1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:08,959 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:17,760 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,119 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Bolette and 5 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: I am an editor at how stuff works dot Com. 6 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,200 Speaker 1: Sitting across from me, as he always does, senior writer 7 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. Do you see this? This is my boom stick? 8 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,240 Speaker 1: All right. That leads us to a little listener mail. 9 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: This listener mail comes from Damon, and Damon says, could 10 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:45,280 Speaker 1: you please do a podcast on how the Gatling gun works? 11 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:47,160 Speaker 1: Because I saw it on MythBusters and I was wondering 12 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: how it works. Well, Damon, we're gonna talk a bit 13 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: about the Gatling gun today. It's an interesting piece of technology. 14 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: But to really understand how the Gatling gun works, we 15 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: need to go back further and talk about just the 16 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: principles of firearms and how they work in general. Here 17 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 1: we actually have already touched on a very very early firearm, uh, 18 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: the arc Bus. Yeah. We talked in our our tech 19 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 1: of fifteen hundred. We we kind of went into this. 20 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: It was technically, you're right, the tech of fifteen ten 21 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: and uh So going back to around the mid of 22 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: the fourteenth century, that's when we first started seeing uh 23 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:31,679 Speaker 1: not we personally, I wasn't around back then, don't know 24 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:35,919 Speaker 1: about you. Put but the that's when cannons first started 25 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:40,319 Speaker 1: to hit the scene in medieval Europe. Yes, but they 26 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: were they were very inaccurated, so they missed the scene 27 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: part of the time. I couldn't have the broadside of 28 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: a barn. But yeah, the the cannon was the probably 29 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: the earliest form of gun. Um. I would imagine it 30 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: probably was simply because they wanted something that would created, uh, 31 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: something that would fire a big projectile and a gun 32 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: that that actually is a good point and a gun 33 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: in this definition is basically a tube sealed off at 34 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 1: one end um that that can fire or some sort 35 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 1: of projectile. Yeah, and it has at least the early cannon. 36 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: The way they worked as they had a whole drilled 37 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:19,959 Speaker 1: toward the sealed end where you could place a lit 38 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: fuse to light the gunpowder. So you would the way 39 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:25,080 Speaker 1: you would load a cannon as you would pack the 40 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: gunpowder into the end of the cannon. Then you would 41 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: load the shot into the cannon, sometimes with a either 42 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: uh either with some sort of cloth wrapped around the shot, 43 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: or you'd actually stuff watting down there to to seal it. 44 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: Really well, you put the shot in, you put a 45 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: lit fuse into the hole that lights the gunpowder. The 46 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 1: gunpowder ignites, and essentially it explodes. It burns so quickly 47 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 1: that that it we have to call it an explosion. 48 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:57,679 Speaker 1: The the gases that are given off when the gunpowder 49 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 1: explodes propel the shot out of the cannon. That's where 50 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,240 Speaker 1: you get the the force you need to blow something up. 51 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: And the the arquebus uh and other similar weapons like that, 52 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:13,639 Speaker 1: other cannon like that. Um, those were known as as 53 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:16,000 Speaker 1: the at least the ones that Jonathan is describing here 54 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,639 Speaker 1: are known as matchlock. The lock is the mechanism that 55 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: is used to ignite the powder in this case. So, um, 56 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: it's basically a very tiny hole and people would stick 57 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,800 Speaker 1: a um uh, some kind of fuse. It's really often 58 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: a piece of string would burn down into I mean, 59 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: you could also stick a match down in there, but 60 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: you know, it's very very difficulty that there were a 61 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: lot of problems with it because it's not something you 62 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: can do in the in the rain. Yeah, yeah, there 63 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: are actually a lot of problems. So so let's talk 64 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: about some of the early guns. The early guns were 65 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: essentially like handguns. The earliest guns were really nothing more 66 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,920 Speaker 1: than that tube that you would hold, and it usually 67 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: took two people to fire one of these. One person 68 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: would hold and aim the gun, the other person would 69 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: stick the lit match or lit fuse into the hole 70 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: to light the gunpowder, and then you would fire it off. 71 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: Eventually you got to the point of having handguns. And 72 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: again it was still really hard to both aim and 73 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: fire this thing at the same time because you know, 74 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:18,720 Speaker 1: holding a lit match and then getting your target in 75 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: view and then putting the lit match to the whole 76 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: that's pretty tough. So the matchlock was a huge benefit, right, 77 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: There was a big leap forward. Yeah, yeah, and then 78 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,160 Speaker 1: I mean the bigger leap forward being the flintlock. Right. 