Name: Kirkaldy Testing Museum
Rating: 5.0

Kirkaldy Testing Museum

Kirkaldy’s Testing Works, 99 Southwark Street, London SE1 0JF, UK

1-99 Years

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Description

In the heart of London's Bankside, Kirkaldy's Testing Works celebrates David Kirkaldy’s remarkable 1874 materials testing works, with its still-working 14.5m Universal Testing Machine, now Grade II. As the first and only place to offer independent ‘Facts not Opinions’ the world's great engineering structures, like James Ead's bridge across the Mississippi and more.

What you will see in a testing museum are materials testing machines. We are unique and realise that unlike most other museums it is very difficult to know what we are about just from our name, whether that is Testing Museum or Testing Works.

Price starts from £25.63. If you are looking for Best place for day out with kids and families then this is the perfect destination offering fun, adventure, and unforgettable memories for everyone.

Features

Paid
Host birthday parties: No

Features

The Kirkaldy Universal Testing Machine: The machine is single-acting water hydraulic powered and has a designed load capacity of 1,000,000 lb - 446 UK tons - 500 US tons at 6700 psi. The actuator is 14 inches in diameter and 6 ft stroke. Samples up to 20 ft long can be tested in tension or compression, and up to 26 ft span in bending. Crushing, shear and torsion tests are also possible.
The 60,000lb Riehle Machine: This tension-compression machine was made in Philadelphia PA by the Riehle Bros in about 1890. It has a very compact compound-lever force measurement system and a force-displacement recording drum.
The Avery (front) and Amsler (rear) Machines: This picture shows in the foreground a small Avery machine dating from 1926 and behind an Amsler vertical machine from the 1960s. Both were donated to the museum from a parachute company where they were used to test such as things as lines and webbing.
The Izod Machine: Impact testing is used to determine the behaviour of materials under shock loading. We have an Izod type machine.
The Charpy Machine: This French Charpy machine was made in 1916 and spent all of its working life at Imperial College. It came to the museum in full working order.
The Brinell Machine: The Brinell machine uses a steel ball indenter. This is applied to the surface with a specified force for a given length of time, the size of the hemispherical indentation is then measured.
The Vickers Machine: The vickers machine uses a diamond point indenter in the shape of a pyramid. As with the Brinell this is applied to the surface with a specified force for a given length of time, on this machine electrically controlled.
The Cement Dogbone Briquette Machine: This machine is for tesing the quality of cement. The cement is used to make a small dogbone shaped briquette with a central cross section of 1 sq inch.
The Pressure Gauge Tester: This device is for checking the accuracy of pressure gauges. The gauge is fixed to a oil resevoir which is acted on by a varying weight via a spindle 1/10 square inch in area.