Leonardo da Vinci designed an organ gun, a multi-barrel weapon intended to fire repeated volleys.
The concept arranged numerous small cannon in parallel rows or a fan-shaped formation. The name “organ gun” refers to the visual resemblance between the barrels and the pipes of a musical organ. By preparing several barrels at once, the design aimed to increase the rate of fire compared with a single cannon.
Leonardo’s sketches belong to his broader work on military engineering during the late fifteenth century. Like many of his weapon designs, the organ gun is best understood as a proposal preserved in drawings rather than as a weapon proven to have entered regular service.
It should not be confused with a machine gun in the modern sense. The organ gun still relied on separate gun barrels and charges; its innovation was the coordinated arrangement of multiple pieces for volley fire.