79 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: So the matchlock, what it would do is you would 80 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: have usually a little a little pan that would hold 81 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: some gunpowder and you would pull a trigger the the 82 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:42,120 Speaker 1: lit fuse would be on the end of a lever. 83 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:44,520 Speaker 1: Pulling the trigger would lower the lever to the pan. 84 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 1: It would light that gunpowder, which would go into the 85 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:53,479 Speaker 1: breach of the of the gun, lighting the main charge. Right, okay, 86 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: But as Poulette was saying, if it's raining well and 87 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 1: you've got powder exposed in that little pan, you may 88 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: not have your on fire at all. And also you 89 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 1: had to continuously make sure that your your match was 90 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: stayed lit. And at night you would have problems because 91 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:10,160 Speaker 1: you would be visible because you had this little bit match. 92 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,920 Speaker 1: The flintlock was a big advantage over the matchlock. Yes, yes, 93 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:16,159 Speaker 1: I can imagine now people going, huh, it's an awful 94 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 1: lot of fireflies out there tonight, right, might might want 95 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:22,359 Speaker 1: to aim at those big guys. Ye. So, so the 96 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:28,040 Speaker 1: flintlock had a hammer which was the the the section 97 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 1: of the gun that would hold the flint. You'd have 98 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: a piece of flint that would be wedged in on 99 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: the hammer um and the hammer was activated by a 100 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: tumbler that was connected to a spring. When you cocked 101 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: the hammer back, uh you could. They had three three 102 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,160 Speaker 1: different positions uncocked, half cocked, and fully cocked. So when 103 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: you say go off half cocked, that's that's where this 104 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 1: comes from, which is kind of ironic because you would 105 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 1: want it half cocked to load it, and that was 106 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: the one place well between half and fully when it's 107 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 1: half cocked, it can't actually fire. It's right. You would 108 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 1: pull the trigger and there's a little lever that would 109 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:06,679 Speaker 1: that was up against the tumbler. Right, So the tumbler 110 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 1: has notches in it, and the half cocked notch. This 111 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,360 Speaker 1: notch is so large that when you pull the trigger, 112 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: it wouldn't clear the tumbler, so it would not it 113 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: would not make the hammer. Uh, they would not release 114 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 1: the hammer, So there was no way you could accidentally. Theoretically, 115 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: if the gun was in good shape, there's no way 116 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: you could accidentally fire it prematurely. Now, when it was 117 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:30,039 Speaker 1: fully cocked, then it would be in a slightly shallower notch. 118 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: You pull the trigger, it releases the tumbler, which is 119 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: under tension from a spring. The hammer flies forward and 120 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: the flint strikes a steel plate and that creates sparks 121 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: which then light the gunpowder inside again a little gunpowder 122 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 1: pan which usually had a cover over it, So you 123 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 1: could theoretically fire a flintlock in the rain and still 124 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: have a good chance of it going off, and again 125 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: gunpowder lit in the pan would go into the breach 126 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: of the gun, firing off the main charge. Yeah, the 127 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: little piece of metal is known as the frizzen. Yes, um, 128 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 1: and the frizen spring is what makes the flint lock 129 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: weather proof because um, it's what's got the cover that's 130 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: attached to the frozen over the pan. So it's it's 131 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,560 Speaker 1: basically due to the design. It's covering the pan where 132 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: the powder is right exactly. That helps. That helps right there. 133 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:22,440 Speaker 1: So what happens is when the flint hits the frizzen. 134 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: This sounds really weird, right, when the flint hits the frizzen, 135 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: it actually lifts the pan, the lid of the pan up. 136 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: The force of the blow lifts the lid of the 137 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: pan up, the sparks hit the gunpowder and the gun fires. 