Leonardo da Vinci’s fan-shaped multiple-gun weapon concept was an organ gun.
Leonardo’s organ-gun design arranged a group of small cannon on a frame that spread them into a fan. The name refers to the visual resemblance to the pipes of a musical organ, not to an instrument that makes music. The arrangement was intended to fire many projectiles in a broad volley.
The concept appears among Leonardo’s military studies from the late 15th century. Its purpose was to increase the number of shots delivered at once and cover a wider area than a single gun. The drawings show a mechanical arrangement for positioning the barrels, but they do not establish that Leonardo built and operated a complete version.
The organ gun is sometimes described as a machine gun, but that modern term can create confusion. Leonardo’s design involved multiple separate barrels firing a volley, not a continuously self-loading firearm like a modern machine gun.