The Gatling Gun
Most Historians agree that the "Gatling Gun" is undoubtedly the forerunner of all modern heavy automatic weapons. It's invention in 1861 revolutionized the way modern armies conduct warfare, and thus it deserves to be on this page of Ancient Weapons. Basically, the Gatling Gun was a chamber was propped upright and level, and facing the enemy. At the business end of the chamber were 4, 6, even sometimes as many as 12 mini-barrels, that turned revolutions, rotating around the chamber like this:
After Reaching the top of the chamber, a round of ammunition would be fed into the barrel. as the barrel turned, carrying the round, it reached the bottom, and was shot through the barrel out at whatever target it was aiming at. The idea was that as you turned a crank, the barrels rotated, and bullets were fed into the barrels one at a time, therefore giving the barrels that weren't being used more time to cool down. Now, this video is a great example of how a Gatling Gun Works
This demonstrates how the Gun actually fired
So, What about the Physics?
Right, Right. the physics. Well, from start to finish, the main science behind a Gatling gun lies in it's simplicity. Sure, there's the whole physics of Actually Firing The Gun, But the thing that makes it different is the simple mechanics that go into the process of firing the world's first automatic machine gun. First of all, Gravity is a major factor in shooting a Gatling Gun. Bullets falling downward from the magazine placed on top of the chamber allows it to fire quickly, and provides an unlimited source of energy for the ammunition to be fed into the gun. The actual energy the gun needs to turn comes from the user, specifically the crank shaft. The Gatling Gun makes use of the screw to turn the gears, which in turn rotates the barrel. In the barrels, the round being pushed down is cycled into the smaller chamber, and primed to get ready to fire. The Biggest problems the Gatling Gun had dealt with jamming. if the synchronization between the falling rounds and the cycling of the barrels were off, the ending result was often a jam, which was disastrous to both the weapon and the soldier.