138 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: And then as soon as the gun has is uncocked 139 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: the pan after after the initial impact, because the spring 140 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: of the that's attached to the frizen is under tension, 141 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: it will pull the lid back down. So again you 142 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: would have to half cock the flint lock in order 143 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: to load it again. You would actually load it by 144 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: putting gunpowder directly into the breach of the gun, but 145 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: you would have to put a little bit of gunpowder 146 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: in the the frizzen pan for it to work. Otherwise 147 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: you just you know, the sparks would not make it 148 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:07,240 Speaker 1: to the main charge. So this sets the stage for 149 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: the next huge leap forward in firearm technology, which was 150 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 1: the percussion cap. Yes, the percussion cap was a tiny 151 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: little device that was actually it was essentially a chemical compound, 152 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: uh And it was mercury fulminate combination mercury, nitric acid, 153 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: and alcohol. And it is very shock sensitive, which means 154 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: if you hit it, it blows up there. So you 155 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: what the earliest percussive cap, percussion cap guns had a 156 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:44,400 Speaker 1: little uh, well they called it a nipple. It's a 157 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:47,680 Speaker 1: little protrusion that you would put the cap on and 158 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: you would cock the gun back, just like a flint lock. 159 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: And the it had a hammer that when you pull 160 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:55,920 Speaker 1: the trigger, the hammer would come down hit the percussion cap, 161 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: which would cause the initial explosion that again lit the 162 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:06,760 Speaker 1: charge inside the gun. Right, what really really brought warfare 163 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: to a new level was when we figured out how 164 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: to put the percussion cap, the charge, and the bullet 165 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: all together in a single cartridge. Yes, and initially I 166 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:22,559 Speaker 1: believe people were experimenting with paper cartridges, but they weren't 167 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 1: as as refined as when they developed the metal cartridge, 168 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:29,839 Speaker 1: which is what we are still using now. You see that, uh, 169 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: you know, if you look at what most people think 170 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,199 Speaker 1: of as a bullet, I would say the majority of 171 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: what most people see is the brass cartridge, which is 172 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:40,720 Speaker 1: the bottom part of the bullet. It's the part where 173 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 1: the uh, the firing pin strikes and uh launches the 174 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:49,520 Speaker 1: projectile from the gun. Yeah. Yeah, that's the Whenever I 175 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: think of bullet, I'm thinking of the full cartridge. I'm 176 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:55,200 Speaker 1: not thinking of the tip. Now, hunters and soldiers, of 177 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 1: course they're going to they have a much better knowledge 178 00:09:58,040 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: of the source of stuff. But I think for the layman, 179 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: when we say bullet, you're thinking of the thing you 180 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:05,320 Speaker 1: put in the gun, which technically is a cartridge. Um, 181 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:08,720 Speaker 1: and yeah, it has three sections. There's the primer, which 182 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:13,480 Speaker 1: is the percussion cap. There's the propellant, which is the 183 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: gunpowder or other propellant. And then you have the bullet, 184 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:19,560 Speaker 1: which is the tip that that actually fires out of 185 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 1: the gun and hits your target or whatever whatever the 186 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:26,400 Speaker 1: gun happens. We pointed at. Actually, so in this case, 187 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: the big change here was that guns now had a 188 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:35,400 Speaker 1: firing pen that would strike the percussion cap, so that 189 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:38,360 Speaker 1: that's what would ignite the propellant and push the bullet 190 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: out of the gun, which meant that you had a 191 00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: spent cartridge in your gun afterward. So, um, I'm sorry, 192 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: it looks like you're just about to say something, so 193 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,000 Speaker 1: I'm gonna have shut up. Well, there there's something that 194 00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 1: we also need to address to, which is the barrel, 195 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 1: yes of the gun. Now, I mean, up until this 196 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:59,360 Speaker 1: point to roughly, I'm not being exact here, we've been 197 00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: sort of talking about, for the most part, muzzle loading 198 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: weapons where you actually put the bullet. Uh and in 199 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:08,360 Speaker 1: this case, in the earlier weapons, we were speaking of 200 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:11,719 Speaker 1: a lead ball in your bullet, so or you know, 201 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: a shot in a cannon or a different you know, 202 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:15,599 Speaker 1: grape shot or whatever it is that you're firing out it. 203 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: So let's say projectile. So you're pushing the projectile down 204 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:21,960 Speaker 1: the tube and you know, loading it yourself by hand 205 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:26,199 Speaker 1: up until we got to the cartridge point. But um, 206 00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:29,120 Speaker 1: the thing is in order to make that, well, not 207 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:30,840 Speaker 1: in order to make that For the most part, when 208 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 1: they started out, there were smooth what they call smooth bore, 209 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: which means it was you know, the insides of it 210 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 1: were smooth, they were polished, and it was easy to 211 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:42,000 Speaker 1: push a bullet down