The Express.
London, England, 1850-11-12 00:00:00

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851.

We understand that her Majesty's COMMIIIIIOI3WII
~.sired yesterday, through the medium of Lewd Palmer-
ston, the followiag letter from the Greek governmest, for-
warded bi the Thomas Wyse, her Britons!.
Majesty's et Mims :
" GIUMANIENTIi• SONIIMINfi his Hello* Me,
1* sossedenes with the essupiehent Invited's seeds by emit
Britain I. OMNI. to raili*ls fa the gnat week. the
supreme disestlsa et isk year ksada bat talus the
ssesenry Mega to rasped lima% as is at the ressosees
the matey yeatit, sad Ms lishod. swisept ,et
•
Nand aluminise. who Yaps asdielsksa UM duties alibi
hs she regaktisos whisk have boos pablkhodi. The eess.
.Ws is seetpsesd of the knowing sambas : Mean Lams
HAM, basher, residua 64 Ma trlassal IJppar
Mull,sabiksoW esasslllat soul of the -Mating
Bask mad vies.pesidsat el the ormakeisa alto fin
eassuagassat et missal
at IM. Mims mai M.
Dols% easidas ssd awahses el the
lasS sTermak&l;; .11411. Taisho* sapsels-
rg most !works, do. Copleogiogle, (Wester or
et Aim; Dr. pribme of eliseekby at
clognigi 111. Doasswik mashie et the sswooksloa
t et seilosal lanssay ; Sae
eatellikra="lrtsatas bask, sad eissynekkat sib. t
Okseikar et Osaranes ; Demariann whew, at the
sabenier. sad prodlim* ai the osasakelea kr the saws.
rosiness ot mama takesay ; sad M. Spilisishis, shot de
dl 4110 is the Malebo of Oa Wake. Thk escudo:ea
has *Med M. Lases sani. pessidsat ; sad M.
smoslary. This esowskslea esaihse that its primary duty,
gsailowee, is to Wain yea of Its kesasslia ; sad,
mho, that it will hare the Is wear to War late di-
nes twayaaaisatica ;with yea with regard to Ike dab-

Net whisk hes mina lis For tbi pe-
es* tbies is bes ass .era the 111111Millin
is maims W Sid* ( le lir dreg szyneish la
6pelibegises), *cos disesenies the appsedularet et
4 etis4 stun Iss‘ whisk yes Use beim laid
M slid* es. It b ear glebe. ease sa
lhat ibb spies at& be seem' es awn
bit, we hada se Worms— 118.1111=Sat of this Ire. is
osier lot it bey be *lslay suesiedistsd W p.. Goa-
lie" We inalikie ORMIVIS INK WM bs.= Wbilh is
eiebersd ea as bdegarepsrli.ll.l es seems* Via yes,
Demi=
sis emirs*
km
ar Ibe eseuseibbsesetiata.
rebreA sad
a..
r Tai Y.
11..t.1.A.°1111
Dsssaaelie. C. G. Douse*, O. N. Data,
& De. laserne. Gawp P. &mac

Tirs BUILDING programs steadily, the onttrators still
declaring that it will be completed by the Ist of Jammq,
'ad that the great transept maim will be mimed to ihelr
ultimate position la about tea days.

11001TaTION OP lisaser Goons— ii 00111111101116.
Sta,—By &din ad) of beelkdoelo Ciadriderre, so
artides Of Ur*. MISIMONItiII%io iIIiNIMPSTer_ ear PAY
kolift. or diereemora leg be, r he adomeodit
exidWri. earn Vry end with Oho amiss et detelleel
aathceity et do emery of dill ire tie pekes.
The Wire artier. the !lime d cmid rem ea Is
writes seder a alsoseedies this s sOmee le=sc d
Aeolis soode
Pres will be snowed to did& dam es die
. perusal of the desire I boas eshood
1i1t8.2 he era that is ar the awl an is
the seadoe it the eosirdase et Warm Mw..
who will of rare take on. there sodas ar
th 'ran ked that
oweedzy caddlited.
aortae ha
ank leres seres
et to tie
d
ir
was deli/ susiai skeet, widsli I=llllr me&

