His namesake invention was intended to reduce war casualties by cutting the need for soldiers and used a hand crank and multiple rotating barrels.
He found that Francis Smith and John Ericcson beat him to the patent, by a few months, for a design for a screw propeller for steamboats. While attending Ohio Medical College, he adapted his cotton-sowing machine for food grains and invented a hemp-breaking machine and a steam plow. His namesake invention was intended to reduce war casualties by cutting the need for soldiers and used a hand crank and multiple rotating barrels. For 10 points, name this Civil War- era inventor of the first practical machine gun.
He found that Francis Smith and John Ericcson beat him to the patent, by a few months, for a design for a screw propeller for steamboats.
Richard Jordan {Gatling}