Union Repeating Gun

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Union Repeating Gun
Ager Coffee Mill Gun IMG 2685.JPG
general information
Civil name: Coffee Mill (Gun), Coffee Grinder, Ager (Gun), Agar (Gun), Mills Gun
Military designation: Union (Repeating) Gun
Country of operation: USA (sold and at least tested in Europe and Venezuela)
Developer / Manufacturer: Inventor not known with certainty; Wilson Ager, Edward Nugent and / or William Palmer are considered likely; the original manufacturer was possibly the American Arms Company; in the US Civil War, however, the weapons were produced in the Carr & Avery company (in New York)
Development year: not clear; between 1850 and 1860/61
Manufacturer country: United States
Production time: not clear; from 1855 or 1860/61 to (presumably) 1864/65 (i.e. around the end of the war)
Model variants: first version without cooling, but with exchangeable barrel; second version with additional air cooling
Weapon Category: (mechanical) machine gun ; Revolver cannon
Technical specifications
Caliber : .58 inch (14.73 mm) Minié Burton
Ammunition supply : directly via loading funnel (cartridges are fed by hand) or by placing an ammunition box on top of it
Cadence : 100-160 rounds / min (1.6-2.6 s / sec); practical rate of fire about 60-120 rounds / min
Fire types: de facto continuous fire
Visor : Folding visor and front sight
Charging principle: External drive; single-barreled revolver cannon with hand crank
Lists on the subject

The Union Repeating Gun (short: Union Gun), also known as Ager (less often written agar ) or Coffee Mill (in English: "coffee grinder"), was one of the first (mechanical) machine guns . It was used in the American Civil War (1861-1865). It is not infrequently confused with the Gatling Gun .

development

It's not entirely clear who invented this weapon and when it was invented. It is usually assumed that it was designed by the mechanic Wilson Ager around 1860/61. Sometimes the names Edward Nugent and William Palmer also appear. The origin of the weapon is said to go back to it before 1855. Wilson Ager was merely a foreign representative of the company that was supposed to build and sell the Union Repeating Gun, but he received a patent for it in England and so it was known under his name in Europe even before it was known in the United States. Ager, Nugent and Palmer are said to have later fallen out over who owned the copyright and patent rights.

Apparently no American patent can be found, although logically there would have to be one for such a pioneering innovation, because after all, it is one of the first machine guns in history, or at least a direct predecessor of one. Although there have been repeated attempts for centuries with so-called organ or volley guns , which in turn can claim to be the ancestors of the machine- gun , the devastating effect of the corresponding hail of bullets was nullified by the cumbersome and time-consuming reloading of such weapons. The Union Repeating or Ager Gun, on the other hand, offered the possibility of continuous firing in addition to an enormous cadence for its time. It is probably the very first weapon of its type ever.

In June 1861, New York salesman JD Mills showed it to President Abraham Lincoln . This is where two other names come from: on the one hand Mills Gun , which is rarely used, and on the other hand the name under which the rifle ultimately became famous - Coffee Mill Gun , the "coffee grinder cannon". Sometimes the Gatling Gun is mistakenly called that. Lincoln himself, who was fascinated by technical innovations, is said to have been the namesake.

How it works and ammunition

The construction was indeed similar to a coffee grinder: a central chute that served as a loading funnel, and a hand crank on the right-hand side that started the entire mechanics including loading, firing and case ejection. As already mentioned, the Ager was a mechanical (or hand-operated) machine gun, not a fully automatic weapon in today's sense. According to its official, military name, the Union Repeating Gun was a repeating rifle . In principle, it was an oversized, slightly modified revolver, which is why the weapon can also be classified as a revolver cannon . Behind the barrel was a kind of spindle with recesses that functioned as cargo spaces (or cartridge chambers). Each cartridge fell under its own weight from the funnel to the loading device. By turning the crank, it was locked before the barrel, fired with a hammer mechanism, transported on and ejected.

The US standard ammunition of the .58 inch (14.73 mm) caliber was fired. The Minié Burton long bullet made of lead was loaded into a 7 cm long steel case together with a black powder charge of 55 to 75 grains (3.56-4.86 g), at the rear end of which was a piston for a primer. What sounds like a modern metal unit cartridge was rather an improvised detour there. The (at least rechargeable) "chambers", as the cases for the Union Gun were called, were rather small, massive steel tubes than light cases. The outside diameter was 1 inch (2.54 cm), significantly larger than the caliber, which required a correspondingly larger cargo space than the barrel. The projectile and propellant charge were, so to speak, "loosely" integrated into a thick steel jacket, which had to be precisely aligned with the barrel, in contrast to modern metal cartridges with their thin-walled cases, which ensure a tight fit and excellent gas seal in the cargo space.

Sale and use

Even before the American Civil War, the Union Repeating Gun in Europe, u. a. in England, where they were soon known under the simple name "das Ager". The state of Venezuela is said to have ordered an Ager MG. But it can be said that the weapon is almost exclusively related to the American Civil War. No clear data or facts about the “Coffee Mill” are known before or after.