Wed brusabiblists la ibis sosatry,thtbse
ge=s!
resold t
Sa imulbstored arta, rub es U.s wiry
ussatad Ilsolawd sad partly abroad. should be
rabillisi with dodemoiso et the vs wen-
dm ad ea Bois. Awl le regard o. ..e` e.. .n,
tbay amid b. se the work of the arti.t.„ Irrewe-
the etre* asaimoW ralasatlea riaployad *nem" The
resohdies wet, el owns, by way of seggratioo to her
as.
caualarlsoss.—l ara, Mn, your very 'Waist amesat,
W. B. Gammas.

MATERIALS FOR THE "CRYSTAL PALACE."

LETTIR 111.

BIRMINGHAM.
The letters which have already appeared contain
all the features of general Interest connected with the
manufacture of the framework for the great glass
house; the purpose of this article is to convey to the
reader some idea as to the mode of preparing the
glass itself—by far the most astonishing procedure
connected with the whole undertaking ; especially
will this appear if the fact is borne in mind, that no
leas than nearly a million lbe. weight of crystal will
be required.
There are few people in these times who have not
read something on the subject of the manufacture of
glass; it has been explained in so many scientific
publications, and latterly in so many cheap works, all
within the reach of the mass of the people, that so far
as theory goes, most persons have some sort of an
idea on the subject. Notwithstanding, however, all
that has been written, when you see the system in
full operation—when you look at the process through-
out—you feel that it is rather a difficult thing to
describe in what is considered a popular style, that
is, divested of sufficient technicality to make it gene-
rally understood. I shall, nevertheless, endeavour to
carry the eye of the reader with me from the metal
pot throughout the entire proceeding until he sees
completed-one of those bright squares which he may
any day look upon in Hyde-park. But before I do
this, let me say a few words by way of introduction
to these glass works ttemselves—by far the most
wonderful establishment of the kind in the world ; in
fact they have a world-wide reputation : the enor-
mous value of the annul production•—the liberality
of the proprietors—the splendid pitch of perfection
which the manufacture here has attained, all have
contributed to gain for this concern this high position.
Messrs. Chance's is a sort of model establisher nt ;
they were amongst the first to set up schools in con-
nexion with their works; at the present time there
are scarcely any schools in the country of a similar
character to equal them—probably there are none;
they have been the subject for report and commenda-
, tion over and over again by government comm'ssion-
ers; and in none more so than in that of Mr. Tre-
menheere, the last of these officials who visited the
place, and whose report appeared about two months
Nina.

