BK 7,5 75mm aircraft-mount, tank-killing single barrel autocannon by some 630 kg (1,389 lb), with ammunition.
During the Vietnam War, the 7.62 mm caliber M134 (U.S. Army designation) Minigun was originally created to arm rotary-wing aircraft, and could be fitted to various helicopters as either a crew-served or a remotely-operated weapon. With a rate of fire from 2,000 - 6,000 rounds per minute[15] from a 4,000-round linked belt, the Minigun proved to be one of the most effective non-explosive projectile weapons ever built and is still used in helicopters today. As the GAU-2B/A, the Minigun was also used on the U.S. Air Force AC-47, AC-119 and Lockheed AC-130 gunships, as well as selected USAF helicopters. With sophisticated navigation and target identification tools, Miniguns can be used effectively even against concealed targets. The crew's ability to concentrate the Gatling's fire very tightly produces the appearance of the 'Red Tornado'[16] from the light of the tracers, as the gun platform circles a target at night.
The most recent development of the M134 (GAU-2B/A) Minigun concept is the Dillon Aerospace M134D Gatling Gun, a six-barrelled, 7.62mm electrically-driven machine gun firing at a fixed rate of 3,000 shots per minute, and feeding from a 3,000 or 4,400 round magazine. The Dillon M134D has been optimized for operational reliability and has an average time between stoppages of 30,000 rounds. It is currently in service with U.S. military and NATO forces.
See also
- Bira gun
- Chain gun
- Gardner gun
- Machine revolver
- Minigun
- Mitrailleuse
- Revolver cannon
- Ripley machine gun
- Volley gun
References
- ↑ Chambers, John W. (II) (2000). "San Juan Hill, Battle of". The Oxford Companion to American Military History. HighBeam Research Inc.. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O126-SanJuanHillBattleof.html. Retrieved 2009-11-24.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Greeley, Horace; Leon Case (1872). The Great Industries of the United States. J.B. Burr & Hyde. p. 944. http://books.google.com/books?id=KSEaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA944.
- ↑ Paul Wahl and Don Toppel, The Gatling Gun, Arco Publishing, 1971.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p. 70.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p. 72.
- ↑ Emmott, N.W. "The Devil's Watering Pot" United States Naval Institute Proceedings September 1972 p. 71.
- ↑ Gatling
- ↑ Parker, John H. (Lt.), History of the Gatling Gun Detachment, Kansas City, MO: Hudson-Kimberly Publishing Co. (1898), pp. 20, 23-32
- ↑ Parker, John H. (Lt.), The Gatlings At Santiago, Middlesex, U.K.: Echo Library (reprinted 2006)
- ↑ Parker, John H. (Lt.), The Gatlings At Santiago, Middlesex, U.K.: Echo Library (reprinted 2006)
- ↑ http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/2433/eleckeygatling.jpg
- ↑ Motor Guns-A flashback to 1914-18. Flight, 8 March 1957, Page 313/314
- ↑ http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1957/1957%20-%200312.html?tracked=1
- ↑ Some versions feature a selectable rate of fire, either 4,000 or 6,000 rounds per minute
- ↑ Initially, the M134 had a rate of fire of 6,000 rounds per minute (rpm). This was changed when a variable speed transmission was introduced, giving two selectable rates of fire of 2,000 and 4,000 rpm.
- ↑ AC-119K Stinger Gunship Photo 1.
Citations and notes
- Mischa & Kitsune, The Netbook of modern firearms
External links
- 19th Century Machine Guns
- List of Military Gatling & Revolver cannons
- Austro-Hungarian Gatling Guns
- U.S. Patent 36,836 -- Gatling gun
- U.S. Patent 47,631 -- improved Gatling gun
- U.S. Patent 112,138 -- revolving battery gun
- U.S. Patent 125,563 -- improvement in revolving battery guns
- Description of operating principle (with animation) from HowStuffWorks
- CGI animated GAU-17/A
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