there. Well, they also figured out, uh, 212 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: you know, probably around um I believe that the fifteenth 213 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,199 Speaker 1: century or so, that that's not really the most accurate 214 00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 1: way to get a projectile to its target. By rifling 215 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:57,600 Speaker 1: the tube the barrel of the gun, you could do 216 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: a lot more. You can actually uh add some uh 217 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:04,400 Speaker 1: some distance, and you can improve accuracy as well. And 218 00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 1: initially those those weapons were had barrels that were straight, 219 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: had straight grooves in them, but eventually discovered that a 220 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:17,840 Speaker 1: spiral groove would give would improve accuracy and range, makes 221 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,559 Speaker 1: it makes the shot spin right. But it's very difficult 222 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 1: to muzzle load when you have a spiral groove, right, 223 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: because it's like little ridges, right, Yes, So it's it's 224 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: it's like pushing something past a series of ridges. It's 225 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,080 Speaker 1: not it's not going to load as quickly or smoothly 226 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,719 Speaker 1: as a smooth bore rifle or smooth bore barrel. So 227 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: breech loading sort of takes the uh, that problem out 228 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:41,920 Speaker 1: of the way because at that point, when you have 229 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: a breech loading weapon, then you are you don't have 230 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:47,840 Speaker 1: to push the projectile all the way down the muzzle 231 00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:51,960 Speaker 1: and get what's what's in the barrel out right. With 232 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: breech loading, you're putting the shot in toward towards your end, 233 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,200 Speaker 1: the end that doesn't have the deadly part pointed at you. 234 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:04,000 Speaker 1: Uh see, I'm not worried about I'm not worried about 235 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: looking like an idiot, because I am one. Yeah. No, 236 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:08,320 Speaker 1: I know many of the parts of the gun, but 237 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: I really honestly don't know what you would call I 238 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: mean talking about the stock and the and the um. 239 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: But yes, if you've ever fired a breech loading rifle before, 240 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,320 Speaker 1: you know that there's a handle down there that you 241 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 1: used to lift the breech bolt out, you know, and 242 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:25,720 Speaker 1: and pull the cartridge out. You could put a new 243 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:28,120 Speaker 1: cartridge in, lock it into place, and then fire the 244 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:31,319 Speaker 1: weapon right it loads the bullet or the cartridge we 245 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: should say, exactly where it needs to be. That's a 246 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:35,559 Speaker 1: big that's a good point because that that was one 247 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 1: of the things that that gunmakers had to to figure 248 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:43,200 Speaker 1: out in order to make to make cartridge firing weapons useful. 249 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,160 Speaker 1: I mean, you had to have the percussive percussion cap 250 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: positioned at the right spot so that the firing pin 251 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:52,199 Speaker 1: would hit it at the right point to to make 252 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:56,520 Speaker 1: anything happen. Right, So we're at this point, we're right 253 00:13:56,520 --> 00:14:00,320 Speaker 1: around the eighteen seventies. Okay, So so the flint was 254 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: that was way back in the fifteen hundreds, and percussion 255 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 1: caps started coming out in the early eighteen hundreds, and 256 00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 1: then by the seventies that's when we're starting to move 257 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:11,640 Speaker 1: to cartridges. There were some cartridge firing weapons during the 258 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:14,520 Speaker 1: Civil War, but eighteen seventies was when they were really 259 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,280 Speaker 1: starting to get perfected. Yeah, we're to the point where 260 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: we have very efficient weapons, but they fire basically one 261 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: shot at a time. You have to load the load 262 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 1: the gun, fire the gun, pulled the spent cartridge out, 263 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 1: and then put a new cartridge and and fire the 264 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:29,920 Speaker 1: gun again. There were a couple of exceptions that were 265 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:34,400 Speaker 1: revolvers which could fire between well, depending on the revolver. 266 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: The one we're mostly familiar with is the six shot 267 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: revolver six six Yeah, the Old West, So it's these 268 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: were the ones that had these six cylinders that would 269 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: rotate as you were firing the gun, so that would 270 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:52,240 Speaker 1: put a new cartridge in firing position every time you 271 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: pulled the trigger. The way that worked, and it's important 272 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,120 Speaker 1: to understand this because it kind of plays in with 273 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:59,360 Speaker 1: the gatling gun that we're gonna get to in just 274 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: a second. The way that worked is that when you 275 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: pulled the trigger, the trigger actually had a pall attached 276 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:10,960 Speaker 1: to a p a w L. It's a component of 277 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: a ratchet. And what that did was it pushed against 278 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 1: the revolvers cylinders so that it would turn it one 279 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:21,760 Speaker 1: sixth of a turn or however many to move the 280 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: cylinder in the right position. It would also, at the 281 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:29,280 Speaker 1: same time cock the trigger back. And if you when 282 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: you pulled it all the way to the end, if 283 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:34,200 Speaker 1: it's a if it's an automatic revolver, then the trigger 284 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:39,040 Speaker 1: the the the hammer comes forward, hits the firing pen, 285 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,120 Speaker 1: moves into position, hits the percussion cap, and the bullet 286 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:44,400 Speaker 1: fires out of the gun. You still have a spent 287 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:47,640 Speaker 1: cartridge inside the cylinder, but a new cylinder will move 288 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:49,640 Speaker 1: into place as soon as you start pulling the trigger again. 