INTO THE STRENGTH OF WROUGHT-IRON PLATES. 
693 
we find two half-inch rivets about the proportion, or tlie area of the rivets in the last 
experiments should have been ‘4 inches, which is nearly equal to the area of the plate 
through the rivet-holes*. 
Table VIII. Strength of riveted Plates. 
No. 
of 
exp. 
Description of plates 
and mode of riveting. 
Weight 
laid on 
in lbs. 
Changes produced by 
weight. 
Breaking 
weight in lbs. 
Form of specimen and 
mode of fracture. 
Remarks. 
33. 
Plates same as be- 
fore, ‘22 inch thick, 
but wider, AB being 
3J inches, with three 
rivets 5 inch diameter, 
allin aline; lap If in. 
Fig. 7 . 
18,667 
Ends of plate much 
separated by bending. 
19,675 
Q> 
Q 
( 
Q 
O 
1 r 
OQQ 
Though the ends of the plates were 
much separated, the light of a candle 
could not be seen through the line of 
the rivets. 
Plate torn across the rivet-holes. 
a 
34. 
35. 
Thicker plates '26 in. 
thick, in other respects 
the same as in experi, 
ments 31, 32, Table 
VII. ; lap 3 inches ; 
rivets inch diameter 
Plates the same as 
the last 
18,667 
22,699 
21,019 
Ends of plate sepa- 
rated, joints apparently 
good. 
One plate much bent ; 
joint apparently good. 
One end separated so 
far as to exhibit the single 
rivet. 
Fig. 8. 
23,7071 
27,067 
Tore across the two rivet-holes. 
Tore across the two rivet-holes, 
where the breadth was 3^ inches. 
Here the section of the rivets is to that of the plates, through the line of the rivets, 
in the ratio of "58 to *44 ; had they been equal, it is probable that fracture would have 
taken place as soon by the rivets shearing as through the plates. 
During the whole of the experiments on single riveted joints, it was observed that 
the ends of the plates under strain curled upwards on each side, and produced a dia- 
gonal strain upon the plates, which materially reduced the strength of the joint, as 
shown at a fig. 7- 
This position gave an oblique direction to the forces, and caused the plate to break 
in some degree transversely through the rivet-boles. In order to obviate this defect, 
and prevent as much as possible a transverse strain upon the plates through the 
* Subsequent experiments made for ascertaining the strength of rivets (vide experiments on the strength of 
rivets for the Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges) fully corroborate these views, namely, that riveted joints 
exposed to a tensile strain are directly, or nearly so, as their respective areas, or in other words, the collective 
areas of the rivets are equal to the sectional area of the plate taken through the line of the rivets. 
