The first successful machine gun, the Gatling Gun, was patented by Dr. Richard J. Gatling on November 4, 1862.
Comparatively, the Gatling Gun offered a rapid and continuous rate of fire.The Gatling Gun used multiple rotating barrels turned by a hand crank that fired loose ammunition using a gravity feed system from a hopper (gravity feed just meaning that the feed system operated by using the Earthâs gravity to feed into the Gun).
The innovative features of the Gatling gun were its independent barrel firing mechanisms and the simultaneous action of its locks, barrels, carrier, and breech.The next update to the machine gun was the Maxim Gun, from 1884.
The Maxim Gun was the first recoil-operated machine gun to enter production, meaning that energy from recoil acting on the breech block is used to eject each spent cartridge and insert the next.
Several men were also required to move and mount the heavy weapon.Another famous machine gun produced thirty-five years after the Maxim Gun, was John Browningâs M1919.
This gun was widely used throughout the twentieth century, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.