Axel Jacob Petersson (1834–15 January 1884) was a Swedish-Norwegian

structural engineer Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of safety, technical, economic ...

and inventor. He is most noted for his work with railway bridges and viaducts in Norway from the 1860s through the 1870s, as well as developing the

Krag–Petersson The Krag–Petersson was the first repeating rifle adopted by the armed forces of Norway and was one of the first repeating rifles to be adopted as standard issue by a military force,

rifle.

Biography

Petersson was born in Öland in 1834. He studied at the

Royal Institute of Technology The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

between 1852 and 1855. He worked for the Swedish Canal Administration and later for a private railway in Sweden. He moved to Norway in 1859, after he was hired as an assistant engineer for the construction of the

Kongsvinger Line The Kongsvinger Line ( no, Kongsvingerbanen) is a railway line between the towns of Lillestrøm and Kongsvinger in Norway and onwards to Charlottenberg in Sweden. The railway was opened on 3 October 1862 and is Norway's second standard gauge line ...

. By 1865 he was hired as the chief of the Railway Construction Office. He was responsible for construction of bridges and viaducts on the Østfold Line and the Dovre Line between Eidsvoll and Hamar. By 1881 Peterson had poor health and retired. He died on 15 January 1884 in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. There was a story that stayed around for a long time that the constructor of the Ljan Viaduct had committed suicide before its opening because he did not trust it to stand. Geir-Wider Langård has proposed that this folklore arose with the magnitude of the bridge combined with the Tay Bridge disaster in Scotland which killed 75 people when it collapsed the same year as the Ljan Viaduct opened in 1879.

Works

Some of the larger constructions were Minnesund Railway Bridge (''Minnesund Jernbanebru''), Ljan Viaduct (''Ljansbroen''), Hølen Viaduct (''Hølen viadukt'') and

Sarp Bridge Sarp Bridge ( no, Sarpsbrua or ) is a series of bridges which span across Sarpefossen, a waterfall of the river Glomma in Sarpsborg, Norway. In the current arrangement, one bridge carries a pathway, one carries a single track of the Østfold L ...

(''Sarpsbroene''). Petersson invented the pendular pillar principle, which was first applied on Hølen Viaduct. Petersson also made a series of other inventions. He developed a rotating camera and calculating machines. He cooperated with

Ole Herman Johannes Krag Ole Herman Johannes Krag (7 April 1837 – 9 December 1916) was a Norwegian officer and firearms designer. Biography Ole H. J. Krag was born in Vågå, in Oppland county, Norway. Krag grew up in various locations where his father, Hans Peter Sc ...

to develop the

rifle, which was a mainstay in the

Norwegian military The Norwegian Armed Forces ( no, Forsvaret, , The Defence) is the armed forces, military organization responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Norwegian ...

for decades.

Bibliography

* ''Regler for Maskindeles Konstruktion'' (1866, 1877) with C. M. Guldberg * ''Regler for Vandhjuls og Turbiners Konstruktion'' (1868) with C. M. Guldberg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petersson, Axel 1834 births 1884 deaths People from Öland Swedish engineers Norwegian engineers Bridge engineers Viaduct engineers Swedish emigrants to Norway