Gatling Gun

a machine gun, invented by Richard J. Gatling. The yun consists of a series of barrels in combination with a grooved carrier and lock cylinder. The operaticn of the gun is very simple. One man places a feed case filled with cartridges So WSS Ake =z Sh MORI A re Soe oe’ GATLING GUN. in the hopper; another man turns the crank, which, by the agency of the gearing, revolves the main shaft, carrying with it the lock cylinder, carrier, barrels, and locks. As the gun is rotated, the cartridges, one by one, drop into the grooves of the carrier from the feed cases, and instantly the lock, by its impingement on the spiral cam surfaces, moves forward to load the cartridge, and when the butt end of the lock gets on the highest projection of the cam, the charge is fired, through the agency of the cocking device, which at this point liberates the lock, spring, and hammer, and explodes the cartridge. As soon as the charge is fired, the lock, as the gun is revolved, is drawn back by the agency of the spiral surface in the cam acting on a lug of the lock, bringing with it the shell of the cartridge after it has been fired, which is dropped on the ground. Thus, it will be seen, when thé gun is rotated, the locks in rapid succe ion move forward to load and fire, and return to extract the cartridge shells. In other words, the whole operation of loading, closing the breech, discharging, and expelling the empty cartridge shells, is conducted while the barrels are kept in continuous revolving movement. It must be borne in mind that while the locks revolve with the barrels, they have also, in their line of travel, a spiral ees cating movement; that is, each lock revolves once and moves forward and back at each revolution of the gun. The main features of the gun are; (1) Each barrel in the gun is provided with its own independent lock or firing mechanism. (2) All the locks revolve simultaneously with the barrels, carrier and inner breech, when the gun is in operation. The locks also ave, as stated, a reciprocating motion when the gun is rotated. The gun cannot be fired when either the barrels or locks are at rest.