The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-09
A SKETCH OF DR.. GATLING.
History of His First Famous Inven-
ton i'm This City.


DR.. Richard j. Calling, who is visiting
friends in this city, is one of the great in
ventors of the age, and his great invention,
the celebrated Calling gun, was produced
while he was q resident of Indianapolis.
DIR. Calling was born and reared on a
plantation in North Carolina, and developed
an inventive talent at an early age. While
yet q boy he assisted his father in perfect
ing q machine for sowing cotton seed and
another for thinning cotton plants. Before
he was twenty-five years old he invented
screw for propeling water craft and
went to Washington to get a patent, only
TO find that Ericsson was little ahead of
him. He next invented machine for sow
ing rice, which he subsequently developed
into a wheat drill that was for many years
the best on the market. He was a pioneer
in the idea of drilling-in seed by machinery.
About 1914 he came North, and, after at
tending medical lectures at Laporte, Ind,
and Cincinnati, and taking degree he
located in this city. Meanwhile he had in
vented machine for breaking hemp and
steam plow, which, however, was
never brought into use. He devoted con-
siderable time to perfecting his wheat drill
and putting it on the market. 1t took many
medals at various state fairs, and its in
ventor received q gold medal from the
American Institute and one from Crystal
Palace, London. But DR.. Cuttings great
est invention, and the one with which his
name is inseparably connected, was the
Calling gun. AT the beginning of the war
when soldiers were marching in and out of
this city, he conceived the idea of invent
ing mechanical gun which should be at
once very destructive and Il labor-saving
machine. His first gun, and the first one
ever constructed on that principle, was con-
structed in this city and tested in the spring
OF 1862 in the presence of army officers ana
private citizens. The test was successful,
the gun tir1nS three hundred shots per
minute. In the fall of that year Dr. Cat
ling gave an order for six guns to be manu-
featured by Miles Greenwood & Co.. then
Il leading firm ill Cincinnati. In 1864 the
gun was brought TO the attention of the
government, but the Washington authori-
ties We're so slow in approaching its merits
that 1t was not adopted as an arm in the
military service until after the close of the
war In 1866 the government ordered one
hundred of the guns on trial. Meanwhile,
DIR. Calling had visited Europe to introduce
the gun there, as did also the late General
John Love, of this city and by 1870 it had
been adopted by England Russia, China,
Turkey and Egypt. 1t is now i'm use in
nearly every army in the world and is
manufactured at Hartford Conn, Birming-
ham, England, and at other points. The
invention is now protected by five patents,
which cover successive improvements, and
instead of firing 800 shots per minute at
first it now discharges 200 shots per min
ute with terrific effect. DIR. Calling is now
In his eightieth year but is well preserved
physically, and his mind is alert and active.
He was a resident of this city from the
early ffties until some time after the war
and married here MISS Sanders daughter
of "a prominent physician. His various in
ventions have been widely recognized, and
he served three terms as president of the
American Association of Inventors and
Manufacturers