3-008-483 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Manufacture of the Armstrong Gun at Woolwich Arsenal: the beehive, 1862. 'This is the upper floor of a two-storied building upwards of 200ft. in length and 60ft. in width, erected specially for the manufacture of the Armstrong gun when it was first introduced to the service. It is here that the smaller parts of the gun are made, and the whole of the men in this branch, as well as generally throughout the department, are employed on piece- work, which is so thoroughly organised as to cheapen to the utmost the production of every article, whilst at the same time the workman realises good wages. On the right...is seen the section devoted to the making of the sights, which are of gun-metal, and fit into sockets on the gun, or, as in the case of the tangent sights, into a ring secured on the breech end of the gun...The workmanship on the sights is very delicate, and we were particularly struck with the beautiful precision of the work performed by a small machine over which a workman is seen stooping in the foreground...In the centre of the Engraving a line of artificers is seen busily engaged in the various operations connected with the manufacture of the saddles for the 100-pounder guns'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.