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August 23, 2018 by Alexander Meldrum
Sir William Arrol (1839 – 1913) – Engineer.
Sir William Arrol (13 February 1839 – 20 February 1913) was a Scottish civil engineer, bridge builder, and Liberal Unionist Party politician.
The son ...Sir William Arrol (1839 – 1913) – Engineer.
Sir William Arrol (13 February 1839 – 20 February 1913) was a Scottish civil engineer, bridge builder, and Liberal Unionist Party politician.
The son of a spinner, he was born in Houston, Renfrewshire, and started work in a cotton mill at only 9 years of age.
He started training as a blacksmith by age 13, and went on to learn mechanics and hydraulics at night school.
In 1863 he joined a company of bridge manufacturers in Glasgow, but by 1872 he had established his own business, the Dalmarnock Iron Works, in the east end of the city.
In the late 1870s he went on to found Sir William Arrol & Co., a leading international civil engineering business. He is also on the Clydesdale Bank £5 note.
Tay Bridge and Forth Bridge
A view of the Tay Bridge from Dundee
In 1878, Arrol secured the contract for the Caledonian Railway Bridge over the Clyde, and in 1882 he was awarded the reconstruction contract for the Tay Rail Bridge, which had collapsed in 1879.
His company went on to construct the Forth Bridge which was completed in 1890. At the time, the Tay and Forth bridges were the largest of their type in the world.
They were notable not just for their size but also the use of steel in the Forth Bridge, and the riveting method developed by Arrol to attach the girders to one another.
Forth Bridge
The Forth Bridge is, even today, regarded as an engineering marvel. It is 2.5 km (1.6 mi) in length, and the double track is elevated 46 m (approx. 150 ft) above high tide.
It consists of two main spans of 1,710 ft (520 m), two side spans of 675 ft, 15 approach spans of 168 ft (51 m), and five of 25 ft (7.6 m).
Each main span comprises two 680 ft (210 m) cantilever arms supporting a central 350 ft (110 m) span girder bridge.
The three great four-tower cantilever structures are 340 ft (104 m) tall, each 70 ft (21 m) diameter foot resting on a separate foundation.
The southern group of foundations had to be constructed as caissons under compressed air, to a depth of 90 ft (27 m). At its peak, approximately 4,600 workers were employed in its construction.
Initially, it was recorded that 57 lives were lost; however, after extensive research by local historians, the figure has been revised upwards to 98.
Both bridges are known for their high safety factors, a natural result of the under-design of the first Tay bridge by Thomas Bouch, and both bridges have recently (2008) been renovated.
Other notable bridges followed, including: Tower Bridge in London, completed in 1894.
Construction started in 1886 and took eight years with five major contractors Sir John Jackson (foundations), Baron Armstrong (hydraulics), William Webster, Sir H.H. Bartlett, and Sir William Arrol & Co..
It employed 432 construction workers. E W Crutwell was the resident engineer for the construction. Two massive piers, containing over 70,000 tons of concrete, were sunk into the river bed to support the construction.
Over 11,000 tons of steel provided the framework for the towers and walkways. This was then clad in Cornish granite and Portland stone, both to protect the underlying steelwork and to give the bridge a pleasing appearance.
Arrol also built the Nile Bridge in Egypt, the Hawkesbury Bridge in Australia and the Keadby Bridge in Lincolnshire.
The extant but at-risk Warrington Transporter Bridge is also an Arrol construction.
His company, Sir William Arrol & Co., was contracted by Harland and Wolff Shipyard, Belfast, to construct a large gantry (known as the Arrol Gantry) for the construction of three new super-liners, one of which was called the RMS Titanic.
Like the ships themselves, the gantry crane was one of the largest built at the time, comparing with transporter bridges in length, height and capability.
Career
Arrol was knighted in 1890, and elected as the Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) for South Ayrshire at the 1895 general election, serving the constituency until 1906.
He served as President of The Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland from 1895–1897. He spent the latter years of his life on his estate at Seafield, near Ayr, where he died on 20 February 1913.
He is buried in Woodside Cemetery, Paisley, on the north side of the main-east west path on the crest of the hill.
His company, Sir William Arrol & Co., continued in business after his death until 1969 when it was acquired by Clarke Chapman.
In 2013 he was one of four inductees to the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame.
Go to Wikipedia for Full History.
In this photo:
