Skip to content

2 barrel Gardner Gun 1880 (Parkhurst, Pratt & Whitney)

Animation of 2-barreled Gardner gun to Edward Parkhurst’s 1880 design and patents. Pratt & Witney bought manufacturing rights to William Gardner’s original 1876 patent, and continued to refine it after Gardner left to set up his own separate company in the UK (in about 1878). Edward Parkhurst, an engineer with P&W, patented a number of changes covering the locks, water cooled barrels and twin column magazine feeds (all patented in 1880) as shown in the animation, and went on to patent further improvements to the ammunition feed in later years. The U.S. Army bought about 21 of these guns between 1883 and 1898, while P&W built 250+ for Italy, and licensed local manufacture for a further 200. Modern reproductions in the United States almost invariably use Edward Parkhurst’s design. For more information on this animation and gun, search for Victorian Ship Models, and Anti Torpedo Boat Guns. I also have posted a number of other machine gun animations on YouTube — search for vbbsmyt.

Leave a Reply