Existing comment:
The Gatling Gun: First successful machine-gun:
Creating a weapon so horrible to make war unthinkable was the goal of Richard Jordan Gatling. Ironically, his invention made war more efficient and changed the face of the world forever. As the Vulcan Gun, the old Gatling has come full circle, after a century, from a mule-drawn carriage to a bulge on the hip of a supersonic jet fighter.
The multi-barreled Gatling principle has been revived in the Minigun using electric power to produce an aircraft or anti-aircraft machine gun with a very high rate of fire -- up to 10,000 rounds per minute. |