Westwood, Baillie and Co
of London Yard, Poplar, London, E.
Shipbuilders, bridge builders, boilermakers.
1862 formerly Westwood, Baillie, Campbell and Co
Also known as Westwood and Baillie.
1865-72 Along with many other local firms, Westwood, Baillie & Company had difficulty surviving the decline in Thames shipbuilding. Production at the London Yard continued with Westwood and Baillie acting as managers for the London Engineering and Iron Ship Building Co. Westwood, Baillie & Company regained nominal control of London Yard in 1872. The work was mainly for civil engineering projects. [1]
1872 'MONSTER HYDRAULIC BENDING MACHINE. The largest armour plate bending machine ever manufactured has just been completed by Messrs. Westwood, Baillie, and Co., and erected by them at Her Majesty's Dockyard, Pembroke. The machine has been tested with entire satisfaction, to the enormous pressure of 4,000 tons. The large cylinder and ram are capable of being moved on the bed so as to apply the pressure at any part between the columns to suit the difference in shape of the plates required to be bent. This movement is effected by means of a small hydraulic cylinder fixed on one end of the main bed casting. By a very ingenious arrangement of screw valves the water can be applied at either end of the small hydraulic cylinder, or it can be connected with the large cylinder, and the ram made to lift instantaneously. The machine consists of a massive cast-iron block, top and bottom, each weighing upwards of 24 tons. These blocks are connected by four large columns forged from the best scrap iron. The large ram is 40 5/8 inches in diameter, and is worked by a set of four pumps contained in one cistern, two being of large and two of small diameter; all four work in concert to lift the ram up to the plate to be bent, and when about 600 tons pressure has been attained the large pumps, by their own self action, throw out of gear, and the small pumps continue to work and produce the power necessary for bending the armour-plate. The whole weight of the machine complete is about 63 tons. About 40 machines of this description, but of smaller size, have been manufactured by Messrs. Westwood, Baillie, and Co. for the British and foreign governments and leading shipbuilding firms. The machines have performed great service in bending the armour plates for ironclad war vessels built of late years.' [2]
1880 Built ironwork for Attock Bridge, Pakistan.[3]
c.1881 Joseph Westwood, junior retired from his father's firm. On his father's death, Westwood set up new works as Joseph Westwood and Co with more modern machinery and appliances for constructing ironwork and steelwork of every kind, on the site of the old Napier Works at Millwall.
1882 Listed under Boiler Makers, Hydraulic Machine Makers, Iron Bridge Builders, Iron Roof Manufacturers, Mast Makers and Ship Builders as 'Westwood, Baillie and Co, London Yard, Isle of Dogs, Poplar E.' [4]
1887 Westwood, Baillie shipped steelwork for the Sukkur Bridge across the River Indus, India (later Pakistan). [5]
1893 Company wound up. [6]
Joseph Westwood, junior continued manufacturing at Napier Yard. See Joseph Westwood and Co
Company closely linked with Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ British History Online: Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs
- ↑ Manchester Evening News, 22 May 1872
- ↑ Online photographs of Attock Bridge
- ↑ 1882 Post Office London Directory
- ↑ Description and photos of Lansdowne Bridge
- ↑ British History Online