were of great value, especially as
regarded the new form of bucket which he introduced with the object of
facilitating the escape of the air as the water entered the bucket
above, and its readmission as the water emptied itself out below. This
arrangement enabled the water to act upon the wheel with the maximum of
effect in all states of the river; and it so generally recommended
itself, that it very soon became adopted in most water-mills both at
home and abroad.[6] His labours were not, however, confined to his own
particular calling as a mill engineer, but were shortly directed to
other equally important branches of the constructive art. Thus he was
among the first to direct his attention to iron ship building as a
special branch of business. In 1829, Mr. Houston, of Johnstown, near
Paisley, launched a light boat on the Ardrossan Canal for the purpose
of ascertaining the speed at which it could be towed by horses with two
or three persons on board. To the surprise of Mr. Houston and the
other gentlemen present, it was found that the labour the horses had to
perform in towing the boat was mach greater at six or seven, than at
nine miles an hour. This anomaly was very puzzling to the
experimenters, and at the request of the Council of the Forth and Clyde
Canal, Mr. Fairbairn, who had already become extensively known as a
scientific mechanic, was requested to visit Scotland and institute a
series of experiments with light boats to determine the law of
traction, and clear up, if possible, the apparent anomalies in Mr.
Houston's experiments. This he did accordingly, and the results of his
experiments were afterwards published, The trials extended over a
series of years, and were conducted at a cost of several thousand
pounds. The first experiments were made with vessels of wood, but they
eventually led to the construction of iron vessels upon a large scale
and on an entirely new principle of construction, with angle iron ribs
and wrought-iron sheathing plates. The results proved most valuable,
and had the effect of specially directing the attention of naval
engineers to the employment of iron in ship building.

Mr. Fairbairn himself fully recognised the value of the experiments,
and proceeded to construct an iron vessel at his works at Manchester,
in 1831, which went to sea the same year. Its success was such as to
induce him to begin iron shipbuilding on a large scale, at the same
time as the Messrs. Laird did