James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world's first machine gun.
James Puckle (1667–1724) was an English inventor, lawyer and writer from London chiefly remembered for his invention of the Defence Gun, better known as the Puckle gun, a multi-shot gun mounted on a stand capable of (depending on which version) firing up to nine rounds per minute. The Puckle gun is one of the first weapons referred to as a machine gun (though its operation does not match the modern definition of the term) and resembles a large revolver.
Puckle's best-known literary work (reprinted as recently as 1900) was The Club, a moral dialogue between a father and son.