Production of Armstrong gun bars, Elswick, Tyne and Wear, 1862.

Plate from Illustrated London News (Vol. 62/1 p 211). William Armstrong (1810-1900) was appointed Engineer of Rifled Ordnance in 1859 and set up a factory at Elswick to manufacture weaponry. Here, gun barrels are constructed by winding a white-hot iron bar around a steel core; shown to the right of the engraving. These cylinders were then beaten together by blows from the steam hammer.