Leonardo da Vinci sketched an organ gun, a multi-barrel artillery design with many small guns arranged in parallel rows.
The weapon was intended to fire a volley of projectiles, increasing the chance of hitting targets compared with a single cannon. Leonardo’s drawings show grouped barrels mounted on a frame, giving the weapon its musical name because the rows resemble the pipes of an organ.
An organ gun is not the same as a modern machine gun. The barrels were generally loaded and fired as separate pieces, so the design did not provide fully automatic fire. Leonardo’s concept also raised practical problems involving weight, recoil, loading time and aiming. It reflects his interest in improving battlefield firepower through coordinated volleys rather than through one larger barrel.