289 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: Some of the early revolvers you actually had to pull 290 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,680 Speaker 1: the hammer back yourself. You couldn't just pull the trigger 291 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: and have the hammer come back. You'd have to cock 292 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 1: it yourself. And that's what would ratchet the cylinder into position. 293 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 1: But it wasn't long before they figured out ways to 294 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 1: to make that more closer to an automatic process. Um. 295 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 1: So if you have a you would have to remove 296 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 1: the spent cartridges out once you've finished firing, put new 297 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 1: new cartridges in. So there was no way to make 298 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: that a continuous firing method. So it still was it 299 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: was an improvement over the old fire once, reload once method, 300 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 1: but it was still not the weapon of destruction that 301 00:16:32,040 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 1: the Gatlink gun turned into. Yeah. Yeah, Now, before we 302 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:39,640 Speaker 1: get to the gat Link gun, which was you know, 303 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:43,880 Speaker 1: basically essentially an early machine gun of sorts. Um, there 304 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: were other attempts over the years, for many many years. 305 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 1: In fact, I know you wanted to speak of one 306 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:52,640 Speaker 1: very famous inventor who tried to come up with a 307 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: way to fire multiple projectiles at once. Yeah. So, I mean, 308 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: this is not the idea of having multiple projectiles or 309 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:05,200 Speaker 1: you know, rapid fire projectiles coming from cannon or or 310 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 1: from uh smaller guns. You know, this isn't this isn't 311 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 1: new to Mr Gatling. No. No, actually, if you want 312 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:16,399 Speaker 1: to really look at some some cool designs, a certain 313 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:21,400 Speaker 1: Mr Leonardo da Vinci came up with a pretty clever one. Uh, 314 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,240 Speaker 1: as far as I know, he never made one of 315 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: these things, But was a design he created which was 316 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:34,080 Speaker 1: a triangular mount that held eleven cannon to a side. Okay, 317 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: so each side of the triangle had eleven cannon mounted 318 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:39,080 Speaker 1: to it, and the idea was that you would load 319 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,720 Speaker 1: all thirty three cannon and have them ready to go, 320 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:45,560 Speaker 1: and then you would aim it at your enemy. Fire 321 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:50,400 Speaker 1: the top eleven. So so the inverted pyramid right, Yes, 322 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,040 Speaker 1: the point of the triangle is facing downwards. You fire 323 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: the the eleven on top, rotate, do a third of 324 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:59,159 Speaker 1: a rotation, and then fire the next eleven, and then 325 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,240 Speaker 1: to a third of the rotate. Shouldn't fire the final eleven. Uh. 326 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,679 Speaker 1: You could not, of course load the cannon as you 327 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:09,040 Speaker 1: were firing them, because you would very rapidly run out 328 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:12,719 Speaker 1: of men to load the cannon as they were burnt 329 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:16,119 Speaker 1: and blown up. But but the idea was that it 330 00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:19,280 Speaker 1: would be such a terrible weapon that no enemy would 331 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 1: dare attack you. So it was that whole concept of 332 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:24,680 Speaker 1: I've got to stick big enough that no one's going 333 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,920 Speaker 1: to bother me. It wasn't really necessarily meant as a 334 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: as an actual weapon of war. But you have. One 335 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,040 Speaker 1: of the biggest problems of any kind of weapon that 336 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:37,640 Speaker 1: would fire several times in a short in a short 337 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:42,160 Speaker 1: period is that the barrel gets really hot. And so 338 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:47,560 Speaker 1: the early experiments with machine gun type of weapons meant 339 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: resulting in a lot of barrels overheating, breaking, sometimes exploding 340 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:55,720 Speaker 1: because the metal was too weak to contain the explosion 341 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: of the gunpowder inside it. And so they had to 342 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: find a way. Someone had to find the way of 343 00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:03,640 Speaker 1: creating a gun that would be able to fire rapidly 344 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:08,440 Speaker 1: without overheating the barrel. And a couple of different people 345 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:13,400 Speaker 1: came up with different ideas of guns with multiple barrels. Yes, yes, 346 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 1: actually I was going to mention a different person short, 347 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:20,080 Speaker 1: Uh it was a little different if and I had 348 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:22,919 Speaker 1: never heard of this person before. His name was James Puckle. 