FairbairnestablishedextensiveworksatMillwall，ontheThames，——afterwardsoccupiedbyMr。ScottRussell，inwhoseyardthe”GreatEastern”steamshipwaserected，——whereinthecourseofsomefourteenyearshebuiltupwardsofahundredandtwentyironships，someofthemabove2000tonsburden。ItwasinfactthefirstgreatironshipbuildingyardinBritain，andledthewayinabranchofbusinesswhichhassincebecomeoffirst-ratemagnitudeandimportance。Mr。Fairbairnwasamostlaboriousexperimenteriniron，andinvestigatedingreatdetailthesubjectofitsstrength，thevalueofdifferentkindsofrivetedjointscomparedwiththesolidplate，andthedistributionofthematerialthroughoutthestructure，aswellastheformofthevesselitself。Itwouldindeedbedifficulttoover-estimatethevalueofhisinvestigationsonthesepointsintheearlierstagesofthisnowhighlyimportantbranchofthenationalindustry。
Tofacilitatethemanufactureofhisiron-sidedships，Mr。Fairbairn，abouttheyear1839，inventedamachineforrivetingboilerplatesbysteam-power。Theusualmethodbywhichthisprocesshadbeforebeenexecutedwasbyhand-hammers，workedbymenplacedateachsideoftheplatetoberiveted，actingsimultaneouslyonbothsidesofthebolt。Butthisprocesswastediousandexpensive，aswellasclumsyandimperfect；andsomemorerapidandprecisemethodoffixingtheplatesfirmlytogetherwasurgentlywanted。Mr。Fairbairn’smachinecompletelysuppliedthewant。Byitsmeanstherivetwasdrivenintoitsplace，andfirmlyfastenedtherebyacoupleofstrokesofahammerimpelledbysteam。AidedbytheJacquardpunching-machineofRoberts，therivetingofplatesofthelargestsizehasthusbecomeoneofthesimplestoperationsiniron-manufacturing。
ThethoroughknowledgewhichMr。Fairbairnpossessedofthestrengthofwrought-ironintheformofthehollowbeamwhichawrought-ironshipreallyisnaturallyledtohisbeingconsultedbythelateRobertStephensonastothestructuresbymeansofwhichitwasproposedtospantheestuaryoftheConwayandtheStraitsofMenai；
andtheresultwastheConwayandBritanniaTubularBridges，thehistoryofwhichwehavefullydescribedelsewhere。*
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