Walked past this relic the other day, couldn't resist doing a bit of research when I got home. Apparently David Kirkaldy was a Scottish engineer, born in Dundee and educated in Edinburgh. He designed his own materials testing machine which calculated the failure loads of various materials placed in it. The machine was huge, measuring 47 feet long and weighing 118 tons and it's been kept working inside this building, which is now a museum. There's a lovely circular element to the tale of Kirkaldy, his machine was used to test material from the Tay Bridge disaster in 1879 Dundee back to Dundee.
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