Biography

Helge Palmcrantz was born in Hammerdal, Jämtland, Sweden. He was the son of Per Gustaf Palmcrantz (1806–1905) and Lovisa Ulrika Nordenmark. His father served as a captain in the Jämtland Ranger Regiment. Helge joined his father's regiment as a cadet and worked as a land surveyor. After several years, he left the regiment to study at the Technological Institute of Stockholm, later known as KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

Helge partnered with his brother-in-law, Theodor Winborg (1832–1918), to open a small workshop at Vollmar Yxkullsgatan 25, Södermalm, Stockholm. As the number of workers and production increased, he moved to a new factory on Kungsholmen, Stockholm. There, they produced firearms, reaping machines, mowers, and other agricultural equipment they designed themselves. The factory, later called Palmcrantzska Fabriken, was eventually built on Lövholmen, Stockholm.

In 1868, the first version of his machine gun was completed. A demonstration of its performance was held at Ladugårdsgärdet, Stockholm, in front of the Swedish Defense Minister, G. R. Abel. After some improvements, he patented a multi-barrel, lever-actuated machine gun. The Swedish army purchased this weapon. The same year, the machine gun was displayed at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair.

To achieve international success, Helge met industrialist Thorsten Nordenfelt (1842–1920) in 1875. Nordenfelt's company became Helge's British agent. They agreed to sell the machine gun under the well-known Nordenfelt brand. A later version of the weapon, designed with Nordenfelt's support, was named the Nordenfelt machine gun. Nordenfelt encouraged Helge to increase the caliber of the gun to one inch, making it effective against torpedo boats.

Helge died at a young age from a bleeding ulcer. He was buried at Norra Begravningsplatsen in Stockholm.

A school in Östersund, called Palmcrantzskolan, is named after him. On Kungsholmen, the block names "Kulsprutan" and "Lavetten" honor his factories located on Hantverkargatan.