Gatling, Richard Jordan (1818-1903), was an American inventor. He earned 43 patents, mostly for developing new seed planters and other agricultural machines that were more efficient than earlier ones. But Gatling became most famous for inventing the Gatling gun, the first practical rapid-firing gun. He patented the weapon in 1862. Gatling believed that the use of devastating weapons would lower the number of soldiers an army needed. He hoped his gun would thus reduce battlefield casualties. Instead, new technologies such as the Gatling gun increased the death toll in wars.
Gatling was born into a plantation family on Sept. 12, 1818, in Hertford County, North Carolina. He died on Feb. 26, 1903.
