Kirkaldy's Testing and Experimenting Works

4th November

 

Back on 21st September I paid a visit to Kirkaldy's Testing and Experimenting Works as part of Open House London. I decided at the time that coming back for the full tour which includes running the Universal Testing Machine was a thing I really should do. They run full tours twice a month so I booked for Sunday 4th November. The testing works tours are  run by an all volunteer crew and the whole set up is friendly, slightly nerdy (it’s engineering after all) and informative. It runs like a well oiled machine. Which is to say that things don’t necessarily go to plan but they know what to do to coerce the machines into behaving themselves  😀

 

After a brief introduction and a safety briefing (everything you might lean on is dirty, the floor is uneven, don’t put your fingers into anything unless invited to do so) we all went down to the basement (mind your head) for an introductory video followed by a demonstration of a Hounsfield Tensometer testing a piece of steel wire (coat hanger) under tension until it became two pieces of steel wire. In a clever combination of old and new tech the Hounsfield machine was connected to a Raspberry Pi  to record the test results live and display them on a big screen.

 

 

 

 Visitors were then divided into two groups for logistical reasons (there’s limited physical space in parts of this old building) for demos of various other testing machines in the collection, breaking more bits of metal and other materials along the way. Then everyone gathered back in the main room for the highlight of the two and a half hour tour, a test run of Kirkaldy’s huge Universal Testing Machine which occupies most of the ground floor. How the machine works was explained, a thick steel test piece fitted into the machine and hydraulic pressure applied. After a couple of false starts caused by the test piece slipping in the wedges that gripped it in the machine a successful run was completed with a bang. See the video below for the moment that the test piece gave up at a bit over 18 tonnes tensile force.

 

 

 

I had an enjoyable afternoon and I’d recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in engineering, history, or breaking things. Kirkaldy's Testing and Experimenting Works is easy to get to being in Bankside, a short walk from Blackfriars station and close to Tate Modern. For more information and to book tickets check out their website here.

 

 
View Larger Map