349 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,719 Speaker 1: Did you run across this I didn't. This fellow, he 350 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: was a British fellow. And uh came up with a 351 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:32,199 Speaker 1: flintlock weapon in around seventeen eighteen that does resemble the 352 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: Gatling gun sort of, but it actually looks more alike 353 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: a a revolver rifle and had you know, and and 354 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: it was an attempt to do that, but unfortunately, being 355 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 1: a flintlock weapon, it was it just really was not 356 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 1: very practical. Um, But there was an attempt to do that, 357 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:53,200 Speaker 1: you know once once the percussion caps. And I realized 358 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:56,640 Speaker 1: too that we left out another invention that was necessity 359 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: for making this happen. What's smokeless powder. We talk about that, 360 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:05,520 Speaker 1: that's true, but it was an important development in making 361 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:10,520 Speaker 1: cartridges because with the earlier versions of gunpowder, uh, it 362 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:15,240 Speaker 1: burned irregularly from what I understand, and one smokeless powder 363 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,400 Speaker 1: was invented, the combustion of the gunpowder was a lot 364 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:22,040 Speaker 1: more even and when made cartridge weapons a lot more practical. 365 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:24,600 Speaker 1: Not to mention the fact that if you had any 366 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:26,879 Speaker 1: sort of weapon that could fire multiple times in in 367 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: you know, in a few minutes, uh, you had the 368 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:34,720 Speaker 1: very real problem of if you don't have smokeless gunpowder, 369 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 1: you can't see what you're shooting at. There's that, yeah, 370 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:40,120 Speaker 1: because if you ever see a re enactment where people 371 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:43,159 Speaker 1: are using muzzle loaded weapons, you'll notice there's an awful 372 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:45,200 Speaker 1: lot of smoke that comes out of this. Yes, yes, 373 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:49,240 Speaker 1: well they they do that, I think, especially for the 374 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:51,320 Speaker 1: re enactment value of that so that you can get 375 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:53,000 Speaker 1: an idea of what it was like at the time. 376 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:57,240 Speaker 1: But however, it is awfully cloudy. Are we now ready 377 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:02,320 Speaker 1: to speak of Mr Getling? Sure? So, Richard Jordan's Gatling 378 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:05,640 Speaker 1: He comes up with this invention in eighteen sixty two, 379 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,239 Speaker 1: so this is during the Civil War. He actually, uh 380 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:13,520 Speaker 1: he pitched this idea to President Lincoln saying that it 381 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:18,760 Speaker 1: was again a weapon that would help crush the rebellion. Um. 382 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:22,560 Speaker 1: So with this weapon, never mind, I was gonna make 383 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:24,879 Speaker 1: a Star Wars reference. We're just gonna move on. So anyway, 384 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: that the Gatling gun, the original Gatlan gun had six barrels, 385 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 1: but Gatling guns came in varieties of six to ten barrels, 386 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:36,440 Speaker 1: depending upon when, when, which model you're talking about. Right, yeah, 387 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:41,159 Speaker 1: Britannica told me, uh what, it didn't tell me anything, right, Um. 388 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,479 Speaker 1: From the article in Britannica, it suggested that there were 389 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:48,399 Speaker 1: ten initially and used paper cartridges initially and in the 390 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: early experiments that he was doing with it. Right yeah. 391 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: We should also point out that that thes these guns 392 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,600 Speaker 1: weren't really used in the Civil War very much other 393 00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 1: than in a couple of demonstrations. Uh. They they weren't 394 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,920 Speaker 1: widely distributed, so the gattling gun really had its first 395 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: major use worldwide anyway, in World War One. But the 396 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:13,119 Speaker 1: the you also occasionally see him in Great Westerns. But 397 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:15,680 Speaker 1: the the idea here is that you have six to 398 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: ten barrels on this on this rotating shaft, all right, 399 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: so each barrel has its own spring loaded firing pin, 400 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,679 Speaker 1: so there's not one firing pin at the at the 401 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,199 Speaker 1: firing position. There are six to ten. However, many barrels 402 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: there are, right, but you do have to have something 403 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 1: to strike that firing pin. Yeah, well, kind of the 404 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:40,880 Speaker 1: way the well has. The gatling gun has a groove 405 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,520 Speaker 1: in it, a groove cut in it, so that when 406 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,320 Speaker 1: you are turning the crank, it is a crank turned 407 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:49,760 Speaker 1: gun as well. Yes, it's the original one was hand turned, yes, 408 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 1: so it was not an automatic weapon. You would actually 409 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:54,240 Speaker 1: turn a crank kind of like if you've ever seen 410 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,240 Speaker 1: images of the old movie cameras that were hand cranked, 411 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,120 Speaker 1: same sort of principle. Here, you're and cranking this gun 412 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:04,399 Speaker 1: which is rotating the barrels. As the barrels rotate, the 413 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 1: firing pins inside the barrels are actually being compressed because 414 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:12,920 Speaker 1: there's a groove that's cut into the the gun itself. 