Grace's Guide

Armstrong Whitworth

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

Contents 1 General 2 Aircraft 3 Armaments 4 Cars 5 Commercial Vehicles 6 Machine Tools 7 Railway 8 Shipbuilding 9 See Also 10 Sources of Information

[edit] 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 See Andrew Noble and Elswick for a history of the business

• 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.

• 1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices of Petrol Motors see the 1917 Red Book

• 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.

• 1934 See Armstrong Whitworth: 1934 Review

[edit] Aircraft

See Armstrong Whitworth: Aircraft

[edit] Armaments

See Armstrong Whitworth: Armaments

[edit] Cars

See Armstrong Whitworth: Cars

[edit] Commercial Vehicles

See Armstrong Whitworth: Commercial Vehicles

[edit] Machine Tools

See Armstrong Whitworth: Machine Tools

[edit] Railway

See Armstrong Whitworth: Railway

[edit] Shipbuilding

See Armstrong Whitworth: Shipbuilding

• 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.

[edit] See Also

[edit] 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