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ARMSTRONG, WILLIAM GEORGE ARMSTRONG, ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 592 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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ARMSTRONG, See also:
WILLIAM
WILLIAM (1143-1214)
WILLIAM (1227-1256)
WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
WILLIAM, 13TH
WILLIAM See also:
GEORGE
GEORGE, 8TH MARQUESS OF TWEEDDALE (1787-1876)
GEORGE, HENRY (1839—1897)
GEORGE, LAKE
GEORGE, SAINT (d. 303)
GEORGE ARMSTRONG, See also:
BARON
BARON (1835-1895)
BARON, MICHEL (1653—1729)
BARON (1810—1900) , See also:

BRITISH

British inventor, founder of the See also:

ELSWICK

Elswick manufacturing See also:

WORKS

works, was See also:

BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born on the 26th of See also:

NOVEMBER (Lat. novem, nine)

November 1810, at See also:

Newcastle-on-See also:

TYNE

Tyne, and was educated at a school in See also:

Bishop See also:

Auckland. The profession which he adopted was that of a See also:

SOLICITOR

solicitor, and from 1833 to 1847 he was engaged in active practice in Newcastle as a member of the See also:

FIRM

firm of See also:

DONKIN, SIR RUFANE SHAW (1773-1841)

Donkin, See also:

STABLE

Stable & Armstrong. His sympathies, however, were always with See also:

MECHANICAL

mechanical and scientific pursuits, and several of his inventions date from a See also:

time anterior to his final See also:

ABANDONMENT (Fr. abandonnement, from abandonner, to abandon, relinquish; abandonner was originally equivalent to mettred banddn, to leave to the jurisdiction, i.e. of another, bandon being from Low Latin bandum, bannum, order, decree, " ban ")

abandonment of the See also:

law. In 1841—1843 he published several papers on the See also:

ELECTRICITY

electricity of effluent See also:

steam. This subject he was led to study by the experience of a colliery engineman, who noticed that he received a See also:

sharp See also:

SHOCK, or COLLAPSE

shock on exposing one See also:

hand to a See also:

JET (Fr. jais, Ger. Gagat)

jet of steam issuing from a See also:

BOILER

boiler with which his other hand was in contact, and the inquiry was followed by the invention of the " hydro-electric " See also:

machine, a powerful generator of electricity, which was thought worthy of careful investigation by See also:

FARADAY, MICHAEL (1791-1867)

Faraday. The question of the utilization of See also:

WATER

water-See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power had engaged his See also:

ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention even earlier, and in 1839 he invented an improved rotary water motor. Soon afterwards he designed a See also:

HYDRAULIC

hydraulic See also:

crane, which contained the germ of all the hydraulic machinery for which he and Elswick were subsequently to become famous. This machine depended simply on the pressure of water acting directly in a See also:

CYLINDER (Gr. KvAwSpos, from KvXivaety, to roll)

cylinder on a See also:

PISTON (through Fr. from Ital. pistone or pestone, a great pestle, from Late Lat. pistare, to pound, a frequentative form of classical Lat. pinsere)

piston, which was connected with suitable multiplying See also:

GEAR (connected with " garb," properly elegance, fashion, especially of dress, and with " gar," to cause to do, only found in Scottish and northern dialects; the root of the word is seen in the Old Tent. garwjan, to make ready)

gear. Ln the first example, which was erected on the See also:

quay at Newcastle in 1846, the necessary pressure was obtained from the See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary water mains of the See also:

TOWN

town; but the merits and advantages of the See also:

DEVICE

device soon became widely appreciated, and a demand arose for the erection of See also:

CRANES (so called from the resemblance to the long neck of the bird, cf. Gr. 'y pavor, Fr. grue)

cranes in positions where the pressure afforded by the mains was insufficient. Of course pressure could always be obtained by the aid of See also:

SPECIAL

special reservoirs, but to build these was not always desirable, or even practicable. Hence, when in 185o a hydraulic See also:

INSTALLATION

installation was required for a new See also:

ferry station at New See also:

Holland, on the See also:

HUMBER

Humber See also:

ESTUARY (from the Lat. aestuarium, a place reached by aestus, the tide)

estuary, the See also:

ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of water mains of any See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind, coupled with the prohibitive cost of a special See also:

RESERVOIR

reservoir owing to the See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character of the See also:

SOIL

soil, impelled him to invent a fresh piece of apparatus, the " See also:

ACCUMULATOR

accumulator," which consists of a large cylinder containing a piston that can be loaded to give any desired pressure, the water being pumped in below it by a steam-See also:

engine or other See also:

PRIME, PRIMER AND PRIMING

prime mover. This See also:

SIMPLE

simple device may be looked upon as the See also:

CROWN

crown of the hydraulic See also:

SYSTEM

system, since by its various modifications the installation of hydraulic power became possible in almost any situation.