415 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,719 Speaker 1: The as you turn it, the firing pin gets pushed 416 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,920 Speaker 1: so that the spring inside the firing pin is under attension. 417 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: It reaches a point where there's a release, the firing 418 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,879 Speaker 1: pin fires forward, hits the cartridge, and a gun, A 419 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: bullet flies out of the barrel. Okay, yeah, I hadn't 420 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:31,400 Speaker 1: seen it exactly that way, but yeah, yeah, it makes sense. 421 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,639 Speaker 1: I had to. I had to watch several videos to 422 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:35,800 Speaker 1: really get a good grip on it. And it's it's 423 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:39,359 Speaker 1: actually pretty cool that the way that you would load 424 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,439 Speaker 1: the gatling gun as you would use a hopper, and 425 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,959 Speaker 1: a hopper is a container that just holds cartridges and 426 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 1: it's gravity fed. So on one side of the gatling gun, 427 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:52,320 Speaker 1: let's say, let's for the argument's sake, we'll say that 428 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:54,800 Speaker 1: you're in the firing position, so you're behind the gatland gun, 429 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:56,960 Speaker 1: and let's say, for argument's sake, the hoppers on the 430 00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: left side right. So what would happen is when you 431 00:23:59,800 --> 00:24:02,920 Speaker 1: turn the crank. From your perspective, the gun turns in 432 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 1: a clockwise position, so at around i'd say that the 433 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: nine o'clock position, uh, or maybe even ten o'clock. I 434 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:15,080 Speaker 1: guess ten o'clock position. A cartridge feeds into the barrel. 435 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:17,760 Speaker 1: You turn the crank, and as you're turning the crank, 436 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: that firing pin is moving further back until it reaches 437 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:24,960 Speaker 1: twelve o'clock and then it fires. Right, you fire the 438 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,720 Speaker 1: bullet forward. You keep turning the crank as the barrels 439 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:32,359 Speaker 1: move over to say the well, but at least by 440 00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:36,040 Speaker 1: the six o'clock position, the empty cartridge falls out of 441 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 1: the breach, right, so you don't have to take the 442 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,800 Speaker 1: empty cartridges out. It does it? It just the gravity. 443 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:43,520 Speaker 1: It will do that for you. Gravity loads it and 444 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:47,240 Speaker 1: gravity unloads it. Yes, and then you just turn that crank. 445 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,880 Speaker 1: And really the earliest one I think fired around two 446 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,399 Speaker 1: hundred rounds per minute, and then they later got up 447 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:57,240 Speaker 1: to around three six per minute. Yeah, I did read 448 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:01,159 Speaker 1: in uh also again in Britannica that you know, more 449 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 1: modern versions of the weapon can fire as many as 450 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,199 Speaker 1: three thousand rounds per minute, right, But that's using a 451 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:10,000 Speaker 1: mechanical system. Trying to do it, Yeah, trying to do 452 00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:11,960 Speaker 1: it by hand. You're not going to get that. You know, 453 00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:14,399 Speaker 1: if you get that fast, then you're probably working on 454 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:19,680 Speaker 1: the justice League of America, except you wouldn't need a gun. 455 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:24,199 Speaker 1: Well you know, yeah, don't. Hey, you know, I'm just 456 00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:27,639 Speaker 1: coming up with ideas here, So I'm sorry you were 457 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:29,320 Speaker 1: about to say something. No, no, no, I was going 458 00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:33,439 Speaker 1: to say that that really the next cool uh development 459 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:35,280 Speaker 1: and guns, And I'm not going to go much further 460 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,239 Speaker 1: pass this because there's really no point. Would be the 461 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:41,720 Speaker 1: maximum gun by Hiram Maximum, right, he was the one 462 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:45,240 Speaker 1: who invented the first automatic machine gun which could fire 463 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:49,800 Speaker 1: five hundred rounds per minute, and I was around, and 464 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:53,960 Speaker 1: his big development was that he thought, hey, there's a 465 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,280 Speaker 1: lot of energy that gets released when you fire a 466 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,439 Speaker 1: bullet from a cartridge. There's the energy that pushes the 467 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:02,720 Speaker 1: bullet out of the barrel of the gun, and and 468 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,439 Speaker 1: that's a lot. What if we were to harness that 469 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,360 Speaker 1: energy in such a way that it would cock the 470 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: gun for you so that would be ready to fire again. 