Early Life

On September 12, 1818, a boy was born in North Carolina. He was the son of a farmer and inventor ... his name was Richard J.Gatling! Guess what? By the age of 21, he had made the screw propeller. Just to find out it was already made by John Ericsson. To bad for Richard. After that, he then became a court clerk. He also was a Storeklerk . Hey, how can I forget he was a teacher! Talk about overdoing it! He studied medicine and dentistry but never practiced. I definitely would not be able to do that ever!

Education / Invention

He started liking medicine more and more so he attended Ohio Medical College, and graduated in 1850. After graduating, he lost interest in medicine (imagine that), and instead of entering a medical practice he decided to start inventing more things in 1857. For the next few years he continued to invent and improve his inventions. After the Civil War, he turned his attention to the invention of firearms/guns. By 1862, he had completed and patented (claimed) the Gatling Gun. The gun was rapid fire, hand-cranked, and solved the problem of loading and firing and loading and firing over and over again. The Gatling Gun consisted of six barrels mounted in a revolving frame.

In 1862, Richard Gatling took out a patent for a mechanical gun that he developed. A later version with ten barrels, fired 320 bullets in one minute! The United Army purchased these guns in 1865, and over the next few years most major armies in Europe purchased the gun!