In particular, it was rendered practicable on See also:

BOARD (O. Eng. bord)

board See also:

SHIP

ship, and its application to the manipulation of heavy See also:

NAVAL

naval guns and other purposes on warships was not the least important of Armstrong's achievements. The Elswick works were originally founded for the manufacture of this hydraulic machinery, but it was not See also:

long before they became the birthplace of a revolution in gunmaking; indeed, could nothing more be placed to Armstrong's See also:

CREDIT (Lat. credere, to believe)

credit than their See also:

ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement, late Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

establishment, his name would still be worthy of remembrance. See also:

MODERN

Modern See also:

ARTILLERY (the O. Fr. artiller, to equip with engines of war, probably comes from Late Lat. articulum, dim. of ars, art, cf. " engine " from ingenium, or of artus, joint)

artillery See also:

DATES

dates from about 1855, when Armstrong's first See also:

gun made its See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance. This weapon embodied all the essential features which distinguish the See also:

ORDNANCE (a syncopated form of " ordinance " or " ordonnance," so spelt in this sense since the 17th century)

ordnance of to-See also:

day from the See also:

CANNON (a word common to Romance languages, from the Lat. canna, a reed, tube, with the addition of the augmentative termination -on, -one)

cannon of the See also:

MIDDLE

middle ages—it was built up of rings of See also:

metal shrunk upon an inner See also:

STEEL, FLORA ANNIE (1847– )

steel See also:

BARREL (a word of uncertain origin common to Romance languages; the Celtic forms, as in the Gaelic baraill, are derived from the English)

barrel; it was loaded at the See also:

BREECH (common in early forms to Teutonic languages)

breech; it was rifled; and it threw, not a See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round See also:

ball, but an elongated projectile with ogival See also:

head. The guns constructed on this principle yielded such excellent results, both in range and accuracy, that they were adopted by the British See also:

government in 1859, Armstrong himself being appointed engineer of rifled ordnance and receiving the See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour of See also:

KNIGHTHOOD

knighthood. At the same time the Elswick Ordnance See also:

COMPANY

Company was formed to manufacture the guns under the supervision of Armstrong, who, however, had no See also:

FINANCIAL

financial See also:

INTEREST

interest in the concern; it was merged in the Elswick See also:

ENGINEERING

Engineering Works four years later. See also:

GREAT

Great See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain thus originated a principle of gun construction which has since been universally followed, and obtained an armament See also:

SUPERIOR

superior to that possessed by any other See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country at that time. But while there was no doubt as to the See also:

SHOOTING

shooting capacities of these guns, defects in the breech mechanism soon became equally patent, and in a few years caused a reversion to muzzle-loading. Armstrong resigned his position in 1863, and for seventeen years the government adhered to the older method of loading, in spite of the improvements which experiment and See also:

RESEARCH (O. Fr. recerche, from recercher, re- and cercer, mod. chercher, to search; Late Lat. circare, to go round in a circle, to explore)

research at Elswick and elsewhere had during that See also:

period produced in the mechanism and performance of heavy guns. But at last Armstrong's results could no longer be ignored; and See also:

WIRE (A.S. wir, a wire; cf. Swed. vire, to twist, M.H.G. wiere, a gold ornament, Lat. viriae, armlets, ultimately from the root wi, to twist, bind)

wire-See also:

WOUND (O. Eng. wund,connected with a Teutonic verb, meaning to strive, fight, suffer, seen in O. Eng. winnan, whence Eng. " win ")

wound breech-loading guns were received back into the service in 1880. The use of steel wire for the construction of guns was one of Armstrong's See also:

early ideas. He perceived that to coil many turns of thin wire round an inner barrel was a logical See also:

EXTENSION (Lat. ex, out ; tendere, to stretch)

extension of the large hooped method already mentioned, and in See also:

CONJUNCTION (from Lat. conjungere, to join together)

conjunction with I.

K. See also:

Brunel, was preparing to put the See also:

plan to See also:

PRACTICAL

practical test when the See also:

DISCOVERY

discovery that it had already been patented caused him to abandon his intention, until about 1877. This incident well illustrates the ground of his objection to the British system of patent law, which he looked upon as calculated to strifle invention and impede progress; the patentees in this See also:

case didnot See also:

MANAGE

manage to make a practical success of their invention themselves, but the existence of See also:

prior See also:

PATENTS

patents was sufficient to turn him aside from,a path which conducted him to valuable results when afterwards, owing to the expiry of those patents, he was See also:

FREE

free to pursue it as he pleased. See also:

Lord Armstrong, who was raised to the See also:

peerage in 1887, was the author of A Visit to See also:

EGYPT

Egypt (1873), and Electric See also:

MOVEMENT

Movement in See also:

Air and Water (1897), besides many professional papers. He died on the 27th of See also:

DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December 1900, at Rothbury, See also:

Northumberland. His See also:

TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title became See also:

EXTINCT

extinct, but his See also:

GRAND

grand-See also:

NEPHEW

nephew and See also:

HEIR (Lat. heres, from a root meaning to grasp, seen in heres or erus, master of a house, Gr. xeip, hand, Sans. hat ana, hand)

heir, W. H. A. F. See also:

Watson-Armstrong (b.. 1863), was in 1903 created Baron Armstrong of See also:

BAMBURGH, or BAMBOROUGH

Bamburgh and Cragside.

End of Article: ARMSTRONG, WILLIAM GEORGE ARMSTRONG, BARON (1810—1900)

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