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Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling (September 12, 1818 – February 26, 1903) was an American inventor best known for his invention of the Gatling gun, the first successful machine gun.

The son of farmer and inventor Jordan Gatling, Gatling was born in Hertford County, North Carolina and by the age of 21 had invented the screw propeller for steamboats, only to discover it had recently and independently been patented by John Ericsson. He worked as a fisherman, court clerk, teacher, and storekeeper. While running his own store, he invented a "wheat drill", a planting device, and manufactured these for sale. By 1845 he was earning enough from this device to devote himself to selling and marketing it full-time.

He founded the Gatling Gun Company in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1862. The company merged with Colt in 1897. The hand-cranked Gatling gun was declared obsolete by the United States Army in 1911.

Gatling graduated from Ohio Medical College in 1850 but was more interested in continuing his career as an inventor than in practicing medicine. He invented the Gatling gun after he noticed the majority of dead returning from the American Civil War died of illness, rather than gunshots. In 1877, he wrote: "It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine - a gun - which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease [would] be greatly diminished." ^[1]

In his later years, Gatling patented inventions to improve toilets, bicycles, steam-cleaning of raw wool, pneumatic power, and many other fields. World-famous, he was elected as the first president of the American Association of Inventors and Manufacturers in 1891, serving for six years. Although still quite wealthy at the time of his death, he had made and lost several fortunes in bad investments.

In his last years, Gatling moved to St. Louis, Missouri to form a new company for manufacturing his "steam plows," or tractors (as we would call them today). While in New York City to visit his daughter and to talk with his patent agency, Dr. Richard Jordan Gatling died at his daughter's home on February 26, 1903. He is interred at the famous Crown Hill National Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.

(This list may be incomplete.)

While living in his birthplace of Murfreesboro, North Carolina:

• U.S. Patent 3,581  -- Seed-Planter, May 10, 1844
• U.S. Patent 5,073  -- Hemp and Flax Brake, April 17, 1847
• U.S. Patent 5,130  -- Shovel-Plow, May 29 1847
• U.S. Patent 5,703  -- Grain-Drill, August 10, 1848

After moving to Indianapolis, Indiana:

• U.S. Patent 16,476  -- Steam-Plow, January 27, 1857
• U.S. Patent 28,465  -- Steam-Plow, May 29, 1860
• U.S. Patent 28,978  -- Rotary-Cultivator (Improvement in Cotton-Cultivators), July 3, 1860
• U.S. Patent 29,072  -- Making Laths, July 10, 1860
• U.S. Patent 29,875  -- Hemp Brake, September 4, 1860
• U.S. Patent 30,059  -- Improvement in Machine-Gearing, September 18, 1860
• U.S. Patent 32,600  -- Steam-Plow, June 18, 1861
• U.S. Patent 36,402  -- Construction of Ships (Improved Steam Marine Ram), September 9, 1862 (for ramming and sinking other ships)
• U.S. Patent 36,836  -- Machine Gun, November 4, 1862 (first Gatling Gun patent)
• U.S. Patent 47,631  -- Machine Gun, May 9, 1865
• U.S. Patent 78,953  -- Priming Metallic Cartridges, June 16, 1868
• U.S. Patent 96,793  -- Girder, November 16, 1869
• U.S. Patent 102,675  -- Improvement in Metallic Cartridges, May 3, 1870
• U.S. Patent 112,138  -- Revolving Battery Gun, February 28, 1871

After moving to Hartford, Connecticut:

• U.S. Patent 125,563  -- Improvement in Revolving Battery Guns, April 9, 1872
• U.S. Patent 145,563  -- Traversing Mechanisms for Machine-Guns, Dec 16, 1873
• U.S. Patent 222,351  -- Culinary Apparatus, December 9, 1879
• U.S. Patent 311,973  -- Breech Loading Ordnance, February 10, 1885
• U.S. Patent 380,756  -- Apparatus for Casting Ordnance, April 10, 1888
• U.S. Patent 399,516  -- Combined Torpedo and Gun Boat, March 12, 1889
• U.S. Patent 423,045  -- Mold Core, March 11, 1890
• U.S. Patent 424,288  -- Torpedo and Gun Boat, March 25, 1890
• U.S. Patent 427,847  -- Pneumatic Gun and Torpedo Boat, May 13, 1890
• U.S. Patent 427,848  -- Pneumatic Gun and Operating Mechanism, May 13, 1890
• U.S. Patent 434,662  -- Pneumatic Gun Valve, Aug 19 1890
• U.S. Patent 469,822  -- Apparatus for Cleansing Wool ..., March 1, 1892
• U.S. Patent 496,873  -- Machine for Forging and Compacting Ingots, May 9, 1893
• U.S. Patent 497,781  -- Machine Gun, May 23, 1893
• U.S. Patent 499,534  -- Feed for Machine Guns, June 13 1893
• U.S. Patent 502,185  -- Machine Gun, July 25, 1893
• U.S. Patent 502,882  -- Feed for Magazine Guns, August 8, 1893
• U.S. Patent 504,831  -- Machine Gun, September 12, 1893
• U.S. Patent 513,997  -- Cartridge, February 6, 1894
• U.S. Patent 519,384  -- Bicycle, May 8, 1894
• U.S. Patent 549,122  -- Torch, November 5, 1895
• U.S. Patent 558,682  -- Combined Cotton Thinner and Cultivator, April 21, 1896

After moving to New York, New York:

• U.S. Patent 603,271  -- Cotton Thinner, May 3, 1898
• U.S. Patent 634,451  -- Rein Controlling Means, October 10, 1899
• U.S. Patent 646,977  -- Machine for Thinning Out and Cultivating Cotton Plants, April 10, 1900
• U.S. Patent 651,659  -- Cultivator, June 12, 1900
• U.S. Patent 654,243  -- Motor-Driven Plow, July 24, 1900
• U.S. Patent 660,098  -- Motor Driven Vehicle, October 23, 1900
• U.S. Patent 668,853  -- Flushing Apparatus for Water Closets, February 26, 1901

After moving to St. Louis, Missouri:

• U.S. Patent 696,808  -- Motor-Plow, April 1, 1902