An animation of Richard Gatling’s first Battery gun, modeled from his 1862 patent. The original model fired the standard .58 paper cartridge used in American Civil War muzzle loading rifles. The paper cartridges were loaded into steel chambers, which were then picked up from a hopper by a shaped carrier. As the lock assembly rotates, a small ramp (green) at the rear of the casing pushes each lock forwards and this moves the steel chamber against the rear of the barrel. A firing hammer is cocked by an inclined cam (yellow) and released at the 12 o’clock position. Note later models of Gatling gun fire when the barrel is almost at its lowest position (7 o’clock). All of Gatling’s first models were destroyed in a fire at the Cincinnati Eagle Iron Works. He built a second batch. 12 were sold to General Butler, and saw limited use during the siege of Petersberg. The second batch of guns used a metallic cartridge loaded into the steel chamber. For more information on this animation, google for victorian ship models and anti torpedo boat guns.
Hi, I’m Rob, otherwise known as VBBSMYT.
I create the animations on my iMac using Cinema 4D, which I find very intuitive, and allows me to add smoke and flames, and then send the model to my trusty Render farm.
I make my models as accurate as possible through reference books and particularly good drawings. You may have seen my animations of early torpedoes and machine guns on YouTube. I enjoy finding out how things work and it has been fascinating to track the development from the late Victorian period up to World War 1.
