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AN 
EXPERIMENTAL ENQUIRY 
INTO THE STRENGTH AND OTHER PROPERTIES 
OF CAST IRON 
FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 
By Mr. WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. 
Read 7th of March, 1837. 
Tue multifarious uses to which cast iron is 
applied, and the facility with which it can be 
moulded into almost every shape, render the in- 
vestigation of its properties a subject of interest 
in a national as well as an individual point of 
view. Manyexperiments toascertain its strength, 
elasticity, and other properties have therefore 
been made by authors, not only of our own, 
but other countries; as by Banks, Rondelet, 
Muschet, Bramah, Dunlop, Brown, Rennie, 
Tredgold, &c. besides the numerous experiments 
made at my works by my friend Mr. Hodgkinson. 
None of those writers, however, with the ex- 