The works themselves prerent a most striking ap-
pearance, so much so, that it is worth while to travel
a good many miles any day to get a view of their
exterior. Not that either the reader et the visitor
hereafter, must expect to see anything at all hand-
some, rather the reverse; but the huge mass
I blackened all over by the works carried on within,
added to the peculiarity of its situation, does leave
upon the mind a rather remarkable impression which
is not produced elsewhere, although this district is
studded over with piles and piles of manufactories
of all descriptions. lem pretty much familiar with
them all, but in my mind the works at Span-lane
have always appeared to stand alone. Even at the
present time they are not very difficult to get at (that
is the exterior), but in a few months the facilities will
be greater • the Birmingham, Wolverbamptoo, and
Stour Valley, is in course of construction, and it runs
close by, in fact almost through the centre of these
works, nhioh open as it were to receive it.
At the present time you may reach the place by
the old Birmingham canal, if you take the boat in
this town. The Journey up to Spon-lane is remarkably
interesting—passing between some of the most cele-
brated works in South Staffordshire which are thrust
up on both sides almost to the brink of the canal, you
are brought after a distance of about four miles into
a deep cutting, and presently there looms into view a
great miss of blackened building—rows of chimneys
and furnaces stretching away in all directions, blaz-
Mg fires issuing from some half-dozen one minute to
die sway the next, and then to appear with renewed
vigour—this is Spon lane, the glass-works of Messrs.
Chance and Company, and here it is that the glass
for Mr. Paxton's palace will be produced.
When Mr. Chance, Sen., came to these works
some 30 years since, there was a single furnace, at
the present time there are nine, seven of them in full
work ; the average weekly produce is 230,000 lbs.
weight of glass, exclusive of coloured. Since the Ex-
hibition work has been on hand the men have been
making as much time as possible, and as a conee-
queue, the production has icoreaaed ; in one of the
houses into which I went, the make that week bad
reached 33,0001b5. ; and I may u well state here that
the weekly consumption of coal reaches 1,000 tons.
With this general idea of the place, I shall take the
reader through one of the houses where the exhibition
glass was in course of manufacture. We entered one
of the " furnace houses,"and the first idea that occurs
to you is in the form of a question,—that is, bow the
men manage to exist and work in the midst of such a
mass of flame and hate is here generated: yet they
do so, and work ten or twelve hours at a stretch, and
are, generally speaking, very fine healthy-looking
men as you would wish to see. However, the
" femme house" to which I am now referring
is the place where the metal is produced; it
is melted in large pots made of clay, and
the first move towards the manufacture of a sheet
of glass is by a man who is called "the gatherer ;"
he takes a hollow iron pipe, and gathers round the
end, by means of a rotary motion, at three times,
such a quantity of metal as is required by the
blower; for our purpose in this description we will
suppose from 12 to 14 lbs. weight of metal, a suffi-
ciency to produce • sheet of glass 49 inches by .31
inches in width of the thickness required for the glass
to be used in the Exhibition building. The " ga-
therer " immediately bands his gathering to "the
blower " in the blowing-room, where we shall follow
him; in this room then are a number of fur-
napes and a stage composed of planks with
mires between, a couple of feet in width.
When the gatherer hands the pipe to the blower
the metal sesames the form of a globe ; this he turns
two or three tines in a block of wood which has been
slightly hollowed out for the purpose; he then
ascends the stage, blows through the pipe which
onuses the globe to expand and ultimately to lengthen
mdaally ,• he next thrusts into a furnaceopposite
him, and allows the metal, which is still in a ductile
state, to remain there a few seconds, when be takes
it out, raises it horizoatally, and swings it round by
mesas of the atop with surprising swiftness and
agility. These two processes are repeated alternately
three or four times in as many minutes, the metal
still remaining in the state just described, until by re-
peated blowings through the pipe whilst the metal is
to the furnace, it gradsally expands to the
length named above, sad ammo a cylindrical
form. Finally, the repeated process of blowing
whilst the metal is in the foresee causes it to burst
at the end farthest removed hem the iron tube, sad
is War tab's tom the femme the aperture thus
produced isms& level by means of a string of hot
glass which imposed round it by boys, and which
eats the emus Me a dialled
It is proper for me to data that this description
only applies to glass of the thieknem need for the
building in Hyde Park; in making a thicker kind
i the end s not blown out in the furnace; an instru-
ment called " scissors," I believe, is applied whilst the
metal is in a ductile date, and an aperture made
therewith.

new painted the " hollow cylinder " in
the manner ileserUted, we most pees on to the " flat-
tening kiln.' Here dm cylinders are opened oat ;
and the presses is a very intereiMft one. It is in
this= of the I isve, that the
07 the prmaustion for flatten-
ing eat 17111= slit down by mesas of a din-
mend. In the neaten of the kiln le the farm"
having the Are oft the left, and at the other extreme
is an aperture into which each cylinder is thrust, to
prepare it for the extreme heat required in the pa
am of flattening. Let se watch this se it premeds.
In the centre of the fames lea Het stone, which is
placed on a oerriage, so that it stay be moved beak.
wards and forwards with peat facility; spot the
stone is • maw of glass, covered with some mopes&
tics of mom and other material; the object
is to prevent the clam to be flattosod • to
that witish it spread over the stone; in front the
fames steeds the flattener, and with a left piece
elven he gradaslly draws the cylinder, isk to
gassed ia the emnputtive awl at his eight hand

