Hotchkiss gun

The 42 mm gun was intended to be mounted on a light carriage or packed on two mules to accompany a troop of cavalry or an army travelling in rough country.

Though superficially resembling a Gatling gun, the internals are very different, with only a single reciprocating bolt rather than a separate action for every barrel.

[1] It was a built-up, rifled, rapid-fire gun of oil-tempered steel, having a rectangular breechblock which moved in a mortise cut completely through the jacket.

The 1-pounder revolving Hotchkiss cannon had five 37 mm barrels, and was capable of firing 68 rounds per minute with an accuracy range of 2,000 yards (1,800 m).

When improvements in torpedo range made them obsolete in this role, they continued to be used as small-craft armament up to and including World War II.

In World War I the British motor gunboats which won naval supremacy from the Germans on Lake Tanganyika were armed with the Hotchkiss 3-pounder.

A Hotchkiss 42 mm gun
The Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon
picture published 1874
Hotchkiss 5-barrel revolving cannon, Fort Copacabana
A ship mounted Hotchkiss cannon
Hotchkiss mitrailleuse , adopted for French fortresses