Nordenfelt Mark 1 Five Barrel Machine Gun : Fort Glanville, South Australia

Nordenfelt Mark I Five Barrel Machine Gun. Brass box section receiver stamped at the rear NORDENFELT over the serial number. Five air cooled barrels in line on a steel chassis type cradle. The left hand rear sight is missing. On the brass back plate is a large knurled knob for adjusting the traverse. Rear top cover plate and two screws missing.

This gun was originally mounted on a field carriage and located in the caponier of Fort Glanville, Adelaide, South Australia. The Nordenfelt gun was invented around 1873 by Heldge Palmcrantz, a Swedish engineer. It was financed and developed by fellow countryman and financier Thorsten Nordenfelt. The gun was manufactured in various calibres and combination of barrels from one to twelve in line. It was adopted by a number of European countries and England in 1878. The British versions were in two calibres, .450 inch and 1 inch. The 1 inch gun was adopted by the Royal Navy for anti-torpedo boat defence but they were never used in action. The .450 inch Martini Henry rifle calibre version saw limited service in 1882 with the Royal Navy in Egypt and with General Hick's expedition to the Sudan in 1883. The Nordenfelt machine gun was declared obsolete in 1891 with the adoption of the Maxim gun but continued to be used in the colonies until the beginning of the twentieth century.