Armstrong Whitworth

1913. From The Autocar of 10th May

1917. Ref AA below

1919. From The Autocar of 4th January

1921

1923. Ref AA below

1924. Ref AA below

124x. Ref AA below

1924. Ref AA below

1930. Ref AA below

1936. Ref AA below

Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Co Ltd of Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne

General

• The company was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.

• 1847 Established by Lord Armstrong who in that year founded the Elswick Works at Newcastle-on-Tyne.

• 1897 The company was formed in 1897 as a merger of the engineering firms of Armstrong, Mitchell and Co and Sir J. Whitworth's company, Joseph Whitworth and Co.

• 1902 The company expanded into the manufacture of cars and trucks.

• 1911 Photographs of their Elswick works in The Engineer.

• 1911 18 inch lathe for testing tools and drills.

• 1913 It created an "aerial department" in 1913, which became the Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft subsidiary in 1920.

• 1914 Manufacturers of Aeroplanes, Airships, Waterplanes, Engines for Airships and Accessories, Guns, Mountings, Ammunition and all war materials, Forgings, Castings, Nickel, Chrome, Vanadium and Tungston Steel, Stampings etc., Hydraulic and Electric Cranes, Hoists, Swingbridges, Dock Gates, Sluices, Capstans, Warships, Submarine Boats, Passenger and Cargo Ships, Ice Breakers, Train Ferry Steamers, Oil-ships, Docks etc., Shell, Fuses, Primers and Explosives, A.W. Touring Cars etc., Cars de Luxe, Motor Vehicles for transport, Motor Tractors etc., Armour plates of all sizes, Steel Forgings for Propellor Shafting, Turbine Rotors, High Speed Steel, Drills of all descriptions, Lathes, Machine Tools. Employees 30,000.

• 1919 Advert for high-speed steel (of Openshaw).

• 1920 Issued pamphlet promoting their capacity to produce forgings and castings.

• In 1927, the defence and engineering businesses merged with those of Vickers Limited to create a subsidiary company known as Vickers-Armstrong. The aircraft and Armstrong Siddeley motors business were bought out by J. D. Siddeley and became a separate entity.

• 1927 See Aberconway for information on the company and its history.

• 1927 Also see Aberconway for information on the company and its history.

Road Transport

• The Armstrong was an English automobile manufactured from 1902 to 1904; "claimed to be the best hill-climber extant", the car featured an 8 hp International engine. After 1904, vehicle production came under Armstrong-Whitworth.

• 1907 Produced a 32hp chassis with a four-cylinder engine and four-speed gearbox for the omnibus market.

• 1908 There was one on show at Olympia.

• They built a number of steam road rollers in the 1920s.

Shipbuilding

• 1899 See 1899 Shipbuilding Statistics for detail of the tonnage produced.

• 1911 Chinese cruiser 'Chao Ho'.

• 1920 The deep-water berth at Walker Naval yard was used many times for repairs, refits and modernisation of various vessels in the early 20s. This included various passenger ships notably Mongolia 16385/23 which sailed for P&O between Australia via India. The ship was turbine powered and had a fixed swimming pool, an electric lift and electric heaters in cabins. Mongolia had room for 1593 passengers.

• 1922 The world’s largest floating dock was built for the Southampton Docks of the Southern Railway Company and five sections came from the Naval Yard. In addition two end sections came from the Low Walker yard. The Naval Yard also produced four heavy lift ships, four general cargo ships, a Channel Ferry, two small Great Lakes traders, three lightships and a survey and buoy tender for the Nigerian Government.

• The main output was tankers with twenty being completed between 1921-28.

• The Naval Yard only received one order for a warship in the 1920s.

• 1924 Advert as shipbuilders, steelmakers, locomotive builders, civil and general engineers and more.

• The Low Walker Yard completed a variety of ships including the newsprint carriers Humber Arm 5758/25 and Corner Brook 5759/25. These ships were to be for the newsprint trade between Newfoundland to New York. They were part of a larger project, which lead to the downfall of Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. Ltd itself.

• 1922 In July the Company had set up a separate subsidiary company called Newfoundland Power and Paper Utilities Corporation Ltd. to finance a scheme to build 400 tons/day newsprint mill in Newfoundland.

• Armstrong, Whitworth and Co invested £5M in a mill which went $1M over budget which the company covered with an overdraft. The mill never produced anywhere near its maximum output and the Mill was sold losing them £2.8M. This in turn limited the cash flow of the Company and the whole group collapsed.

• 1926 Armstrong Whitworth and Co Ltd losses amounted to £625, 767 for the first 11 months of 1926.

• 1927 – the company was merged with Vickers of Barrow to become Vickers-Armstrong with Armstrong’s receiving £4.5M for their assets and Vickers £8.5M.

Sources of Information

• Traction Engine Album by Malcolm Ranieri. Pub 2005
• [1] Wikipedia
• British Shipbuilding Yards. 3 vols by Norman L. Middlemiss
• Buses and Trolleybuses before 1919 by David Kaye. Published 1972
• The Engineer of 9th February 1900. p163
• The Engineer of 27th Feb 1920 p208
• 1924 Naval Annual Advert page iv
• The Engineer of 4th August 1911 p128 Supplement
• The Engineer of 27th October 1911 p432
• The Engineer of 10th November 1911 p498
• 1914 Whitakers Red Book
• Mechanical World Year Book 1919. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p3
• AA. [2] Image courtesy of Aviation Ancestry