Leonardo da Vinci designed an organ gun with multiple barrels arranged in rows.
The weapon concept used many small cannon barrels mounted on a frame. The arrangement resembled the pipes of a musical organ, which explains the name. Leonardo's drawings show a system intended to allow several barrels to fire in sequence or in a concentrated volley.
Multiple-barrel weapons could increase the volume of fire without requiring a separate large cannon for every shot. Leonardo's design belonged to a wider Renaissance interest in improving battlefield artillery through better arrangements, mobility, and firing sequences. It was a military concept rather than a musical instrument.
The organ gun should not be confused with Leonardo's giant crossbow or with a conventional single-barrel cannon. Nor was it a modern machine gun: its barrels were arranged in groups, and its operation depended on manual loading and ignition. The design illustrates experimentation with rapid or sustained fire before modern automatic weapons existed.