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Armstrong interest was also manifested in his cranes, and many inquiries were made about them. The first orders were dealt with in the High Bridge works of Mr. Watson, but special arrangements were desirable. Thereupon four substantial citizens, Messrs. Donkin, Potter, Cruddas, and Lambert, offered the money necessary to found special works for their manufacture. It was thus that the great engineering works at Elswick-on-Tyne first came into being. The deed of partnership is dated as from 1 Jan. 1847. Armstrong, who was the moving spirit, was appointed manager of the concern. He thereupon retired from the legal profession to devote himself to the more congenial pursuits of an engineer.

The engineering works originally consisted of offices, four workshops, two houses for foremen, and stables, standing on about 5½ acres on the left bank of the Tyne, a little way above Newcastle. Work was commenced on 1 Oct. 1847, and the first Elswick paysheet for wages due on 15 Oct. amounted to 9l. 17s. 10d. (Northern Counties Mag. October 1900). During the earlier years the business chiefly consisted in the manufacture of Armstrong’s newly devised hydraulic machinery. The first order for the new firm (15 May 1848) was for cranes for the Liverpool docks, but from the commencement Elswick produced a great variety of hydraulic machines. A diagonal two-cylinder double-acting engine was made for the press printing the ‘Newcastle Chronicle,’ while mining machinery for the lead mines at Allenheads and winding engines for the South Hetton Coal Company were among their earliest productions. Armstrong’s second patent for a water-pressure engine bears date 11 May 1848. But in spite of Armstrong’s able management the Elswick engineering works did not at first make very satisfactory progress. Orders did not come in very rapidly, and there was naturally some difficulty at starting in estimating the cost of production. The tide of prosperity did not flow towards Elswick conspicuously till 1850. In March 1852 three hundred and fifty men were employed, and their fortnightly wages amounted to 870l. Thenceforth the development was steady.

All the hydraulic apparatus erected by Armstrong up to 1849 was worked by water from reservoirs, but in that year he was commissioned to construct cranes at places on the Humber and Tees, where the pressure in the town mains was insufficient. To avoid the cost of building a high reservoir, he employed an air-vessel. This was a cast-iron chamber, closed at the top, and the air was compressed by water being pumped into it. The working was not altogether satisfactory. In the following year (1850) he ‘was engaged in the construction of the Ferry station of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway at New Holland, and decided to apply hydraulic pressure for the cranes. . . . There was no possibility of obtaining pressure by a head of water, for not only was the surface absolutely flat, but the ground, which consisted of silt, afforded no foundation. . . . He was led to the idea of a new substitute for an elevated reservoir. This consisted of a large cast-iron cylinder, fitted with a loaded plunger to give pressure to the water injected by the engine. This contrivance he called an accumulator. ... In no previous instance had a pressure exceeding 90 pounds on the square inch been used, but it was now decided to adopt a pressure of 600 pounds’ (, Inst. of Civil Engineers, 1876–7, vol. i. pt. iv.) The storage capacity of the accumulator is not so great as that of a reservoir, but, on the other hand, the higher pressures employed enable the distributing pipes to be made of smaller dimensions than would otherwise be possible, and the pressures are more uniform. By this invention hydraulic machinery was rendered available in almost every situation. Being very convenient where power is required at intervals and for short periods, it has come into extensive use for working cranes, hoists, and lifts, opening and shutting dock gates, docking and launching ships, moving capstans, turn-tables, and the like. In many cases it has caused important economies both as regards time and money, especially at harbours and railway stations, where large amounts of traffic have to be dealt with. In the navy its applications are so numerous that it has been said without it a modern warship would be an impossibility. Such adaptations were the result of unwearied perseverance and unfailing resource.

In 1850 Armstrong divided with Mr. W. D. Burlinson a prize given by the Glamorganshire Canal Company, on the merits of his crane and accumulator, for ‘the best machine to transfer coal from barges to ships.’ In the same year he received the Telford medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Armstrong continued for many years to improve his hydraulic machinery, and to develop countless applications which attracted considerable attention. A third patent which dealt with the subject was taken out on 22 April 1856. The ingenuity and utility of his inventions in this connection brought him almost universal recognition. In 1862 VOL. I.—SUP.