The new company Vickers-Armstrongs would own assets from Vickers including those at Sheffield, Barrow, Eskmeals, Erith, Dartford, Swanley and Eynsford. Armstrong’s contribution was to be the assets at Elswick, Openshaw and the Naval and Walker shipyards29. Some subsidiaries would be retained by the Vickers parent companies and operated independently, such as Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon and Finance Co which would be retained by Vickers. Vickers was the major partner in the new company with two thirds of the shares; Armstrong Whitworth would receive one third of the shares. The business began in Sheffield in 1828 as a steel foundry and became known for its church bells, going on to make shafts and propellers for ships, armour plate and then artillery.
The two companies competed side by side for contracts throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, until the British Government expressed a desire for the two entities to merge. Finally, on 29 April 1977, the two companies were finally nationalised and a new company, British Aerospace Plc, emerged.The rail business acquired by Vickers was sold to Alstom in 1989. In 1986, Royal Ordnance Factory Leeds was purchased and became the core of Vickers Defence Systems. These interests were primarily centred on land warfare products and brought the Challenger 1 tank into Vickers’ portfolio.
Operations expanded into aircraft manufacture by the formation of Vickers Ltd (Aviation Department). 1901 Listed as railway point and crossing manufacturers of Don Works, Sheffield. 1867 The company went public with a capital of £155,000 as Vickers, Sons and Co and gradually acquired more businesses, branching out into various other sectors. 1829 George Portus Naylor started a new firm with Edward Vickers and John Hutchinson, which was called Naylor, Hutchinson, Vickers and Co; this later began making steel castings and quickly became famous for casting church bells.
In 1902 Vickers took a half share in the famous Clyde shipyard John Brown & Company. Sadly the airship disintegrated upon its second trip out of the floating hangar on the evening of 23 September 1911. Further designs and difficulties followed although non-rigid machines including “Sea Scouts” (popularly called blimps) proved generally less troublesome than the larger rigid examples.
Product range
The Vickers 6-ton tank was the most successful, being exported or built by other nations under licence. The Vickers A1E1 Independent tank design was never put into production but credited with influencing other nations. During the Second World War, Vickers built large guns and tanks; the Valentine tank was a design that they had developed privately. Vickers by Danfoss industrial valves give you their best day in, day out, in both stationary and mobile hydraulic applications. Press, bore, clamp, cut, lift, dig and haul, our high-performance valves can tackle almost any task in the world’s harshest conditions. Vickers by Danfoss pumps, motors, valves, HPUs and cylinders are found in industrial applications worldwide.
Automotive engineering
- Vickers produced the machine gun in dozens of cartridge sizes and sold it all over the world.
- The Vickers 6-ton tank was the most successful, being exported or built by other nations under licence.
- In 1929, the acquired railway business was merged with that of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage & Wagon.
- 1977 The Barrow yard passed into the hands of the nationalised British Shipbuilders, was privatised as Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd (VSEL) in 1986 and remains in operation to this day as BAE Systems Submarines.
- The VQH series pumps are the higher-pressure and higher-performance version of VQ series pumps.
- Since the various types of hardness tests do not all measure the same combination of material properties, conversion from one hardness scale to another is only an approximate process.
1897 Vickers bought the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Co for £1.3 million, and in the same year acquired the Naval Construction and Armaments Co for the bargain price of £425,000. They adapted the design of the Maxim gun as the Vickers machine gun, which was the last major design Hiram Maxim himself worked on. It was also re-worked in literally dozens of different cartridge sizes and sold all over the world, and was scaled up to larger calibres, particularly for the Royal Navy as a 0.5 inch model).
Vickers Printing Machinery
1927 The company became Vickers-Armstrongs after a merger with Armstrong Whitworth. The latter’s shipyard at High Walker on the River Tyne became the “Naval Yard”. 1980 Vickers bought Rolls-Royce Motors to form one of the largest engineering companies in the country56. 1948 Vickers increased its interest in Powers-Samas Accounting Machines to 59% and treated the company as a subsidiary42. 1935 Vickers acquired the remainder of the share capital of Vickers-Armstrongs that it did not already own from Armstrong Whitworth Securities Company and other investment companies35.
Structural Steel
1911 A controlling interest was acquired in Whitehead and Co, the torpedo manufacturers. 1896 Vickers, Sons and Co bought out the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Co gaining access to Maxim’s machine guns amongst other weapons. The R100 first flew on 16 December 1929 and made a successful flight to Canada in July and August 1930, before the airship scheme was stopped following the disastrous crash of the R101 in France in October of that year. Vickers began work on Britain’s first rigid airship (for the Admiralty) in mid-1909 in Cavendish Dock, Barrow. Through a lack of experience HMA No. 1, then the largest airship, broke up on its second trip out of a floating hangar on the evening of 23 September 1911. Further designs and difficulties followed, although non-rigid machines including “Sea Scouts” (popularly called blimps) proved generally less troublesome than the larger rigid examples.
With decades of experience, a global network of experts, and a comprehensive line of proven products, we’re committed to solving the toughest power challenges across the spectrum of industrial applications. With innovations spanning from alternative energy and civil engineering to manufacturing and marine, we’re one of the world’s most trusted industrial hydraulic solution partners. In 1927, Vickers merged with Tyneside based engineering company Armstrong Whitworth to become Vickers-Armstrongs.
In 1911 a controlling interest was acquired in torpedo manufacturer Whitehead & Company. Flowtech supply Vickers by Danfoss’ comprehensive portfolio of field-proven industrial power and motion control components and systems. In the interwar period Vickers also worked on several tanks designs. The Vickers 6-Ton tank was the most successful; being exported or built by other nations under licence. 1977 The Barrow yard passed into the hands of the nationalised British Shipbuilders, was privatised as Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd (VSEL) in 1986 and remains in operation to this day as BAE Systems Submarines.
- Handle the highest pressures at the lowest noise levels with VMQ series fixed displacement vane pumps.
- These conversion charts are provided for guidance only as each scales uses different methods of measuring hardness.
- Airflex industrial clutches and brakes are world-renowned for their superior performance, long life and high quality.
- The amalgamated entity was owned by Vickers and Cammell, Laird and Co and became known as Metro Cammell.
- For their second attempt at rigid airships, a team was formed with H B Pratt as “Chief Draughtsmen, Airships”.
- 1911 A controlling interest was acquired in Whitehead and Co, the torpedo manufacturers.
Airships and aircraft were added, and Vickers jet airliners were to remain in production until 1965. Industrial applications require industrial-strength hydraulic systems—like those built with Danfoss piston pumps. From closed-circuit to open-circuit systems and fixed displacement vane pumps, our expansive range of industrial pumps provide the performance, durability and flexibility your hydraulic application needs. Vickers formed Vickers Ltd (Aviation Department) 1911 and produced one of the first aircraft designed to carry a machine gun, the FB5 (fighting biplane) Gun Bus. An example of the latter became the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean non-stop, a converted Royal Air Force bomber (see 1919 in aviation.) The Vimy was later developed into the Virginia, a mainstay in the RAF during the interwar years. Vickers was a pioneer in producing airliners, early examples being converted from Vimy bombers.