471 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: And that was the basis that that set the stage 472 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:18,399 Speaker 1: for the automatic machine gun. And there's several different ways 473 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:23,440 Speaker 1: to achieve this effect, but that's that's the basis. Yeah, 474 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, that that you know, that's 475 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:30,560 Speaker 1: basically a gas operated weapon because the gas basically there's 476 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:34,000 Speaker 1: another tube an outlet that helps achieve that effect, and 477 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: the majority of machine guns today use that. There's also 478 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:41,919 Speaker 1: the blowback and recoil methods. Uh. In the recoil method, 479 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:47,159 Speaker 1: both the bolt and the barrel travel together, which is 480 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 1: hard for me to imagine. I need to I really 481 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,000 Speaker 1: need to see that because I know the barrel can 482 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,560 Speaker 1: travel within the gun, which is it's really confusing to me. 483 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,359 Speaker 1: When the weapon fires, the bolt goes with the barrel 484 00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:03,240 Speaker 1: and they recoil together, but the barrel keeps snaps back 485 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: and the bolt stays put, so it automatically pushes it 486 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,040 Speaker 1: with it from what I understand. And then blowback is 487 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,600 Speaker 1: basically the force of the explosion of the gunpowder UM 488 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 1: pushing the bolt back for you, UM, and that forces 489 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: the spring to compress and it's basically ready to fire again. 490 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,840 Speaker 1: But it's not as efficient as the gas operated Yeah, 491 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 1: the gas operated one actually is a piston. There's a 492 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:27,919 Speaker 1: there's an additional piston. If you think about the barrel 493 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:29,479 Speaker 1: of the gun, like if you were to look at 494 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:31,679 Speaker 1: a cross section of a machine gun, you would have 495 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:33,960 Speaker 1: the barrel of the gun is one big tube. You 496 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: would have a parallel tube that was slightly smaller that 497 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:40,000 Speaker 1: has a piston in it, and at the very end 498 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:41,960 Speaker 1: of or near the end of that tube, it would 499 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,960 Speaker 1: be an opening into the barrel. The gases from the 500 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 1: escaping uh gunpowder, the escaping explosion would push the piston back, 501 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:54,080 Speaker 1: which cocks the gun. And this happens incredibly fast. I 502 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:56,360 Speaker 1: mean we were talking just a second five rounds per 503 00:27:56,359 --> 00:27:59,880 Speaker 1: minute being the early one. And yeah, all it takes 504 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:03,199 Speaker 1: is just that piston moving back and uh and cocking 505 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:05,400 Speaker 1: the gun. Again. It's rate of fire. And you had 506 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: multiple ways of of loading these guns. There were the 507 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: hopper systems and the gravity based systems where the cartridges 508 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,560 Speaker 1: would essentially fall into place, and then later you had 509 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:19,880 Speaker 1: things like belt feeding systems and just slips, yeah, which 510 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:23,359 Speaker 1: is how many the weapons are loaded now. So it's 511 00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:27,920 Speaker 1: they really these developments really made the Gatling gun obsolete. Yeah. Well, 512 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,240 Speaker 1: I mean once you get to something like the Tommy gun, 513 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:33,880 Speaker 1: where you can carry around what is effectively the same 514 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: as the Gatling gun, it's pretty yeah, game over. And 515 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: even with the Gatling gun like that helped avoid some 516 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 1: of the problems of the earlier machine guns, the ones 517 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,240 Speaker 1: about the barrels overheating and becoming too weak. But even 518 00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: with the gatling gun, you had different ways of cooling 519 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:51,440 Speaker 1: the barrels down so that they didn't get too hot 520 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:54,160 Speaker 1: too quickly, because if you did fire that into a 521 00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:58,360 Speaker 1: sustained fire for too long, it could weaken the metal 522 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:00,880 Speaker 1: enough so that there could be an explosion and your 523 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: gun could totally fail and uh and possibly injured or 524 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:09,479 Speaker 1: kill the operators. So yeah, I hope that that answers 525 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 1: your question. Damon. The gatling gun is pretty, uh, a 526 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 1: pretty interesting device, and we actually have an article on 527 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com about how machine guns work. 528 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:22,040 Speaker 1: There's an entire section dedicated just to the gatling gun, 529 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:25,560 Speaker 1: including an animation that kind of shows this firing pin mechanism. 530 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 1: So if you thought that was a little confusing, I 531 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:29,760 Speaker 1: recommend you go and you look at that article because 532 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:32,040 Speaker 1: it is very helpful. Yeah, it is nice to see 533 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:33,600 Speaker 1: it in action if you're really trying to get an 534 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 1: idea of of what we're talking about it as far 535 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,360 Speaker 1: as the mechanism goes and how it works. Right, So 536 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 1: keep those questions coming in, guys, and uh, We're finding 537 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:43,520 Speaker 1: a lot of questions coming in through Twitter and Facebook, 538 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: which is great. Those are really easy for us to 539 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: keep track of. Email is actually a little trickier just 540 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:51,840 Speaker 1: because we get so much mail from so many different sources. 541 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:57,120 Speaker 1: It's also easy to answer the quick thirty second questions forum. 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