The Armstrong Mitchell crane (centre) looks surprisingly at home in the Venetian roofscape (photo: John Clayson).
Armstrong the Great Constructor
William Armstrong's talents as one of the 'great constructors' of the Victorian era were highlighted in a talk in London on 25 January by Armstrong's biographer, Henrietta Heald. Part of a series of winter lectures organized by the Victorian Society, the event took place at the Art Workers' Guild, 6 Queen Square, London WC1. Other engineers featured in the series include Thomas Brassey, John Aird, Joseph Bazelgette and Robert Stephenson.
Among the most impressive of Armstrong's structures to have survived is the Armstrong Mitchell crane in the Venice Arsenale (see photographs above and below), one of a series of enormous cranes installed around the world in the 1880s by the Newcastle firm. The Venice crane, whose counterweight casing is deteriorating dangerously, has been adopted as a restoration project by the British charity Venice in Peril. It is recognized as a supreme example of British – and Italian – industrial heritage.
Armstrong invented the hydraulic crane in the 1840s to help in the loading and unloading of ships in his native Newcastle upon Tyne. The technology was so successful that it was quickly taken up in docks and harbours around the world, allowing Armstrong to lay the foundations for a hugely successful business empire, which continued to flourish until well into the 20th century. His hydraulic machinery was also in demand for the operation of dock gates, bridges, railway station turntables and other machinery. Perhaps the most famous unsung example of his work is the mechanism for opening and closing the giant bascules of London's Tower Bridge.
Revolutionizing the science of hydraulics was only one of Armstrong's many achievements, however. He is perhaps best known for building Cragside, in Northumberland, the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity. Indeed, he made an important contribution to the understanding of electricity, as recognized by Michael Faraday, who in 1846 proposed him as a Fellow of the Royal Society. 'What is the Royal Society for,' asked Faraday at the time, 'if not for such men as Armstrong?' And Armstrong's advances in gunnery prompted The Times to describe him after his death as 'the inventor of modern artillery'.
The crane's giant proportions are evident in a photograph taken inside the Arsenale, Venice's former naval base.