In 1862, he founded the Gatling Gun Company in Indianapolis, Indiana to market the gun. Gatling was born in Hertford County, North Carolina, in 1818. Later improvements raised the firing rate and extended the range to 1 1/2 miles. Later he built an automatic gas-operated gun. This is partly because Gatling was accused of being a copperhead because of his North Carolina roots, but this was never proven.Gatling was never affiliated with the Confederate States government or military, nor did he live in the South during the Civil War.Although General Benjamin F. Butler bought 12 and Admiral David Dixon Porter bought one,it wasn't until 1866 that the US Government officially purchased Gatling guns.In 1870 he sold his patents for the Gatling gun to Colt.Gatling remained president of the Gatling Gun Company until it was fully absorbed by Colt in 1897.
Although he had his MD, he never practiced; he was more interested in a career as an inventor.At the outbreak of the Civil War, Gatling was living in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1818 - d. 1903) was an Indianapolis inventor and physician. Richard Jordan Gatling (September 12, 1818 – February 26, 1903) was an American inventor best known for his invention of the Gatling gun, the first successful machine gun.Gatling was born in Hertford County, North Carolina, in 1818. Copyright 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.The Colonial and State Political History of Hertford County, North CarolinaThe Gatling gun and flying machine of Richard and Henry Gatling,
With his father he perfected machines to sow cotton and to thin out cotton plants.
See the fact file below for more information on the Richard Gatling or alternatively, you can download our 21-page Richard Gatling worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home … office from the age of 15 to 19, taught school briefly, and became a merchant. The outbreak of the Civil War spurred Gatling to produce the greatest invention of his career, the Gatling gun. In 1877, he wrote:It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine – a gun – which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease [would] be greatly diminished.The gun was based on Gatling’s seed planter.A working prototype was developed in 1861. It revolutionized war. At the age of 21, Gatling created a screw propeller for steamboats, without realizing that one had been patented just months prior by John Ericsson.While living in North Carolina, he worked in the county clerk’s office, taught school briefly, and became a merchant. Undaunted, Gatling arranged for another 13 to be manufactured at the Cincinnati Type Factory.Though the gun was developed during the Civil War, it saw very little action.
All six of them had been manufactured at Gatling's expense. Although still quite wealthy at the time of his death, he made and lost several fortunes by his investments.In his final years, Gatling moved back to St. Louis, Missouri, to form a new company for manufacturing his steam plows, or tractors. While in New York City to visit his daughter and to talk with his patent agency, Gatling died at his daughter's home on February 26, 1903.He is interred at the Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.His contributions were commemorated by the U.S. Navy during WWII when the Fletcher Class Destroyer DD-671 was christened the USS Gatling.While being most known for inventing the Gatling gun, Gatling invented and patented a number of other inventions. Life of Richard Gatling Born Sept. 12, 1818, in Hertford County, North Carolina, Gatling was the son of planter and inventor Jordan Gatling, who held two patents of his own. The gun is named for its inventor, Richard Jordan Gatling, a physician.
In 1861, the same year the war started, he invented the Gatling gun.A year later, he founded the Gatling Gun Company.By the early 1850s, Gatling was successful enough in business to offer marriage to Jemima Sanders, 19 years younger than Gatling and the daughter of a prominent Indianapolis physician.They married on October 25, 1854. The U.S. Army used them against the American Indians.To compete with other machine gun manufacturers, in 1893 Gatling developed an electricity-driven gun that fired 3,000 rounds per minute. For sketches of his life see William F. Moore, Encyclopedia of World Biography. When he was young, Gatling helped his father with machines to sow cotton and thin out cotton plants. In 1839 he patented a rice planter. Many Gatlings were sold to England, Austria, and Russia and to South American nations. Richard Jordan Gatling was an American inventor, born in Hertford County, North Carolina, on the 12th of September 1818. Richard Jordan Gatling (1818-1903), American inventor, became famous for designing multiple-firing guns. His inventions include a screw propeller and a wheat drill (a planting device) in 1839, a hemp break machine in 1850, a steam plow (steam tractor) in 1857, the Gatling gun in 1861, a marine steam ram in 1862, and a motor-driven plow (tractor).Gatling invented the Gatling gun after he noticed that a majority of the soldiers fighting in the Civil War were lost to disease rather than gunshots. Gatling neatly divided his sympathies during the Civil War.
The son of a farmer and inventor, Gatling distinguished himself early in life as a successful inventor. Inventor. https://www.geni.com/people/Dr-Richard-Gatling/6000000062758319958 The first six production guns were destroyed during a fire in December 1862 at the factory.