The invention aroused some interest and - like almost all weapons technology innovations in the US Civil War - became the subject of heated debate. Some, like President Lincoln, saw in such rapid-fire rifles a pioneering technology and a potential secret weapon, that is to say, what they indeed were, even though they were in a very early stage of development. Many others, above all Feldzeugmeister James Wolfe Ripley , rejected machine and repeating rifles, often even breech- loaders (!) As “new-fangled stuff” or “waste of ammunition”.

In late 1861, Lincoln personally ordered the first ten copies, and General McClellan , with the assistance of the President, bought 50 more. All in all, the US Army received at least (!) 64 Union Repeating Guns, and those until June 1862 alone. So it is likely that more weapons were delivered, if not via the Army Ordnance Office, then possibly privately. Generals Frémont , Rosecrans and Butler ordered Ager machine guns. The US Navy also procured a few copies.

The first combat use of a hand-operated machine gun in war history took place (at the latest) on March 29, 1862 near Middleburg / Virginia, in a battle of the 28th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry against Confederate cavalrymen. During the peninsula campaign in spring 1862, machine guns of the Ager type were used several times. The first participation in a major battle, after several small skirmishes, came on May 31, 1862: in the Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks (until June 1) the north led the "Coffee Mill" into the field, during the South first used his Williams 1 pounder rapid-fire cannon . The "coffee grinders" also appeared in the battle during the seven-day battle . After the campaign, however, they were rarely used. The south captured several specimens during the war, but almost nothing is known about their further fate. But at least once the Confederates used an ager gun. On August 25, 1864, a Union observation balloon was thus set under fire at Ream's Station / Virginia - the first "Fla-MG" in history, if you will.

For mobile use in the field, the rifle was stored on a two-wheeled chassis, usually on a wooden wheel carriage, as it was also used for smaller and smallest guns. There were pivot pillars for stationary combat use, for example on ships or in fortifications. The Union Gun rested on a platform that could be swiveled to the side and could also be adjusted upwards for steep fire.

Achievement and importance

The Union Repeating Gun can be seen as the first practically tested MG. However, it never got beyond experimental use and played no decisive role. On the one hand, as is often claimed, this was entirely due to the old-fashioned views of many politicians and the military regarding the armament, training and tactics of troops. On the other hand, the Union Gun did have a number of supporters who opposed the prevailing conventions, so that the ultimate failure of this weapon can be directly attributed to failures in the field.

The Ager surprised and convinced many in test demonstrations. Salesman JD Mills touted it as "an army in half a square meter". The rate of fire was up to 160 rounds per minute, the effective range at 1000 yards (over 900 meters). In combat, however, it was only able to partially meet the high expectations. In and of itself it represented an extremely progressive and future-oriented weapon system, simple but ingenious from the basic idea. The weaknesses of the "Coffee Mill" were in the details. In particular, the strange ammunition, possible errors in the ammunition supply and the inaccurate alignment of the cargo spaces with the barrel core could lead to serious problems. A perfect eyelid (gas seal) was not guaranteed. On the contrary. When firing, large jets of flames often emerged to the sides and even to the rear, which could be extremely dangerous for the shooter. Incorrectly supplied ammunition or overly hectic operation of the weapon easily caused jams and misfires. This danger existed with all mechanical machine guns. The Union Repeating Gun was therefore difficult to assess and can therefore hardly be considered reliable.

The high esteem or even clear disdain of the officers and soldiers towards her depended on their very different, individual experiences in combat. That could be the case in the same unit. A Captain Bartlett from the 28th Pennsylvania reported from the aforementioned battle near Middleburg that the Ager Guns opened fire at 800 yards, inflicted heavy losses on the enemy and forced the survivors to flee. On the other hand, the final judgment of the regimental commander Colonel John W. Geary, who sent the two Ager machine guns that the 28th Pennsylvania had received in January 1862 back to the witness office in Washington at the end of April of the same year, was quite different. In his opinion, the supposed miracle weapons were "ineffective and unsafe" .

Despite all contradictions and although it apparently disappeared from the scene without a trace at the end of the war, the Union Repeating Gun was, next to the Gatling M1862 , the machine gun of the Civil War. It is astonishing that it anticipated numerous typical features of the later "real" MGs. For example, an overheated barrel could be replaced in just a few simple steps. One or two replacement barrels were added to each copy. Wilson Ager later invented a sophisticated air cooling system. The ammunition came in brass boxes, reminiscent of today's machine gun boxes, in which the cartridge belts are located. They were placed directly on the loading hopper. This allowed for quick, easy reloading and made it unnecessary to manually feed the cartridges one by one, although that was also possible. Some Union Gun models even had frontal protective armor, as is known from many heavy machine guns of the First World War.

literature

  • Jan Boger: The US Civil War 1861–1865. Soldiers, weapons, equipment . 4th edition. Motor Buch Verlag, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-613-01013-5 .
  • Roger Ford: machine guns. From 1860 until today . Karl Müller Verlag, Erlangen 1999, ISBN 3-86070-703-5 .
  • David Harding (Ed.): Weapons Encyclopedia. 7,000 years of weapon history. From hand ax to cruise missile . Motor Buch Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01488-2 , (also: ibid 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-02894-4 ).

Web links