Editing Vickers (section)

===Vickers, Sons & Company===
The company went public in 1867 as Vickers, Sons & Company and gradually acquired more businesses, branching out into various sectors. In 1868 Vickers began to manufacture marine shafts, in 1872 they began casting marine [[propeller]]s and in 1882 they set up a [[forging]] press. They were also supplying steel forgings for gun barrel manufacturers, including their future main competitor Armstrong, as early as 1870.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Warren |first=Kenneth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEm2AAAAIAAJ&q=spring+1887 |title=Armstrongs of Elswick: Growth In Engineering And Armaments To The Merger With Vickers |date=1989 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-0-333-49759-3 |language=en}}</ref>

After a decline in lucrative tool steel demand in the US during the first half of 1880s, the stockholders logically decided in spring 1887 to diversify into large-scale armaments production and approved £1.5 million (1887, equivalent to £172.83 million in 2023)<ref name=":1" /> capital increase.<ref name=":0" /> By the end of 1888 Vickers produced and tested both their first artillery piece and first [[armour plate]].<ref name=":0" /> The time could have never been more fortunate, with the [[Naval Defence Act 1889]] significantly increasing the domestic demand and the invention of [[nickel steel]] armour rendering obsolete and worthless the investments of established producers into [[compound armour]].<ref name=":0" />