From en.wikipedia.org:
[the rifle-caliber "machine gun"] {{Infobox weapon | name = Nordenfelt gun |
image = Nordenfelt machine gun 10 barrels.jpg | image_size = 300 | caption =
Nordenfelt 10 barrel rifle-calibre machine gun (with ammunition feed slots
removed). Musée de l'Armée, Paris | origin = United Kingdom | type = Organ
gun <!-- Type selection --> | is_ranged = yes <!-- Service history --> |
service = | used_by = | wars = <!-- Production history --> | designer = Helge
Palmcrantz | design_date = 1873 | manufacturer = | unit_cost = |
production_date = | number = | variants = <!-- Ranged weapon specifications
--> | cartridge = | cartridge_weight = | caliber = | barrels = | action = |
rate = | velocity = | range = | max_range = | feed = | sights = }}
[[File:10BarrelNordenfeltGunInNavalAction.jpg|thumb|right|<div
style="text-align: center;">Sailor operating 10-barrel rifle calibre gun, with
right hand on lever</div>]]
The NORDENFELT GUN was a multiple-barrel organ gun that 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]. 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]) gun.
** Development
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) named Thorsten 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 their Gatling and Gardner 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 the Maxim gun, the weapon was eventually
outclassed. Nordenfelt merged in 1888 with the Maxim Gun Company to become
Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company Limited.
** Surviving examples
At least one Nordenfelt was re-activated for the 1966 film _Khartoum_ and can
be seen firing in the river boat sequence.
The Bundeswehr Museum of German Defense Technology in Koblenz has one of this
specimen in its collection.
Another one is exhibited in the Romanian Naval Museum in Constanța.
** Users
- [Brazil] [1] [2]
- [United Kingdom]
- [Chile] [3]
- [Flag of Muhammad Ali.svg] Egypt <ref name=":3"/>
- [Kingdom of Montenegro] : Seven were in use at the time of the Balkan Wars. [4]
- [Peru] <ref name=":2"/>
- [Portugal] <ref name=":1"/> [5]
- [Early_20th_Century_Qajar_Flag.svg] Qajar Iran : Had a battery of four guns in the 1890s. [6]
- [Qing Empire] [7]
- [Uruguay] [8]
- [Kingdom of Spain]
==Conflicts ==<!---♦♦♦ Please keep the list in alphabetical order ♦♦♦--->
- Egyptian-Ethiopian War [9]
- War of The Pacific <ref name=":2"/>
- Mahdist Wars [10]
- Revolution of Quebracho <ref name=":5"/>
- Jebu War [11]
- Philippine-American War
- Federalist Revolution <ref name=":0"/> <ref name=":1"/>
- Revolta Da Armada <ref name=":0"/>
- First Matabele War [12]
- First Sino-Japanese War <ref name="SinoJapaneseWar"/>
- War of Canudos <ref name=":0"/> [13]
- Revolution of 1897 <ref name=":5"/>
- Boxer Rebellion [14]
- Balkan Wars <ref name=":4"/>
** See also
- 1-inch Nordenfelt gun
*** Weapons of comparable role, performance and era
- Gardner gun : similar hand-cranked machine gun
** References
[date=September 2016] [30em]
- George M. Chinn, _The Machine Gun. History, Evolution, and Development of Manual, Automatic, and Airborne Repeating Weapons (see http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ref/MG/index.html) _ , 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
[Nordenfelt machine guns]
- Handbook for Gardner and Nordenfelt rifle calibre machine guns. 1889, 1891 (see http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/99835)
- Handbook of the 0.45 inch 5 barrel Nordenfelt guns, marks I and II, 1888 (see http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/99827) at State Library of Victoria
- Handbook of the 0.45 inch, 5-barrel Nordenfelt guns, Marks I and II 1894 (see http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/109917) at 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 (see http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/114042)
- Animations and technical descriptions of 2, 4 and 5-barrel Machine Guns (see http://www.victorianshipmodels.com/antitorpedoboatguns/Nordenfelt/index.html) (Requires QuickTime and not suitable for slow-speed links)
- Nordenfelt Video (see http://www.cerberus.com.au/videos/callvideo.html#nordenfelt) —video of Nordenfelt machine gun firing
- video of mechanism (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyG6vobtUeI)
[Multiple Barrel Firearms] [VictorianEraBritishNavalWeapons]
[DEFAULTSORT:Nordenfelt gun] Category:Victorian-era weapons of the United
Kingdom Category:Early machine guns Category:Multi-barrel machine guns
Category:Weapons of the Ottoman Empire