Leonardo da Vinci designed an organ gun with several barrels arranged in parallel rows.
The concept placed multiple small cannons on a frame, resembling the pipes of a musical organ. The arrangement was intended to fire a volley of projectiles and could potentially be aimed by adjusting the frame. Leonardo’s version belonged to a broader family of multi-barrel artillery used in Europe.
The design addressed a practical weakness of early gunpowder weapons: slow reloading. Several barrels allowed repeated or simultaneous shots, although the weapon would still have required careful handling, powder, and ammunition. The name “organ gun” describes the visual arrangement of the barrels, not a musical function.
Leonardo’s military notebooks contain many proposals for firearms and fortifications. Drawings do not prove that every design was constructed or successful in combat. His organ gun is best understood as an engineering concept for concentrated fire rather than as a modern machine gun.