Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/275

 GATLING

GAUL

Galling gun. In 1808 he made his guns at Cin- cinnati, Oliio, and proved them capable of tiring three hundred shots per minute. He made a bat- tery of six guns, when his factory was burned and his guns destroyed. He then manufactured a battery of thirteen guns through the assistance of a capitalist of Cincinnati, and went with them to Washington, in order that General Ripley, cliief of ordnance, might test the efficiency of the new arm. This the general refused to do, and Dr. Gatling's agent and financial backer started back for the west, when he met General Butler in Baltimore, who was on his way to the army of the James. Butler looked with favor on the en- gine of destruction, and at once purchased twelve guns, paying. 512,000 for the guns with their carriages and 13,000 rounds of ammuni- tion. They were first tried in actual battle before Peters- burg, where General Butler personally directed their use. The consternation and slaughter pro- iluceil, secured a world-wide reputation for the gun which was soon adopted by the leading gov- ernments of the world. It was effectively used in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, and it Avas effective against the Indians in the west. It was also effectively used by the U.S. forces against the Spaniards in front of Santiago, Cuba, in July, 1898. It was adopted as an arm of the service by the war department, Washington, in 1866. Dr. Gatling protected his invention and improve- ments by five patents. While the first gun fired 300 shots per minute, the improved -one dis- charged 1000 shots per minute, and by the aid of an electric motor to revolve the gun, the cni)iiliil ity of rapid firing .reached a maximum of 500 shots in fourteen and a half seconds with a range of over a mile, using a Springfield rifle cartridge. He had guns made at Coifs armory, Hartford, Conn., at Birmingham. England, and also in Vienna, Austria. He was president of the American association of inventors and manufacturers, 1891- 97, and received honors from various scientific bodies and from foreign governments. He in- vented a gun-metal composed of steel and alumi- num, a screw for the propulsion of water-craft, coincident with a .similar invention by John Ericsson; and discovered a method of transmit- ting power through the medium of compressed air. In 1898 he invented and manufactured at Cleveland, Ohio, an eight-inch gun for the U.S. government, which exploded many theories of ordnance construction, and gi'satly added to his

reinitation as an inventor. In 1899 he patented a plough, built on the principle of the automo- bile, which he claimed to be capable of doing the work of eight men and twelve horses. He died in New York, Feb. 00, 1003.

QATSCHET, Albert Samuel, linguist, was born at St. Beatenberg, Berne, Switzerland, Oct. 3, 1832; son of Carl Albert and Mary (Ziegler) Gatschet. He studied at Neuchatel, 1843-45, at Berne, 1846-52, and at the Universities of Berne and Berlin, 1852-58. His studies were mainly devoted to history and linguistics and were con- tinued until 1867. He settled in New York city in 1868 and devoted his time to writing scientific articles for publication in domestic and foreign periodicals. From 1874 he made a special study of the languages of the American Indians, and in the interest of this work made explorations among the aborigines of North America. He was appointed ethnologist on Powell's United States geological survey in 1877, and was con- nected with the bureau of American ethnology of the Smithsonian institution from 1879. He received the degree of Ph.D. from the University of Berne in 1892. He was married in 1892 to Sarah Louise, daughter of Roger Horner of Phil- adelphia. He is the author of The Klamath In- dians of Southwestern Orerjon (1890); A Creek Migration Legend (Vol. I., 1884, Vol. II.. 1888); of numerous reports and articles in American and German magazines, on ethnological and linguis- tic investigations among the Indians, the most important being Zwolf Sprachen ans dem Si'uhcesten Xordamerikas (1876); also of a series of mono- graphs on the etymology of Switzerland, one of these being entitled Ortsetymnlogisehe Forschnngen aiisder Srhtreiz (180.5-67).

QAUL, Qilbert William, painter, was born in Jersey City, N.J., March 31, 1855; son of George and Cornelia (Gilbert) Gaul; grandson of Vi'il- liani and Almira (McKonu) Gaul; and a de- scendant of Richard and Rebecca (Young) Gaul. He studied painting under John G. Brown in New- York city and in 1877 established a studio in New Y'ork city where he became known as an illustrator and painter of genre and historical subjects. He was elected an associate of the National academy of design in 1879, and became an academician and a member of the Society of American artists in 1882. Among his better known works are: Stories of Liberty to the Con- .ti. nrd (IS79); Chnrginfi the Battery (1882); Jloidinff the Line at all Hazards, awarded first medal of the American art association (1880); and }Vith Fate Against Tliem (1887). He was awarded a third- class medal at the Paris exposition in 1889, and received two medals for painting and illustrating at World's Columbian exposition, Chicago, in 1893.