The life of Richard Gatling

Richard Jordan Gatling was in born September 12, 1818, in Maney’s Neck, North Carolina, U.S.. Richard died in February 26, 1903, New York, New York). Richard was best known for his invention of the Gatling gun which was a crank-operated, multibarrel machine gun, which was patented in 1862.

In 1839 he perfected a practical screw propeller for steamboats, only to find that a patent had been granted months before. He established himself in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1844, and, taking the cotton-sowing machine which he adapted for sowing rice, wheat, and other grains. The introduction of these machines did much to revolutionize the agricultural system in the country.

Becoming interested in the study of medicine during a smallpox attack. Gatling completed a course at the Ohio Medical College in 1850. In the same year, he invented a hemp-breaking machine, and in 1857 a steam plow. At the outbreak of the American Civil War he devoted himself at once to the perfecting of firearms. In 1861 he conceived the idea of the rapid-fire machine gun that is associated with his name. By 1862 he had succeeded in perfecting the weapon. The war was almost over before the war's official adoption of the gun.