Nordenfelt gun
Nordenfelt gun | |
---|---|
![]() Nordenfelt 10 barrel rifle-calibre machine gun (with ammunition feed slots removed).Musée de l'Armée,Paris. | |
Type | Organ gun |
Place of origin | United Kingdom |
Production history | |
Designer | Helge Palmcrantz |
Designed | 1873 |
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Thorsten_Nordenfelt._Svensk_ub%C3%A5tspionj%C3%A4r.jpg/220px-Thorsten_Nordenfelt._Svensk_ub%C3%A5tspionj%C3%A4r.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/10BarrelNordenfeltGunInNavalAction.jpg/220px-10BarrelNordenfeltGunInNavalAction.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/5BarrelGardnerGunRoyalNavy.jpg/220px-5BarrelGardnerGunRoyalNavy.jpg)
TheNordenfelt gunwas amultiple-barrelorgan gunthat had a row of up to twelve barrels. It was fired by pulling a lever back and forth and ammunition was gravity fed through chutes for each barrel. It was produced in a number of different calibres up to 25 mm (0.98 in). Larger calibres were also used, but for these calibres the design simply permitted rapid manual loading rather than true automatic fire. This article covers the anti-personnel rifle-calibre (typically 0.45 in (11 mm)) gun.
Development[edit]
The weapon was designed by a Swedish engineer,Helge Palmcrantz.He created a mechanism to load and fire a multiple barreled gun by simply moving a single lever backwards and forwards. It was patented in 1873.
Production of the weapon was funded by a Swedish steel producer and banker (later weapons maker) namedThorsten Nordenfelt,who was working in London. The name of the weapon was changed to the Nordenfelt gun. A plant producing the weapon was set up in England with sales offices in London and long demonstrations were conducted at several exhibitions. The weapon was adopted by the British Royal Navy, as an addition to theirGatlingandGardner guns.
During a demonstration held at Portsmouth, a ten-barrelled version of the weapon, firing rifle-calibre cartridges, fired 3,000 rounds of ammunition in 3 minutes and 3 seconds without stoppage or failure.
However, with the development of theMaxim gun,the weapon was eventually outclassed. Nordenfelt merged in 1888 with the Maxim Gun Company to becomeMaxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition CompanyLimited.
At least one Nordenfelt was re-activated for the 1966 filmKhartoumand can be seen firing in the river boat sequence.
TheBundeswehr Museum of German Defense TechnologyinKoblenzhas one of this specimen in its collection.
Another one is exhibited in the Romanian Naval Museum inConstanța.
Users[edit]
Brazil[1][2]
British Empire
Chile[3]
Egypt[4]
Kingdom of Montenegro:Seven were in use at the time of the Balkan Wars.[5]
Peru[3]
Portuguese Empire[2][6]
Qajar Iran:Had a battery of four guns in the 1890s.[7]
Qing Empire[8]
Uruguay[9]
Kingdom of Spain
Conflicts[edit]
- Egyptian-Ethiopian War[4]
- War of The Pacific[3]
- Mahdist Wars[10]
- Revolution of Quebracho[9]
- Jebu War[11]
- Philippine-American War
- Federalist Revolution[1][2]
- Revolta Da Armada[1]
- First Matabele War[12]
- First Sino-Japanese War[8]
- War of Canudos[1][13]
- Revolution of 1897[9]
- Boxer Rebellion[14]
- Balkan Wars[5]
See also[edit]
Weapons of comparable role, performance and era[edit]
- Gardner gun:similar hand-cranked machine gun
References[edit]
![]() | This article includes alist of references,related reading,orexternal links,but its sources remain unclear because it lacksinline citations.(September 2016) |
- ^abcd"ArmasBrasil - Metralhadoras Nordenfelt".armasbrasil.Retrieved2022-09-21.
- ^abc"Metralhadora Nordenfelt - Sala de Armas".Metralhadora Nordenfelt - Sala de Armas(in Brazilian Portuguese).Retrieved2022-09-21.
- ^abcEsposito, Gabriele (2016).Armies of the War of the Pacific 1879-83: Chile, Peru & Bolivia.Giuseppe Rava. Oxford.ISBN978-1-4728-1406-7.OCLC956263929.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^abDunn, John P. (2012).Khedive Ismail's army.London: Routledge.ISBN978-0-415-64595-9.OCLC808492529.
- ^abJowett, Philip (2012).Armies of the Balkan Wars 1912-13: the priming charge for the Great War.Osprey Publishing.ISBN978-1-299-58155-5.OCLC842879929.
- ^Encyclopedia of African colonial conflicts.Timothy J. Stapleton. Santa Barbara, Calif. 2017. p. 533.ISBN978-1-59884-837-3.OCLC950611553.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) - ^Farrokh, Kaveh (2011).Iran at war, 1500-1988.Oxford: Osprey Publishing.ISBN978-1-84603-491-6.OCLC651902140.
- ^abEsposito, Gabriele (2022).Armies of the first Sino-Japanese War 1894-95.Giuseppe Rava. Oxford.ISBN978-1-4728-5130-7.OCLC1350351894.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^abcDel Pino, Alberto (January 2008). "La Ametralladora Nordenfelt y su uso en el Ejército Nacional".Revista Armas y Letras(139–158).
- ^Encyclopedia of African colonial conflicts.Timothy J. Stapleton. Santa Barbara, Calif. 2017. pp. 388, 606.ISBN978-1-59884-837-3.OCLC950611553.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) - ^"The Soldier's Burden".kaiserscross.Retrieved2023-05-06.
- ^Encyclopedia of African colonial conflicts.Timothy J. Stapleton. Santa Barbara, Calif. 2017. p. 42.ISBN978-1-59884-837-3.OCLC950611553.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) - ^Da Cunha, Euclides.Os Sertões.pp. 105, 112.
- ^"THE GUNS OF THE BOXER REBELLION: PART I: Righteous Fists vs. Magazine Rifles. - Free Online Library".thefreelibrary.Retrieved2022-12-16.
- George M. Chinn,The Machine Gun. History, Evolution, and Development of Manual, Automatic, and Airborne Repeating Weapons,Volume I, Washington, 1951.
- C. Sleeman, "The Development of Machine Guns",The North American review,Volume 139, Issue 335, October 1884
- Ellis, John. 1975.The Social History of the Machine Gun.New York: Pantheon Books.
External links[edit]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Handbook for Gardner and Nordenfelt rifle calibre machine guns. 1889, 1891
- Handbook of the 0.45 inch 5 barrel Nordenfelt guns, marks I and II, 1888at State Library of Victoria
- Handbook of the 0.45 inch, 5-barrel Nordenfelt guns, Marks I and II 1894at State Library of Victoria
- Handbook for the 0.303 "Nordenfelt 3-barrel, and Gardner 2-barrel, converted from 0.4 and 0.45" M.H. chamber (magazine rifle chamber): mounted on carriages, field, machine gun, infantry and carriage, parapet, machine gun. London: H.M.S.O. 1900
- Animations and technical descriptions of 2, 4 and 5-barrel Machine Guns(Requires QuickTime and not suitable for slow-speed links)
- Nordenfelt Video—video of Nordenfelt machine gun firing
- video of mechanism