Following on from last week's piece about industrialist William Armstrong, I have recently come across another little-known snippet about the man. It concerns an early invention of his, and its complete failure to make an impression of any sort. Not that that put him off developing his genius, though.
A few weeks ago I fell upon this little plaque next to the Pleased to Meet You pub on High Bridge, Newcastle:
I'm rather embarrassed to admit that I had no idea what the plaque was on about, so I set about trying to enlighten myself.
In the mid-1830s, a 20-something-year-old William Armstrong was a long way off becoming the mighty Victorian industrialist he was to ultimately become. He'd just got married, and was somewhat reluctantly making his way in the world as a solicitor. Ever the keen amateur inventor/engineer, he could often be found fiddling around with mechanical devices - and was a regular visitor to the works of engineer Henry Watson in High Bridge. The buildings thereabouts have long since been knocked down and rebuilt, but the above plaque marks the spot where the two men casually met. He visited Watson pretty much every day, in fact, for several years.
Watson made all manner of devices: clocks, theodolites, telescopes, etc - all highly technical stuff. Armstrong was especially friendly with the Hutchinsons, who worked under Watson. And it was here, in 1838, that he persuaded the little company to make his first machine - an invention, in fact - namely, the rotary hydraulic engine. The idea came to him when he was out fishing, and noticed how inefficient a nearby watermill was. He reckoned he could come up with something better. Armstrong said:
I was lounging idly about, watching an old water mill, when it occurred to me what a small part of the power of the water was used in driving the wheel; and then I thought how great would be the force of even a small quantity of water if its energy were only concentrated in one column.
He, Watson and the Hutchinsons discussed the idea. Armstrong then wrote a paper about it (image from same below). But there was no interest. So he made a working model at Henry Watson's works, which was ready towards the end of 1839. Using pressure from the town's water pipes the machine was able to muster five horse-power. Basically, the water was fed through a pipe, catching the wheel as it exited, and forced around four folding apertures (which acted as pistons, to drive the wheel around). But still no-one showed any interest.
So ... he switched his thoughts, in time, to the idea of a hydraulically-driven single-stroke pistol. It took some time, still, but, as I'm sure you're aware, this was the direction which Armstrong and his great hydraulic inventions eventually took. But as for that original 'rotary' affair, well, you can find an example tucked away in a corner of Newcastle's Discovery Museum (presumably, it's the one and only example, too). It's on the top floor, opposite the cafe, if you're interested.
Armstrong's prototype 'rotary hydraulic machine'.
It was on display for many years at his old Elswick Works.
So, now I know what all the fuss is about on Newcastle's High Bridge!
[info taken from The Great Gun-Maker: The Life of Lord Armstrong by David Dougan, originally published in 1970; and The Early History of Elswick by Alfred Cochrane, published in 1909]
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