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XXXV. An Experimental Inquiry into the Strength of Wrought- Iron Plates and their 
Riveted Joints as applied to Ship-huilding and P^essels exposed to severe strains. 
By William Fairs airn. Esq. 
Communicated hy the Rev. Henry Moseley, F.R.S. 
Received April 25, — Read June 13, 1850. 
The experiments herein recorded were instituted early in the spring' of 1838, and 
before the close of the following winter most of them had been completed ; owing 
however to a long series of professional engagements they have stood over (with the 
exception of some additions made in the following year) to the present time. The 
object of the inquiry was twofold — first, to ascertain by direct experiment the strength 
of wrought-iron plates and their riveted joints in their application as materials for 
ship-building; and secondly, to determine their relative value when used as a sub- 
stitute for wood. On these two points it cannot be expected that our knowledge 
should be far advanced, as a very few years have elapsed since it was asserted that 
iron, from its high specific gravity, was not calculated for such a purpose, and that 
the greatest risk was likely to be incurred in attempting to construct vessels of 
what was then considered a doubtful material. Time has however proved the fallacy 
of these views, and I hope, in the following experiments, to show that the iron ship, 
when properly constructed, is not only more buoyant, but safer, and more durable 
than vessels built of the strongest English oak. 
At the commencement of the experiments I felt desirous of conducting them upon 
a scale of such magnitude as would supply sound practical data, and at the same time 
establish a series of results calculated to ensure confidence as well as economy in 
the use of the material. My views were ably carried out by Mr. Hodgkinson, who 
conducted the experiments under my direction, and from whom I received valuable 
assistance. 
In conducting the investigation I found it necessary to divide the subject into four 
distinct parts: — 
1st, The strength of plates when torn asunder by a direct tensile strain in the 
direction of the fibre, and when torn asunder across it. 
2nd!y. On the strength of the joints of plates when united by rivets as compared 
with the plates themselves. 
3rdly. On the resistance of plates to the force of compression, whether applied by 
a dead weight or by impact. 
