An anvil is an instrument on which pieces of metal are laid for the purpose of being hammered. The common smith's anvil is generally made of seven pieces, namely, the core or body; the four corners for the purpose of enlarging its base; the projecting end, which contains a square hole for the reception of a set or chisel to cut off pieces of iron; and the beak or conical end, used for turning pieces of iron into a circular form, etc. These pieces are each separately welded to the core and hammered so as to form a regular surface with the whole. When the anvil has received its due form, it is faced with steel, and is then tempered .in cold water. The smith's anvil is generally placed loose upon a wooden block. The anvil for heavy operations, such as the forging of ordnance and shafting, consists of a huge iron block deeply embedded, and resting on piles of masonry. Research Anvil
Sir William Fairbairn was a Scottish engineer. He was born in 1789 at Kelso and died in 1874. He was apprenticed as an engine-wright at a colliery in North Shields, and commenced business on his own account in Manchester with a Mr. Lillie in 1817, where he made many improvements in machinery, such as the use of iron instead of wood in the shafting of cotton-mills. About 1831, his attention having been attracted to the use of iron as a material for ship-building, he built the first iron ship. His firm became extensively employed in iron shipbuilding at Manchester and at Millwall, London, and had a great share in the development of the trade. He shares with Mr. Stephenson the merit of constructing the great tubular bridge across the Menai Strait. William Fairbairn was one of the earliest members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, of which he was president in 1861-1862. He was created a baronet in 1869. Research William Fairbairn
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Research Anvil
