Thorsten Nordenfelt
Ernst Thorsten Nordenfelt (partly also in the spelling Nordenfeldt , which was not used by Nordenfelt himself ; born March 1, 1842 in Örby Socken, Sweden ; † 1920 in Stockholm ) was a Swedish weapons designer and businessman.
Life
Nordenfelt grew up as the son of a regimental commander in Jönköping . After graduating from high school in Lund, he studied at the Teknologiska Institutet in Stockholm , which he completed from 1858 to 1861. He then worked for the Swedish railway company for a year . Between 1862 and 1866 he worked in England as an importer for Swedish steel . In 1867 he founded Tidén, Nordenfelt & Co. together with Lorentz Tidén in London, which traded in steel and railroad tracks. The company was liquidated in 1874 .
In 1875, Nordenfelt made the acquaintance of Helge Palmcrantz and worked as a middleman for his machine guns in England. The competition to the models from Gatling and Gardner was tough, so that Nordenfelt convinced Palmcrantz to increase the caliber of his designs. The designs of the competition did not allow such calibers, so that Nordenfelt could receive orders from the Royal Navy .
After Palmcrantz's death, Nordenfelt took over the further development of the machine guns (see Nordenfelt mitrailleuse ). They have been sold in a variety of configurations in a variety of countries. The production took place in Stockholm, England and Spain . After financial problems, Nordenfelt moved to France , where he founded Société Nordenfelt in Paris . This company also developed the breech block for the French Canon de 75 mle 1897 , the world's first real rapid-fire cannon .
In 1885, Nordenfelt was appointed chamberlain . In 1888, under pressure from Rothschild and Vickers, Nordenfelt's company merged with Maxim Gun Company, the company of the inventor of the reloading machine gun Hiram Maxim , to form Maxim-Nordenfeldt Guns and Ammunition Company Limited, based in London, which later became Vickers (see Maxim Machine gun ). The company's most important sales representative was Basil Zaharoff .
Submarine developments
The acquaintance and long conversations with the Reverend George Garrett led to the development of submarines that were powered by steam .
The first boat, which was launched in 1885, which was Nordenfelt I . with a weight of 56 tons and a length of 19.5 meters. The armament consisted of a torpedo and a 25.4 mm machine gun . It was built by the Bolinders company in Stockholm from 1884 to 1885. It was driven by a 100 HP steam engine, which gave the boat an overwater speed of 9 knots . The Nordenfelt I was acquired by the Greek government and delivered to them in 1886. It was stationed at the Salamis naval base, where it was no longer used. In 1901 it was scrapped .
The next boats, Nordenfelt II ( Abdul Hamid ) and Nordenfelt III ( Abdul Mecid ) were launched in 1886 and 1887, respectively. Both boats were acquired by the Ottoman Navy. The length of the two boats was 30 meters each. The two boats Abdülhamid and Abdulmecid were found by German troops in Istanbul in 1914 . It was decided to use them for harbor protection, but this was discarded because of the major corrosion damage to both boats.
The Nordenfelt II ( Abdul Hamid ) was the first submarine in history to shoot down a torpedo while submerged.
The further development of the first three boats was the Nordenfelt IV . It was equipped with two steam engines and two torpedoes. It was sold to the Russian government, but it turned out to be very unstable and ran aground. The Russian government then refused to pay for the boat. The scrapping took place shortly afterwards.
Literature publications
- Thorsten Nordenfelt: Rapid fire cannons and mitrailleuses in land wars. Verlag LW Seidel, 1888.
- Thorsten Nordenfelt: EA Cowper, Charles E. Cowper: Mitis wrought-iron castings: paper by T. Nordenfelt, Mechanical engineering memoirs. 1885.
- Thorsten Nordenfelt: The Nordenfelt machine guns described in detail and compared with other systems. Publisher Simpkin, Marshall, 1884.
- Thorsten Nordenfelt: Historiska samtidighetstabeller. Verlag Svenska tryckeriaktiebol., 1913.
- Thorsten Nordenfelt: Notes on l'artillerie de campagne à tir rapide, par Th. De Nordenfelt. 1st part. Berger-Levrault publishing house, 1892.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Military History Website, Author: Gary W. McCue
- ↑ Vice Admiral C. Paizis-Paradellis: Hellenic warships, 1829-2001. Society for the Study of Greek History, 2002, ISBN 960-8172-14-4 .
- ↑ Report on the Nordenfeldt boat at Submarine Heritage, available online, (English, viewed on February 22, 2011) ( Memento of the original from July 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Antony Preston: The Royal Navy submarine service: a centennial history. Verlag Conway Maritime, 2001, ISBN 0-85177-891-7 , p. 19.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Nordenfelt, Thorsten |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Nordenfelt, Ernst Thorsten |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swedish weapons designer and businessman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 1, 1842 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Örby socks, Sweden |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1920 |
| Place of death | Stockholm |