The Express.
London, England, 1851-01-18 00:00:00

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS.

At tie—meet leg of this etionTuetriai,W. Cubit*.
El., president, in the chair, • paper, by Mr. M. D Wynn,
"Oa the C rilltrnViOn of the Building for the Eshibition of
the Works of Industry of All N.tioos, in 1861," was read.
Most of the tuts stated have already appeared in this paper,
'hat the fallowing summary, issued by the Institute, may
interest many readers:
The paper, which was of very considerable length, com-
menced by characterising the first attempt to concentrate
vitals the compel. of a few acres, species- as of the produe.
tiv• Midwife, of all nations, sia a" great experiment," worthy
of bring ttied upon a snide commensurate with the y of
the industrial teroUrces of this country. The success of this
experimen=t must depend on • just apprehension of the results
to be weaned ; • well digested scheme for producing tn. re-
sults aimed at ; and power and deverity to torrents the whole,
o as to insure the etc ordain* and working of all its part. in the
simplest and best manner. The subject then naturelly aiyided
itself into the consideration of the requisites demanded—the
deeign—and the actual construction of the building. The
features of cli the buildings in which pre visas rthibitions
had here held, both abroad end at home, were then carefully
reviewed, end the points of difference between the present
szemopolttan exhibition and all its predeces ors were
oistincly enunciated, cud shown to have induced the
invitation to the world at large, to enntribute their sugges-
tions for the holding, the results of which were shown to
the puhtic in the Theatre of the Institution of Civil Engineers,
in the two hundred and forty plans there exhibited. Nona
of these plans being found to embrace the necessary requi-
sites, the Royal Commissioners devised a plan, for the exam.
*ion of which tenders w. re invited in June. 1850. The
reeervadou having been made, that bow; fide tenders for
any construction, offering greater advantages than that pro.
posed by the Commissioners, would be consid,red, Mr.
Paxton nrought forward his proposition; and it being con-
tended, that certain advantages in celerity of c matron:l on,
:entity of removal, the adeptability of the materials to the
required forme, and the amount of cost, were iiihrrint in
the design for the proposed structure, to he entirely coth
reed of wood, iron' and slam, the other tenders were
IreJettecl, and that of Meters. Pox, H nderwn, and C r., for
Mr. Paxton's design, wail accepted. Such was the origin
of the present building, ',hien being adapted to the zits
*sleet. d for it, in Hyde Park, by H.R.H. Prince Albert,
wee shown to consist of a nave 72 feet wide, and 64 fret
Mob, with a series of side aisles, two of 48 Met and six
of 24 fee; wide, of the respective heights of 43 feet
and 23 feet; tea whole spreading to a width of 435 feet.
A transept, 408 feet long and 72 feet ai le, intersected the
building at right angles in the centre; this transept was
covered with a sernithircular roof, springing at • la ight of
64 lest from the lisel of the ground, and making the entire
height 100 feet. The details of the cons radian were very
mihntela given, from the concrete filling of the holes in the
around, uuller ems's support, through tie bath plate, she
columns, flinches its diameter, the connecting piths', to which
were attached the girders fir the galleries, the second and
third sets of columns and the roof trusses, the box gutters and
the " Paxton " gutters, which latter were intended to provide
at the same time for c 'nettling a etty the rain from the roof,
and the condensed nadsture from the inside. Tie total area
of the ground ftror was equal to 772,784 square feet, and
that of the gallrries to 217,100 square feet. Details were
also given of the mode of conveying the rata water, dca.,
into the adjoining Bowen, through the interior of the
supporting columns; of the ventilation by meths of arts
of I ',lyres, of gelvanied cast iron, planed between the
columns of the side an:. s, and in the upper nem of the
roof; of the supply of water for the extinction of fire,
and for the supply of the fountains; and of the experiments
fur testing tee girds re and trusses, by the hydraulic pries
erected in the building,and by winch the strength of the whole
was proved before they were used. Is s ramming the power
and dexterity with whist the design has been realised by
Means. Fox, Henderson, and Co.; or, in other words, in the
actual construed in of the buddine, it was necessary to bear
th mind, that their tender was only verbally accept, d on the
26th of July, 1860, that possession of the site wall obtained on
the &hi of July, that the first column WAS fined on the '26th
of September, and at the present time (only 145 working
days since the commencement) but little of the vast building
remained to be finished. To give an idea of the vast size of
this building, it was noticed, that the width of the main
avenue wee within 10 feet double that of the nave of Saint
Paul's Cathedral, whilst its length was more than fur times
as great. Tie walls of 8 . Paul's were 14 feet thi. k, those
of the glue building in Hyde Park were only 8 inches. St.
Paul's occupied 3,5 rears in building, whilst the Hyde Park
budding would be finished in less than half that number of
weeke. The celerity of the construction was very remark.
able. As many as 308 girders had been delivered on the
ground in one week. Seven of the great Mewl of the nave
were raised in the day. Etch man fined about kOO
superficial feet of glass per day. In order to perform
that work, it wan rectory, to devilse and employ
various contrivances for economising leb9ur ; curb as the
mph bar machine, the gutter rnact.ine, the morticing mathise,
the palatine machine, the glazing machine, besides many
others of an equally ingenious nature—all of which wen
described; and, when hauling to the details, it was unia r-
; sally felt, that England prosecuted mechanietel and physical
enemies tat exceeding those which gave form and being to
the moat celebrated monuments of antiquity. In the coarse
of the paper, Mr. D:gby Wyatt (the author), to whose,
from the commencement, had been wrested the active
superintendence of the esnsiruction of the building, paid a
well merited tribute of praise to Mr. C. H. Wild and Mt.
Jsren Jones, who had been associated with him; to Mr.
, Bury and Mr. Brunel, who, as members of flat building
committee, had made very valuable euggestions ; as
well as to Messrs. 1,..x and klei.derson, and to Mr.
&cottager, Mr. J. Cochrane, and other., for their
, exertions in the execution of the construction ; and be

concluded by reminding we member., that the.weicht of
responsibility, the arduous duty cf supervision, the honour
of awing u the muter mind, t, weigh the requisites, to
determine the design, and to govern the construwion of
this greet apparatus, had been reserved for Mr. Cubist.
'the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. It
was announced that the discussion of the paper would
take place at the maim of neat Titeedey, Jeneary 21st.