Leonardo da Vinci sketched an organ gun with multiple barrels arranged in rows.
An organ gun is a firearm made from several small cannon barrels fixed together. Leonardo’s design placed many barrels on a wheeled frame, allowing a group of shots to be fired in a broad volley. The arrangement resembles the pipes of a musical organ, which explains the weapon’s name.
The design aimed to improve the speed and concentration of artillery fire. A crew could load the barrels and discharge them together or in sequence, depending on the mechanism. It remained a proposal rather than a documented Leonardo-built weapon.
The organ gun should not be confused with a modern machine gun. It still relied on gunpowder, separate barrels, and laborious reloading. Leonardo’s sketch belongs to a wider Renaissance effort to make battlefield weapons more mobile and capable of firing multiple projectiles.