on to the flattening stone: the glen again almost
instantly maastintes its ductile state ; the cylinder
opens, expands, and with a slight wisdom from the
flattener's rod, falls on to the level state. The work-
maa thereupon takes up a small implement composed
of charcoal or burnt wood, rubs it over the surface of
the glass, and by means of a pole pushes the carriage
front the furnace on to thejnext compartment, whence
it is expertly elided off on to a cooling store, and the
Icarnage run back into the furnace for another opera-
tion of a similar character. In a minute or two the
sheet of glass is passed on to another compartment,
when by means of the flattener's rod it is raised edge
ways,andgently slid into an iron box. This is the piling
process, and in this position it Is commonly suffered to
remain, after pawing the different divisions, about 12
hours, when it is removed, packed in crates, and
taken to the cutting-room. From the time we earns
into the flattening.room the process has been exceed-
ingly rapid ; more so than the reader would judge
from the description given ; this will be judged from
the fact that one man, misted by a boy or two, will
go through the entire proem of flattening out the
cylinders, and complete 200 daily.
Havirg gone through the entire manufacture, from
the gathering of the metal to the packing of the glass
in crates, let us follow it from the glasshouse Into the
cutting-room; this is a building of enormous site, I
did not ascertain its precise length, but it must be
from 70 to 80 yards, and is 7 stories high. The
place appears to be perfectly alive, in short it may
be sad to be a complete hive, there are such a mass of
people employed within its walla. On every floor
they seem literally to swarm : to this place the crates
of glum are brought, and here, having been first made
perfectly square, they are cut to size by means of a
gauge, each one of the sheets, the manufacture of
which I have described, and of the dimensions noted
above, making three of the pieces, of the sizes used in
the building for which they are being produced.
It has been stated, in the course of this letter, that
so:r °thing like a million lbs. weight of glass will be
requited ; of this all bat about 40,0001bs weight will
be made here; and, in/amuck as at the time I visited
the works emit one half of the glass was made, the
reader will easily form an idea of the enormous
minims which the Messrs. Chance must have at
command.

