THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL INVENTORS OF ALL TIME

7 The 100 Most Influential Inventors of All Time 7

with his name. After early experiments with a single
barrel using paper cartridges (which had to have a separate
percussion cap), he saw in the newly invented brass cartridge
(which had its own percussion cap) an opportunity to
fashion a truly rapid-fire weapon. Gatling contrived a cluster
of 10 barrels, each of which, when rotated by a crank, was
loaded and fired once during a complete rotation. The
barrels were loaded by gravity and the camming action of
the cartridge container, located directly above the gun.
Each barrel was loaded and fired during a half-rotation
around the central shaft, and the spent cases were ejected
during the second half-rotation.By 1862 Gatling had
succeeded in perfecting his weapon; but the war was
practically over before the federal authorities consented
to its official adoption. A few were used by U.S. forces in
Cuba in 1898 and in minor military operations around the
world. It and all other hand-operated machine guns were
made obsolete by truly automatic machine guns, which
operated under the energy generated by a fired round.
These became militarily effective following the invention
of smokeless gunpowder.

James Starley

(b. April 21, 1830, Albourne, Sussex, Eng.—d. June 17, 1881, Coventry,
Warwickshire)

J

ames Starley was an English inventor whose prolific
improvements for bicycles and tricycles earned him
the title “Father of the Cycle Trade.”
In 1855 Starley moved to London, where he was
employed in the manufacture of sewing machines, and
two years later he moved to Coventry, where he became
managing foreman at the Coventry Sewing Machine
Company (later the Coventry Machinists’ Company Ltd.).