688 
MR. FAIRBAIRN’S EXPERIMENTAL INQUIRY 
PART II. 
On the Strength of Iron Plates united hy Rivets, and the best mode of Riveting. 
The extensive and almost innumerable uses to whieh iron is applied, constitute 
one of the most important features in the improvements of civilized life. It con- 
tributes to the domestic comforts and commerciai greatness of the country, and from 
its cheapness, strength and power of being moulded, rolled and forged into almost 
every shape, it is not only the strongest, but in many respects the most eligible mate- 
rial for the construction of vessels exposed to severe strain. Large vessels composed 
of iron plates, such as steam-boilers, cisterns, ships, &c., cannot however be formed 
upon the anvil or the rolling-mill. They are constructed of many pieces, and these 
pieces have to be joined together in such a manner as to ensure the requisite strength 
and effect all the requirements of sound construction. This operation is called rivet- 
ing, and although practically understood, it has not, to my knowledge, on any previous 
occasion, received that attention which the importance of the subject demands. 
Up to the present time* nothing of consequence has been done to improve or 
enhance the value of this process. We possess no facts or experiments calculated to 
establish principles sufficient to guide our operations in effecting constructions of this 
kind, on which the lives of the public as well as the property of individuals depend. 
In fact, such has been our ignorance of the relative strength of plates and their 
riveted joints, that until the commencement of the present in(piiry the subject was 
considered of scarcely sufficient importance to merit attention. Even now, it is by 
many assumed that a well-riveted joint is stronger than the plate itself, and a number 
of persons, judging from appearances alone, concur in that opinion. Now this is a 
great mistake, and although the double thickness of the joint indicates increased 
strength, it is nevertheless much weaker than the solid plate, a circumstance of some 
importance, as we hope to show in the following experiments. 
It would probably be superfluous to offer any lengthened description of the prin- 
ciple upon which wrought-iron plates are united together; riveting is so familiar to 
every person in this country, that it might appear a work of supererogation to at- 
tempt it ; and, assuming that the usual method of riveting by hammers to be gene- 
rally known, we shall proceed to describe another method by machinery which effects 
the same object in considerably less time and at less cost, and completes the union of 
the plates with much greater perfection than could possibly be done by the hand. 
In hand- riveting it will be observed, that the tightness of the joint and the soundness 
of the work depends upon the skill and also upon the will of the workman, or those who 
undertake to form the joint and close the rivets. In the machine-riveting neither the 
will nor the hand of man has anything to do with it, the machine closes the joint and 
forms the rivet with an unerring precision, and in no instance can imperfect work be ac- 
complished so long as the rivets are jieated to the extent compressible by the machine. 
* 1838, when these observations were written. 
