Richard Jordan Gatling

Gatling, Richard Jordan (1818–1903), U.S. inventor. After improving upon numerous agricultural techniques and inventing such equipment as the wheat planting machine in the early 1850's, Gatling patented his most famous invention, the Gatling gun, in 1862. A crank operated, multibarrel machine gun, the Gatling gun fired 600 rounds per minute. It was used in the Spanish-American War.