AN 
EXPERIMENTAL INQUIRY 
INTO THE 
Strength and other properties 
Or 
ANTHRACITE CAST IRON, 
BEING A 
CONTINUATION OF A SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS ON BRITISH 
IRONS, EROM VARIOUS PARTS OF THE 
UNITED KINGDOM. 
By WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. 
Read 17th November, 1840. 
In March, 1837, I laid before the Society a 
detailed series of experiments on the strength 
and other properties of cast iron, collected from 
the different works in Great Britain. Since that 
time a description of iron, entitled anthracite, has 
been introduced into the market. The name 
anthracite was first applied to carboniferous for- 
mations by the French; it is derived from the 
Greek word anthrax, coal. The iron is made 
either wholly or in part from anthracite fuel, and 
in most cases the best qualities are obtained from 
the raw coal alone, excited by the hot blast. 
