William Armstrong

William Armstrong

English inventor
Date of Birth: 26.11.1810
Country: Great Britain

Biography of William Armstrong

William Armstrong, the English inventor, was named the Engineer of Rifled Ordnance and was awarded a noble diploma by the Queen. In November of the same year, he was appointed as the director of the Royal Foundry, which was exclusively designed for the production of cannons of his system.

Armstrong was born in 1818 in Newcastle, where his father was an alderman. After dedicating himself to mechanics, he gained recognition for improving the hydraulic apparatus used in shipyards and inventing the hydroelectric machine. He joined forces with engineer Robert Rendel, who owned a large machine-building plant and was a major supplier to the British government.

When the Crimean War broke out, Armstrong presented his design for an artillery gun to the Duke of Newcastle, who was the Minister of War. In December 1854, he was commissioned to cast six cannons according to his design. The commission appointed to evaluate these guns gave a favorable review of their construction, but due to the peace treaty that followed shortly after, there were no further consequences.

However, when there was a threat of conflict with France in 1858, and the superiority of the French artillery greatly concerned the English, Armstrong was encouraged to conduct experiments on a larger scale. These experiments led to remarkable results. The gun he developed, which could be loaded from the breech, surpassed anything previously created in this field and promised a complete revolution in artillery.

In February 1859, Armstrong was named the Engineer of Rifled Ordnance and received a noble diploma from the Queen. In November of the same year, he was appointed as the director of the Royal Foundry, which was exclusively designed for the production of cannons of his system.

Subsequent practical tests of the new gun during the war with China, as well as in some private expeditions of the fleet, led to various critical remarks, particularly regarding the strength of the locking mechanism and the conservation of projectiles. As a result, a new commission was formed on January 1, 1863, with the task of subjecting Armstrong's guns to comprehensive research and comparative tests with engineer Whitworth's guns. In February 1863, Armstrong resigned from his position, but continued his work on designing guns and manufacturing artillery projectiles.

Experiments conducted in 1864 and 1865 on Armstrong's guns loaded from the breech yielded unfavorable results, but did not lead to the adoption of Whitworth's system. Meanwhile, Armstrong himself abandoned his own system and devoted himself to the study of muzzle-loading guns.

In 1868, experiments were conducted on his heavy naval guns at the Tegel Shooting Range near Berlin, which for some time were on the verge of surpassing Krupp's guns. However, when prismatic powder was used for the latter, the advantage remained with Krupp.

Armstrong had large factories near Newcastle and supplied various artillery materials on orders received. He also wrote "Discussions on the abolition of patents for inventions" (London, 1869).

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