Armstrong-Whitworth

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The Sir WG Armstrong Whitworth & Co., Ltd. was a major British company of the early 20th century. The group, based in Elswick near Newcastle upon Tyne, produced weapons, ships, locomotives, automobiles and aircraft. In 1927 he became part of Vickers-Armstrongs .

Malaya on an Armstrong-Whitworth advertisement (1923)

history

In 1847 the engineer William George Armstrong founded a factory in Elswick near Newcastle and began manufacturing hydraulic machines, cranes and bridges. Soon after, he began manufacturing guns and rifles with the Elswick Ordnance Company .

In 1882, the company merged with shipbuilder Charles Mitchell to form Armstrong, Mitchell and Company . Initially, civil and military ships were built at the Mitchell shipyard in Low Walker, but shortly after the merger, a new shipyard was built in Elswick, which mainly built warships for export. The protected cruiser developed there was delivered as a so-called Elswick cruiser to a large number of smaller navies. The armored cruisers developed as a kind of small and fast ship of the line became models for the construction of this type of ship worldwide. For this purpose, mainly Italian shipyards, Armstrong had opened a plant in Pozzuoli near Naples in 1885 , built the guns developed by Armstrong into the ships built for the Regia Marina and export. Armstrong's chief designer was initially William Henry White , then from 1885 to 1902 Director of Naval Construction of the Royal Navy, succeeded by Philip Watts , who also became Director of Naval Construction of the Royal Navy from 1902 to 1912, and in 1912 as Director of Warship Construction Company returned.

The new umbrella company Armstrong-Whitworth was created in 1897 through the merger with the mechanical engineering company of Joseph Whitworth . The company began manufacturing automobiles and trucks in 1902. From 1913 there was an aircraft construction department, which from 1920 formed the Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft .

In 1927, the armaments and mechanical engineering business was combined with Vickers Limited and was thus part of Vickers-Armstrongs. The aircraft and aircraft engine manufacturing was outsourced and came into the possession of John Davenport Siddeley .

Products

Hydraulic systems

The predecessor company Sir WG Armstrong Mitchell & Company was responsible for the installation of numerous hydraulic systems, including for the Tower Bridge in London from 1894.

Warships

For export

Nueve de Julio
The Izumi ex Esmeralda in Sasebo in 1908
The gunboat Tsukushi
The ship of the line Hatsuse
  • Yoshino (吉野 ) Imperial Japanese Navy, Protected Cruiser 1892
  • Yashima (八 島 ) Imperial Japanese Navy, ship of the line 1896
  • Takasago (高 砂 ), Imperial Japanese Navy, Protected Cruiser 1897
  • Asama (浅 間 ) and Tokiwa (常 盤 ), Imperial Japanese Navy, armored cruiser 1898
  • Hatsuse (初 瀬 ), Imperial Japanese Navy, ship of the line 1899
  • Izumo (出 雲 ) and Iwate (岩手 ), Imperial Japanese Navy, armored cruiser 1900
  • Kashima (鹿島 ), Imperial Japanese Navy, ship of the line 1905
Coastal armored ship Eidsvold

For the Royal Navy

Spartan off Norway, 1891
Armored cruiser Achilles
Eagle , 1936

Locomotives

Armstrong first built a locomotive in 1847. Twenty 1-B locomotives for East Indian Railways followed between 1861 and 1868 .
After the First World War, Armstrong Whitworth converted the gun factory in Scotswood near Elswick into a locomotive factory. Armstrong Whitworth built numerous steam and diesel locomotives for railroad companies and industrial railways here. A total of 1,464 locomotives were built in Scotswood before the factory restarted weapons production in 1937.

Queensland Railways C17 locomotive
LMS Stanier class

Automobiles

Armstrong-Whitworth vehicles were manufactured from 1906 and were based on the Wilson-Pilcher model . After the merger with Siddeley-Deasy in 1919, the manufacture of Armstrong Siddeley cars began in Coventry .

The Wilson Pilcher was built in London from 1901. In 1904 the new owner moved production to Newcastle. The first in-house development was the 28/36 from 1906. From 1911 the smaller 12/14 was created. The first six-cylinder model was the 30/50 from 1912.

From 1931 to 1937, Armstrong Saurer trucks were manufactured under the license of the Swiss Adolph Saurer AG .

Planes

The Sir WG Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1912 to 1961. The company was part of the Hawker Siddeley Group, now BAE Systems.
See main article Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft

Elswick Ordnance Company

The Elswick Ordnance Company formed the armaments division of the group and was one of the largest arms suppliers in the First World War.

Web links

Commons : Armstrong Whitworth  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Armstrong Whitworth & Beardmore . steamindex.com. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
  2. ↑ Class 500 SAR locomotives
  3. ↑ Class 600 SAR locomotives
  4. ↑ Class 700 SAR locomotives