The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1898-09-08
THE COLUMBIAN.
BLOOMSBURY, PA
WHERE ENGLISH GUNS ARE MADE
tsrd Armstrong; Works at Elswick Com
pared With Those of Essen.

Seku Afhstroh&b y NorkB at EtsWiCk COm
pared With Those of Essen.
The extensive shipment of arms to
this country from England brings into
notice the Armstrong Gun Works.
They cover about 80 acres at Tyne
eide and unlike the Krupp Gun Works
at Essen they have been built up with
in the lifetime Of the present Baron
Armstrong who has given his name to
the famous guns. As private arse
nal for the production of artillery.
varliko stores and iron-clads, this es-
tabliskment has no superior in the
world save that at Essen. In one -e-
spect tie Armstrong gun works claims
to be superior to 1irupps, and to be
tie only factory i'll existence where a
man-of-war can be built and complete
ly equipped for action. These I'M
mense works, the spires and furr...
OF which can be seeo for miles be
fore one approaches the city OF New
castle-on- Tyne, extend for a mile and
q half along the river front and give
employment to about one-third of the
~ s'At~S &NOi III SouhtA ~
town. Ye. this vast center of mill
tary activity has been a product of
these comparatively peaceful times
that have settled upon all other coun-
tries save England since the Crimean
War.
While commerce has been the chief
occupation OF mcst of the other large
nations-with the exception of the
tranco-German War of 1870, which did
not last fully six weeks-the growth
OF this arms factory reflects to a de-
gree that is highly interesting the in
cessant military activity of Great Brit
AIN in all parts of the world, and is a
sad revelation oI the fact that while
preaching peace and arbitration to
other nations Great Britain still goes
on anne%ins and SO enlarges the mar
ket Tor her various manufactures.
The great arms factory at Elswick
which is thus in sense a memento of
British colonization. England owes not
TO her aristocracy, but to the skill
and genius OF representative of her
great middle or commercial classes.
Ihe history Of the Armstrong family
Is quite typical OF the methods pre-
vailing In the British Army before MIR.
Gladstone abolished the purchase sys-
tenn. 1t is not without interest in
connection with tie now famous Arm
strong gun which 1t will surprise q
great many people who read this ar
ticle to learn that it is partly an Amer
lean invention.
William Armstrong who was born
in 1910 was Newcastle attorney and
while engaged in fishing on the site
of Elswick he saw where a waterfall
might be usefully employed for pro-
pelling machinery. He erected
hydraulic machine which as Newcas-
tie was a port of some Importance,
came to be employed in moving cranes,
turning capstans and closing dock
gates. There was no phenomenal
success achieved in this work but
when the cannon used at the siege OF
sebastopol had failed, he proposed to
smploy the motive power he had dis
covered and his hydraulic machinery
to the subject of gin making. He
now quit the practice of law and be-
came practical engineer. Prior to
the date of the Crimean War the pop
ular knowledge OF military and naval
matters was very limited and when
Mr.. Armstrong proposed to replace the
unwieldly cast-iron and bronze can
mons used in the Crimean with more
superior modern guns, the British
Parliament voted readily the sums or
money necessary for carrying out ex-
periments in gunrery and perfecting
those processes that Armstrong pro-
sessed to have discovered. The law
yer-inventor was fortunate to get as
ISOLATED with him some men whose
influence reached into the govern
nent; and throughout these eZperl-
ments Mr.. Armstrong was profusely
furnished with government funds and
at once extended government patron
age. The British government in fact
made Armstrong and Armstrong made
the guns from designs said to be own
ed by man named Blakeiy in Eng
land and Treadwell in this country.
"It is," says the University Magazine
printed in 1864, the misfortune OF the
Armstrong gun that as an invention
all its notable features should be con-
tested by many claimants" About
this TIME Mr.. Armstrong had taken
into partnership a really scientific man
named Whitworth and at the London
% L1t ayhihitad
what was termed tie Armstrong gun
which was perceptibly deficient In
those features for which Krupp was
already famous but which was a mark
ed improvement upon anything that
had at that time been seen In Eng
land. Both Captain Blakely and MIR.
Treadwell vigorously claimed these
plans had been appropriated; hVt as
Mr.. Armstrong was already cr iated