Vickers, Sons and Maxim
of River Don Works, Sheffield and Barrow-in-Furness, Erith, Crayford, Dartford and Stockholm.
1897 Vickers, Sons and Co absorbed the Naval Construction and Armaments Co, and the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Co, which would enable the company to build and equip the largest battleships[1]; the name of the company was changed to Vickers, Sons and Maxim[2]
1900 A disastrous fire occurred at the Vickers, Sons and Maxim cartridge factory in Dartford.[3]
1901 Vickers, Sons and Maxim took over the machine tool and motor car side of the Wolseley works, trading as the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Co. Herbert Austin was general manager.
1901 Registered the Electric and Ordnance Accessories Co to carry on special branches of the Vickers' Company's work.[4]
1900s Douglas Vickers, a director, estimated that 'over a few years, armour resistance has increased by 200% while the effectiveness of shells has increased by around 135%'
1902 In order to bolster its finances, William Beardmore and Co, steel manufacturers, armour plate, gun and ordnance makers, exchanged almost 60 per cent of its capital with that of Vickers, Sons and Maxim.
1902 April. Details and image of the F. R. Simms motor war car.[5]
1906 Description of a Vickers, Sons & Maxim (Sheffield) 1400-kW DC generator, driven by a 2000 HP gas-engine made by William Beardmore and Co., Glasgow, [6]
1906 'Power Distribution at the River Don Works,
Sheffield.—
Messrs. Vickers, Sons and Maxim, Limited,
are extending the use of electricity for power purposes at
their Sheffield works. The firm are having a 2000-kilowatt steam-turbine built to their order by Messrs. C. A. Parsons and Co., of the Heaton Works, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and also a 1000-kilowatt turbine by Messrs.
Willans and Robinson, Limited, of Rugby. These two
turbines will be used to drive Vickers’ alternators at
1500 revolutions per minute, and the output of these
alternators will be in the form of three-phase current at
650 volts. This current will be distributed to various
centres about the Sheffield works, where it will be converted into direct current at 220 volts by motor generators
consisting of three-phase synchronous motors, direct-connected to 400-kilowatt dynamos running to 428 revolutions per minute. Four of these motor generators are
already manufactured, to work in the various sub-stations,
and more will be added as the occasion arises. The
adoption of three-phase current is not in any way intended to supersede the existing din ct-current 220-volt
supply, but is an extension of it necessitated by additions
to the workshops of the company; and as some of the
new buildings are at a considerable distance from the
power-house, the 650-volt pressure secures economy in
copper. It is anticipated that with the large turbine
units the saving in fuel and other charges will be very
much greater than the loss of about 15 per cent, in the
motor generators. Several novel features are being embodied in these two turbines, as the Willans turbine is
being bladed on the Ferranti system by electric welding,
and the Parsons turbine will be of the re-superheated
steam type, as developed by Mr. Ferranti in conjunction
with Messrs. Vickers Sons and Maxim, Limited.'[7]
1906 Description of a new floating dock, constructed by Vickers, Sons and Maxim at their Naval Construction Works at Barrow-in-Furness, from the designs of Clark and Standfield, of 11 Victoria-street, Westminster, intended primarily for the use of submarines.[8]
1907 Constructed 3 turbine sets under licence from Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Co[9].
1907 Had a large interest in the Whitehead Torpedo Co[10]
1908 Description and illustrations of Pedersen's Gear Cutting Machine, designed by Mikael Pedersen and made by Vickers, Sons and Maxim. It was of the shaping machine type.[11]
1908 Description of Isle of Man turbine steamer Ben-my-Chree [12]
1909 Description of Brazilian battleship Sao Paulo, built at Elswick.[13]
1909 Description and drawings of Tilston's lubricator for railway axleboxes. A small reciprocating pump, worked by an eccentric bolted to the end of the shaft, forced oil into the top of the bearing.[14]
1910 Construction at Barrow of a dirigible for Royal Navy using Hart fabric[15] which became His Majesty's Airship No. 1, or Mayfly.
1910 At this time the company was the only one in UK that had constructed submarine boats[16]. It was also unique in being able to build a battleship, equip her with engines, fit her with armour, provide her with guns and shells, and launch her ready for service
1911 Name changed to Vickers[17] after Sir Hiram Maxim retired from the board.
See Also
- The Engineer 1906/11/16
- Biographies of Thomas Edward Vickers and Albert Vickers, ODNB
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times, 17 November 1897
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
- ↑ Gloucester Citizen 06 October 1900
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
- ↑ The Autocar 1902/04/12
- ↑ Engineering 1906/03/09
- ↑ Engineering 1906/11/02
- ↑ Engineering 1906/07/13
- ↑ The Times, 30 October 1907
- ↑ The Times, Mar 21, 1907
- ↑ Engineering 1908/06/05
- ↑ Engineering 1908/08/14
- ↑ Engineering 1909/04/23
- ↑ Engineering 1909/07/02
- ↑ The Times, 16 March 1910
- ↑ The Times, 5 January 1910
- ↑ The Times, 29 March 1911