Question: What is that mechine

Simon Holyoake answered on 18 Jun 2013:

the machine in my pictures?

the first one is a manifold for injecting pressurised gas into rock samples, the tubing and valves on the panel are used to control and measure this

the second is a very large rock press, it’s essentially a big hydraulic ram which is used to squeeze rock samples, sometimes until they break, other times to observe an effect, it is so big that they had to cut a hole in the roof of the lab and get an extra strong crane to lift it in!