The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-14 00:00:00

711 E GATLING GUN.

The invention of this gun gives to the world a
new class of fire arms, differing more essentially
from other systems than the revolving pistol from a
flint-lock musket.

There is not a single piece, except the barrels,
which make up the component parts of the Gat-
ling gun, that is like that of any other fire-arm ;
and the principle upon which it is constructed is
entirely different from that of all other arms. It
may be justly termed an " automatic machine gun,"
for it can be loaded and fired incessantly, and at
the rate of three hundred shots per minute; and,
strange to say, it can only be loaded and fired when
the barrels are in motion—that is to say, when the
barrels, inner breech, and the locks are under revo-
lution. All the cartridges are loaded and fired
within the rear ends of the barrels, and there is no
escape of gas at the breech ; nor has the gun any
recoil to destroy its accuracy. These several re-
sults are not attained by any other fire-arm. In
all other arms known as " Mitrailleuse" the barrels
and locks do not revolve, and in order to fire,
the cartridges have first to be loaded up into
the chambers, or plates, which are detached from
the barrels, and, as a matter of necessity, the
cartridges used have to be fired across a joint.
Moreover, there is an interval between each
discharge, owing to the time it takes to change
and reload such plates, as is the case in the
46 meudon gun," or French " Mitrailleuse." These
intervals between each volley allow an enemy to
advance upon and capture the gun, or to cross
its line of fire between each discharge ; while the
Gatling gun loads and fires all the time, giving an
enemy no chance to advance or to cross its line of fire.
Metallic
are as they come from the manu-
factory,Gatling gun, as corn is fed
cartridges,
fedo
the
to a mill, and the firing goes on as long as car-
tridges are supplied, and as long as the gun is made
to revolve. When tEe gun is once sighted at a
given object, thousands of shots can be fired, with
the greatest precision and without any change
of its range, but its aim can be changed in
an instant, at the will of the operator, to bear
on any object. The first Gatling gun was
made in the year 1862, in the city of Indianapolis,
State of Indiana, U.S.A.—the home of the inven-
tor. The arm attracted great attention from all
military men who witnessed its operation. In the
year 1863 the inventor had a battery of six guns
made at the well-known manufacturing establish-
ment of Miles Greenwood, in the city of Cincinnati.
About the time the arms were completed, the fac-
tory, with the guns, was destroyed by fire. The
inventor afterwards had 12 guns (of six barrels
each) made at Wells' Type Foundry, in Cincinnati,
some of which were sold to the United States'
Government, and were used successfully by General
Butler against the rebel forces near Richmond,
Virginia, during the American war, and greatly
astonished the rebels, who inquired of the Union
gun it was " which loaded
forcesaunigwhthatankdind o
firedf
all day." These were,
however, greatly inferior to the present Gatling
gun. It was not until the year 1865 that the in-
ventor perfected his invention so as to load the
cartridges directly into the rear ends of the bar-
rels indeed, it has cost him large sums of
money and five years of thoughtful labour to
bring it to its present high state of perfec-
tion. Trials of the gun were made before the
United States' Ordnance Department at the
Washington Arsenal in the year 1865 with a
gun of small calibre. These trials were so satis-
factory as to induce General Dyer, Chief of
solidpartridgeso f
lOrdnance, to request the inventor to construct guns
°ll
ataining many small balls, or
pound in weight, and at the
on his system of one-inch calibre, which would use
onemetallic
ball
same time General Dyer ordered Colonel S. V.
Benit, the commandant of the Frankford Arsenal
at Philadelphia, to construct machinery to make the
large metallic cartridges. In the mean time the
inventor had eight of the large size Gatling guns
manufactured at Cooper's Firearms Fabric, in
Frankford, Philadelphia, which were taken to the
arsenal and submitted to repeated and prolonged
trials under the direction and supervision of Colonel
Benit, and full reports of said trials were made
by him to the War Department at Washington,
giving a very satisfactory account. After the
experiments had been concluded at the Frankford
Arsenal, the inventor took three of the large guns
to the Washington Arsenal, which were there
repeatedly tired in the presence of the Board of
Officers for examination of Breechloading Arms, of
which General Hancock was President. Generals
Grant, Dyer, Hagner, and Mr. Stanton, Secretary
of War, and a great many other persons of distinc-
tion, witnessed the trials of the guns, and were
highly pleased with the results of the firing. General
Dyer then ordered one of the guns to be sent to
Fortress Monroe to be used in competing trials
with the 24-pounder flank defence howitzer. The
result was greatly in favour of the Gaffing gun over
that of the howitzer as a flank defence arm. After the
aboire trials had been concluded at Fortress Monroe

the United Sta tes Government, notwithstanding the
war was then over, and all the Government arsenals
were full of L rms, gave an order for 100 Gatling guns
(50 of each size), all of which have been since
made at Colt 's armoury in the city of Hartford, and
delivered to ti 'le United States Government, and are
now in the Un
ited States service. Two of the Gat-
ling guns were
exhibited in the American depart-
ment of the Path' Exposition, when they were seen
and admired by thousands of persons. During the
Exposition, one, of them was taken out of the
building, and a trial of its powers made at the
target grounds at Versailles. The result led
to the purchase of two of the guns for further
trials, and during the last few months the arms
so purchased have been repeatedly fired at the
Polygone at Versailles, at the targets placed from
1,000 to 2,400 metres from the guns, with the
most satisfactory res ults. At one of these trials
his Majesty the Emperor and the Minister of
War were present. Tht, Gatling gun has been
tried during the past year at Vienna in the presence
of the Emperor of Austria, and other high officials;
at the city of Berlin, in the presence of his Majesty
the King of Prussia; and at the city of St. Peters-
burgh in the presence of his Majesty the Cz fr of
Russia. Trials have also recently been made at the
Hague, Holland, and before Government officials
of many other Governments of Europe—all of which
have been very satisfactory, and orders have
been given for the guns, in greater or less numbers,
by most of the leading powers in Europe. It is
confidently believed that so soon as the ex-
traordinary effectiveness of the arm shall have
become fully known that there will not be
a single Government, either in Europe or in
America, but what will adopt and use this death-
dealing engine. No gun has met with such univer-
sal favour ; it has only to be seen and fired to
convince all intelligent men of its great superiority
as an implement of warfare. The guns are now
manufactured at Colt's Armoury, in the city of
Hartford, Connecticut (U.S.A.), in the highest
state of perfection, by machinery constructed ex-
pressly for the purpose, so that each and every part
of the same will be interchangeable. The use of
this arm will have a tendency to lessen the number
of men required in war. A few men with one or
two of these weapons will do the work of a regiment.
The gun does not eat, nor will it get sick, but is
always ready for effective service. In future it will
not be so much a question as to the numbers of
men as of machine guns that will enable na-
tions to win victories. The right to this valuable
invention is owned by the Gatling Gun Company,
who have their offices in the city of Indianapolis,
Indiana, U.S.A. They have their agents in Europe,
who are fully authorised to receive orders for
these guns.—Anglo-American Times.