Earliest widespread electic rotary guns?

In 1898, Dr. Gatling attached an electric motor to his well known Gatling Gun, and managed to fire 3000 rounds per minute. In OTL, it was not developed. What's the earliest that an electrical rotary cannon could reasonably be in service? The gun needs a reason to exist as well as the technology to make it. Technology shouldn't be a problem--if the demand is there, it can be made, IMVHO, once smokeless powder is available in quantity.

I think that, if they were around, a 40 mm Gatling AA gun would have been VERY useful in World War II, on bigger ships...

So--what might get the rotary cannon going, in parallel with the Maxim gun and its like? Care to give it a spin?
 
Need generators for this to go.
24-28VDC 400 amps peak, 58 continuous.

Now some of that on the GE miniguns is the rounds are electrically fired, but most of the amps is the motor.

So you will need shipboard power at first, then ground vehicles, last, aircraft

I feel WWI might have been it, for AAA use, when the first tracer ammo is introduced, possible the large caliber 1" Gatling for anti-torpedo boat usage a bit sooner

UMC-HG-1889-Export-Pg-110-A.jpg
 
Ships for certain--if anywhere

Ships would be able to run them right from teh introduction, but portable--not so fast. The big question is when a military might see them as something worth buying--they'll be expensive to work the bugs out of, and major bullet-eaters.

One thought occurred to me--the plane vs battleship debate might be a reason for the fleet to invest in the technology..."See, Colonel Mitchel--it doesn't matter if your planes can carry bombs--they'll be totally shredded before they can drop..."
 
If there were AAA ERG available, would they not be ammo hogs? How effective might they be in return for all the ammo used?
 
Strikes me that they'd initially do well in fortifications. The vast ammo supply the guns would need and the eletrical generating capacity to run them won't be as much of an issue in a fortress. Really, it should just be a matter of diging some more magazine rooms to store the bullets and running some more electrial cables from the generators. The guns would also be a great addition to any fortress of the period. Big enough to have decent range but with an amazing rate of fire, they'd do wonders for helping a fortress withstand an direct assault.

Similarly, shipboard-use is a natural application for these weapons. They don't need to be mobile so you can plunk them down with a nice sturdy mount but still have excellent mobility with the gun. Eectrical capacity to run the guns won't be an issue as the ships have plenty of power to run all sorts of electrical equipment. A relatively large caliber version of the gun would be a godsend of an anti-torpedo boat. I'd envision guns of about two different calibers beign mounted. A machinegun caliber one to sweep an enemy's decks and do lighter work and a heavier one, maybe around 37-47mm so you can get an exploding shell in it. So essentially it would fill the role of OTL pieces like a Nordenfelt gun and Hotchkiss gun.
 

Delta Force

Banned
The Hungarian Gebauer machine gun was a multi-barrel motor driven aircraft machine gun developed towards the end of World War I and during the 1920s. Presumably an electric motor was used to power it in its tank applications.
 
What would the rate of fire be for one of these early rotary guns be? Would the barrels stand up for sustained fire or would they get worn out? Also well might they stand up to overheating?
 
What would the rate of fire be for one of these early rotary guns be? Would the barrels stand up for sustained fire or would they get worn out? Also well might they stand up to overheating?

O rotary gun keeps the barrels cooler than a conventional gun, as the rate of fire per barrel is a fraction of the fire rate of the weapon. There would still be barrell wear issues, of course--but there are with conventional machine guns as well.

Gatling got 3000 rounds per minute from his original electric powered gun...
 
and would they stick with that high rate?

i could well imagine that they would be downrated to say 1000-1500/minute

combine that with the lower per barrel wear than a conventional MG and better cooling, and you would actually have a somewhat more reliable design than a conventional (at least in the early stages)
 

Sior

Banned
http://www.historicalfirearms.info/post/86249885754/electrically-powered-gatling-gun-since-the-late

By the mid 1890s the interest in Gatling’s was fading, partly because of Maxim’s skill as a salesman but mainly because of his gun's more advanced design. In response to his gun’s downturn in market share Gatling had attempted numerous improvements to his weapon. Scaling it down and lightening the gun in the 1870s and 80s launching 'bulldog’ and 'camel’ models which were smaller and easier to transport and bring into action. However, by the 1890s more ambitious improvements were trialed, the first of these was coupling the Gatling’s action to an electrical motor, much like the modern electrically powered General Electric’s GAU-19 and M134 Miniguns and the Vulcan anti-air weapons system.
 
With an early electric gatling, might there be a scaling down in the size of the ammo or is rifle caliber better for range and ballistics?
 
I think that, if they were around, a 40 mm Gatling AA gun would have been VERY useful in World War II, on bigger ships...



In late 1800s, Hotchkiss had rotary cannon in the 37-47mm range for anti-torpedo boat and fortress/strongpoint defense.
 

Delta Force

Banned
The Hungarian Gebauer machine gun was a multi-barrel motor driven aircraft machine gun developed towards the end of World War I and during the 1920s. Presumably an electric motor was used to power it in its tank applications.

There were other similar types of multiple barrel machine guns around the time of World War I. They aren't rotary designs, but given their lower weight and simplicity they are capable of being deployed on aircraft, land vehicles, and perhaps infantry use.
 

Delta Force

Banned
The Henschel Hs 129 featured the Bordkanone 7,5 75 mm revolver cannon in some variants. It's not a multiple barrel design, but if you include revolver type designs as rotary guns this is an approach that can work for large cannons on aircraft, naval, and tank guns.
 
Top