Richard Jordan Gatling facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Richard J. Gatling
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| Born | September 12, 1818 |
| Died | February 26, 1903 (aged 84) New York City, US
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| Resting place | Crown Hill Cemetery |
| Known for | Gatling gun |
| Spouse(s) |
Jemima Sanders
(m. 1854) |
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Richard Jordan Gatling (born September 12, 1818 – died February 26, 1903) was an American inventor. He is most famous for creating the Gatling gun. This gun is known as the first successful machine gun.
Life of Richard Gatling
Richard Gatling was born in Hertford County, North Carolina in 1818. He grew up in a Methodist family. When he was 21, Gatling invented a special propeller for steamboats. He did not know that someone else had already patented a similar idea.
While living in North Carolina, he worked in a county office. He also taught school for a short time. Later, he became a merchant, selling goods.
At age 36, Gatling moved to St. Louis, Missouri. There, he worked in a store. He invented machines to help farmers. These included a rice-sowing machine and a wheat drill. A wheat drill helps plant wheat seeds in the ground. These inventions greatly changed farming in the country.
After getting sick with smallpox, Gatling became interested in medicine. He studied at the Ohio Medical College. In 1850, he earned his medical degree (MD). But he never worked as a doctor. He was more interested in inventing new things.
When the American Civil War began, Gatling was living in Indianapolis, Indiana. He focused on making better firearms. In 1861, the war started, and he invented the Gatling gun. A year later, he started his own company, the Gatling Gun Company.
In the early 1850s, Gatling was successful in business. He married Jemima Sanders on October 25, 1854. She was 19 years younger than him. Her older sister was married to David Wallace, who was the governor of Indiana. Gatling was also an active member of a group called the Masonic lodge.
Later in his life, Gatling invented many other things. He patented improvements for toilets and bicycles. He also invented ways to steam-clean raw wool. He worked on pneumatic power, which uses air pressure. In 1891, he became the first president of the American Association of Inventors and Manufacturers. He held this position for six years. Gatling was wealthy when he died. However, he had made and lost several fortunes through his investments.
In his last years, Gatling moved back to St. Louis, Missouri. He started a new company to make his steam plows, which are like early tractors. He died in New York City on February 26, 1903. He was visiting his daughter and talking with his patent agency. He is buried at the Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
During World War II, the U.S. Navy honored Gatling. A warship, the USS Gatling, was named after him.
Gatling's Inventions
Richard Gatling is most famous for the Gatling gun. But he invented and patented many other things too.
- In 1839, he invented a screw propeller and a wheat drill.
- In 1850, he created a hemp break machine. This machine helps process hemp plants.
- In 1857, he invented a steam plow, which was an early steam tractor.
- In 1861, he invented the Gatling gun.
- In 1862, he made a marine steam ram.
- He also invented a motor-driven plow, another type of tractor.
The Gatling Gun
Gatling invented the Gatling gun after noticing something sad during the American Civil War. Most soldiers died from diseases, not from being shot. He wanted to change this.
In 1877, he wrote about his idea. He thought if one machine gun could do the work of a hundred soldiers, fewer large armies would be needed. This would mean fewer soldiers would get sick or die in battle.
The design of the Gatling gun was based on his seed planter. A working model was ready in 1861. In 1862, he started the Gatling Gun Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. He wanted to sell his new gun.
The first six guns he made were destroyed in a factory fire in December 1862. Gatling had paid for these guns himself. But he did not give up. He arranged for 13 more guns to be made at another factory.
Even though the gun was invented during the Civil War, it was not used much. Some people wrongly accused Gatling of supporting the South because he was from North Carolina. But he was never part of the Confederate States of America government or military. He did not live in the South during the war.
General Benjamin F. Butler bought 12 Gatling guns. Admiral David Dixon Porter bought one. But the U.S. Government did not officially buy Gatling guns until 1866. In 1870, Gatling sold his patents for the gun to Colt Firearms. He remained president of the Gatling Gun Company until Colt fully took it over in 1897.
In 1893, Gatling made an improved Gatling gun. It used an electric motor instead of a hand crank. This was a new invention at the time. This electric version could fire 3,000 rounds per minute!
The hand-cranked Gatling gun was no longer used by the United States Army in 1911. But decades later, the idea of a fast-firing, rotating barrel gun came back. It was combined with electric power in the M61 Vulcan cannon. This cannon led to many other similar guns. These guns are used today in different sizes and types.
See also
In Spanish: Richard J. Gatling para niños