I have described the operation in producing a
single sheet of glass throughout; if the reader can
picture to himself a great number of persons similarly
engaged under the same roof, the regularity with
which :everythieg is managed, and the interesting
chsracter of the process itself, he will readily imagine
that a finer spectacle of industry than this glasshouse
in full work could scarcely be witnessed. The ma-
nufacture of "crown glass" is most interesting
throughout; the process is far more intricate than in
the production of the material I; have been describing ;
for sheet glass, the " gatherer " and the" blower" are
sufficient; to produoe a sheet of "crown glass," or
rather a large round piece of it (for it will rely be
made in rounds with a bull's eye in the middle) no lees
than six men perform a part in the operation,
not to say anything of the boys, of whom I saw two
or three doing something or other towards tr.e pro-
duction of a single sheet. In the houses where this
work is performed the heat appeared to me to be
much greater, and certainly the fires in the furnaces
appeared so much larger, that if you approach suf-
ficiently near to get a goad view of the work, you
fancy that you will prerently exemplify in your own
person the saying " roasted alive."
From this place I went into the room where the
glass shades are : Mr. Chance, jun. (who had accom-
panied me through the works, and taken much pains
to explain that which I fear I have but imperfectly
described) suggested that I should see the " shade" to
which Mr. Paxton referred in his speech at Derby.
There is a splendid collection of these articles here,
but the one to which I have referred of course
attracts your especial attention. It is the largest
that has ever been produced, and is faultless in shape.
The size is 62 inches by 261 is diameter; the quantity
of metal in it is nearly 401bs. As I knew that the
French and Belgians were peculiarly expert in this
description of work, and that a good many of both
wore employed here, I was anxious to learn by whom
this splendid work of art (for such it is) had been
produerd ; and I put the question to Mr. Chance ae-
core ingly. He replied that the workman was an
Englishman ; although, he said, that until a very
short time since they had regarded a Frenchman in
their employ as the most skilful person in this depart-
ment. In this branch the earnings of the men are
enormous : for instance, the Frenchman to whom I
have referred earned as much as 91. per week, and
those of the other men are is proportion.
After this, we crossed over the canal (for the works
stretch over on both sides), to another part of the es.
tablishment, where the stained glass manufacture
was going on : in large rooms splendidly lighted,
warmed, and ventilated, you see tha accomplished
artist at his work, producing the most gorgeous
patterns; women are copying others; and youths
undergoing a regular course of instruction to fit
them for future years.
The buildings alone oover upwards of 20 acres of
ground, and upwards of 800 persons are employed,
all of them earning good wage., and not a small num-
ber each sums weekly u would altogether startle a
great many people in some of the agricultural die-
tricta, and elsewhere. The consequence is that most
of the people employed here are comfortably off—
comparatively speaking they are well to do in the
world, and they live respectably. Not a few of them
live in their own.houses ; others are building theirs;
in short, for three or four miles round there are few
people who have not in some way or other to be
thankful for the existence of the glass-works at Span-
lane. Messrs. Chance are benevolent, kindly dis-
posed men ; • spirit of this sort seems to have for a
long course of years pervaded all their transactions
with their workmen, and udging by the kindly man-
ner in which they are spoken of, one would fain hope
that their liberality has not been altogether thrown
away.
It would be an unpardonable omission to leave these
works without some notice of the schools which
Messrs. Chance have erected: they are noticed at
such length in the government commissioners' recent
report, that I shall only just glance at them in this
letter. The school-henries themselves were erectel by
Messrs. Chance five or six years ago ; the exterior of
the building is exceedingly handsome, and the in-
terior is so complete in every way that it must
have oat a great deal of money. In fact, it
did, as Mr. Chance, senr., confessed to me—so much
that he did not care to name the precise sum. There
is a school for infants, another for girls, and a third
for boys: at present there are about 600 scholars:
the school is under government inspection ; there is
a master and several pupil teachers' and the payment
by the scholars varies from 2d. to 4d. a week. I am not,
however, able to be minute in these details, it having
occurred that I visited the place on a Saturday after-
noon, when the heads of the school were absent.
Messrs. Chance originally intended that the children
of workmen only should be admitted to the schools;
that plan was subsequently abandoned, and the esta-
blishment is thrown open. There has recently been es-
tablished a night school for the boys employed in the
works; bat a very excellent regulation at Spon-lane
is that of not employing boys in the works under the
age of twelve years. At Oldbury, about three miles
from this place, where Messrs. Chance have alkali
works. and some 500 persons employed there, schools
have recently been established.
Reverting back for a moment to the Exhibition
work : Meru. Chance intimated that the whole of
the glass required would be produced within the re-
quired time • a fact which bears oat what I have said
on the subject of the megaiteds of the concern. The
number of forgivers at the meant time employed
(Belgian and French) is about 40.
I have now eceeludsd this series of letters; bat be-
fore I elms this last I suet acknowledge the oourtesy
extended to me at seek of the three establishments I

i;;;Tisi tei,7inftlse general disposition evinced t;
afford me information on subjects on which I might
be pardoned for being ignorant. The general reader
may rely on the foots; the professional one will, I
trast, look g
etailradonsly on errors in the mere technical-
ities ot d

EXTENSION OF TiTHi POPee BOLL TO SCOTLAND.
—Ws are able to apprise the •
tie nudes of a territorial
to be followed by
arid bleearehy is
twelve Amerßoman, &Wand
Shim% tke
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ea wig
their de bee
prises ; 1660 they

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