Thorsten Nordenfelt (1 March 1842 – 8 February 1920), was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

inventor and industrialist.

Career

Nordenfelt was born in Örby outside

Kinna Kinna is a locality and the seat of Mark Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 14,776 inhabitants in 2010. Kinna is located south of Borås and south east of Gothenburg. The original Kinna has grown together with surrounding ...

, Sweden, the son of a colonel. The surname was and is often spelled Nordenfeldt, though Thorsten and his brothers always spelled it Nordenfelt, and the 1881 Census shows it as Nordenfelt. The family home in that year was Leinster Lodge on the Uxbridge Road,

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

in west London. Thorsten worked for a Swedish company in London from 1862 to 1866 and migrated to England in 1867 when he married Emma Stansfeld Grundy. Thorsten Nordenfelt and his brother-in-law started a small business to trade Swedish steel for British rails in 1867. Later on he founded ''Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company, ltd'' to develop a machine-gun designed by

Helge Palmcrantz Helge Palmcrantz (July 7, 1842 – November 22, 1880) was a Swedish inventor and industrialist. Biography Palmcrantz was born at Hammerdal in Jämtland, Sweden. He was the son of Per Gustaf Palmcrantz (1806–1905) and Lovisa Ulrika Nordenmark ...

that would be referred to as the

Nordenfelt gun 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 c ...

. His company also designed a range of anti-torpedoboat guns in calibres from 37 to 57 mm, that were produced in

Erith Erith () is an area in south-east London, England, east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent. Since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Bexley. It lies nort ...

, Kent, Stockholm and Spain. Under pressure from

Rothschild Rothschild () is a name derived from the German ''zum rothen Schild'' (with the old spelling "th"), meaning "with the red sign", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by sign ...

and

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

his company merged with

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...

's in 1888 to form The

Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company The Maxim-Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company was the result of a takeover by Hiram Maxim of Thorsten Nordenfelt's Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company in 1888. Rothschild issued £1.9 million of shares to finance the merger. Nathan Rothsc ...

. After a

personal bankruptcy Personal bankruptcy law allows, in certain jurisdictions, an individual to be declared bankrupt. Virtually every country with a modern legal system features some form of debt relief for individuals. Personal bankruptcy is distinguished from corporat ...

Nordenfelt was forced out of the Nordenfelt-Maxim company in 1890 and left England for France, where his new company, Société Nordenfelt, designed the eccentric screw breech used on the French 75. Legal action followed ('' Nordenfelt v Maxim, Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Co Ltd'') over a non-compete clause Nordenfelt had signed. In 1903 he returned to Sweden and retired. In 1902 a public house named after Thorsten Nordenfelt was built at 181 Erith Road, Erith just along from the Gun and Carriage works of Vickers, Sons and Maxim (previously

) . Named 'The Nordenfelt Tavern' it was built to the design of Jonathan G. Ensor (1852/3-19??), architect for brewer

Watney Combe & Reid Watney Combe & Reid was a leading brewery in London. At its peak in the 1930s it was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the London Stock Exchange. It produced Watney's Red Barrel. History The Watney family were the mai ...

Submarines

Discussions between Thorsten Nordenfelt and the English reverend George Garrett led to the production of a series of steam-powered

submarines A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely o ...

. The first was the ''Nordenfelt I'', a 56-tonne, 19.5-metre long vessel similar to Garret's ill-fated ''

Resurgam ''Resurgam'' (Latin: ''"I shall rise again"'') is the name given to an early Victorian submarine and its prototype, designed and built in Britain by Reverend George Garrett. She was intended as a weapon to penetrate the chain netting placed ...

'' (1879), with a range of 240 kilometres and armed with a single torpedo and a 25.4 mm machine gun. It was manufactured by Bolinders in Stockholm in 1884–1885. Like the ''Resurgam'', it operated on the surface using a 100 HP steam engine with a maximum speed of 9 kn, then it shut down its engine to dive. She was purchased by the Greek Government and was delivered to

Piraeus harbor The Port of Piraeus ( el, Λιμάνι του Πειραιά) is the chief sea port of Athens, Greece, located on the Saronic Gulf on the western coasts of the Aegean Sea, the largest port in Greece and one of the largest in Europe. The Chinese ...

in 1886. Following the acceptance tests, she was never used again by the

Hellenic Navy The Hellenic Navy (HN; el, Πολεμικό Ναυτικό, Polemikó Naftikó, War Navy, abbreviated ΠΝ) is the naval force of Greece, part of the Hellenic Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy historically hails from the naval forces of vari ...

and was scrapped in 1901. Nordenfelt then built the ''Nordenfelt II'' ('' Abdül Hamid'') in 1886 and ''Nordenfelt III'' (''Abdül Mecid'') in 1887, a pair of 30-metre long submarines with twin torpedo tubes, for the Ottoman Navy. ''Abdül Hamid'' became the first submarine in history to fire a torpedo while submerged under water. Nordenfelt's efforts culminated in 1887 with the ''Nordenfelt IV'' which had twin motors and twin torpedoes. It was sold to the Russians, but proved unstable and ran aground off Jutland; it was scrapped when the Russians refused to pay for it. ''Abdülhamid'' and ''Abdülmecid'' were in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

in 1914. The submarines were briefly considered for use in harbour defence but it was found that their hulls were too badly corroded.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nordenfelt, Thorsten 1842 births 1920 deaths People from Uppsala Municipality Weapon designers Firearm designers Submarine pioneers Swedish businesspeople