W. G. Armstrong and Co
Sir W. G. Armstrong of Elswick Ordnance Works, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
1847 William Armstrong established W. G. Armstrong and Co at Elswick Engine Works with a capital of £19,500 plus Armstrong's patents valued at £3,000, to manufacture new hydraulic devices, cranes and bridges, soon to be followed by artillery, notably the Armstrong breech-loading gun, which re-equipped the British Army after the Crimean War. The founding partners were Armstrong, A. Donkin, the solicitor that he was articled to and George Cruddas, his life-long business partner. [1]
The company's first buildings were erected on a narrow strip of land, between the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway and the Tyne, at Elswick, just over a mile to the west of the town. Production commenced in the autumn and some twenty or thirty men being employed.
1847 Built their first railway locomotive
1851 Manufacturing Engineers employing 400 men [2]
1851 Award at the 1851 Great Exhibition. See details at 1851 Great Exhibition: Reports of the Juries: Class V.
1852 Armstrong's Hydraulic Crane. Drawing. Mentions G. W. Armstrong.
1862 Ten or twelve 'E' class 2-4-0 locomotives were built for the East Indian Railway. [3]
c.1863 Armstrong's Hydraulic Works were partnered with the nearby Elswick Ordnance factory, merging the two as Sir W. G. Armstrong and Co
1860-64 Around fifty railway locomotives built in this period
1876 The 100-ton gun, the largest gun in the world [4]
1876 120-ton sheer legs at Elswick featured in The Engineer, 17th March 1876. See illustration. These featured a hydraulic ram for lifting the load, worked by water pressure at 900 psi from the works' hydraulic mains. The sheers were used in shipping 100-ton gun barrels to Italy.
1881 The Elswick Works were described in 'The Engineer', 22nd July 1881. Work in progress included a 45-ton crane for Valparaiso and a lighthouse for Brazil. Some special machine tools are mentioned, including a Whitworth lathe of 36" centre height and 44 ft 6" between centres, another by Fairbairn, Kennedy and Naylor, modified at Elswick, which could swing work 20 ft dia and 4 ft 6" long or 8 ft dia and 34 ft long
1882 W. G. Armstrong and Co merged with Charles Mitchell and Co to form Armstrong, Mitchell and Co. The company was launched with a capital of £1.575M.
1915 Collaborated with the works at A. and J. Main and Co.[5]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times, Tuesday, May 16, 1911
- ↑ 1851 Census
- ↑ Hugh Hughes Indian Locomotives Part 1 - Broad Gauge CRC 1990
- ↑ The Engineer of 11th August 1876 p102
- ↑ The Engineer 1915/04/09, p 368.