Strength in a Teacup "Defeats" Lorry, 24th June 1958. Beauty wins a "contest" with brawn as an elegantly-shaped bone china teacup props up the massive wheel of a lorry. The vehicle, weighing 3 1/2 tons, was perched on four Wedgwood teacups as an experiment - carried out on the Tower of London's cobblestones - to prove the strength of bone china. The lorry was raised with an hydraulic jack and then lowered on to the cups. With a man in the driving seat and four other people in the back of the lorry, the cups still stood up to the strain.