Similar in size to a steam powered fire engine of the day, the gun had a menacing appearance thanks to a large curved shield covering its inner workings.
Its mechanism involved a shielded barrel that rotated up to 250 times per minute. Shot dumped into the top of the barrel rolled down into it, and were held back by a spring loaded gate that opened to allow 1 shot to be flung out per revolution of the barrel. Its inventors failed to grasp that no matter how quickly their gun's mechanisms moved they could never throw shot faster, farther or with more killing force than gunpowder-based weapons.
