The Express.
London, England, 1850-10-30 00:00:00

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851.

MATERIALS FOR THE " CRYSTAL PALACE."
BIRMINGHAM, Gar. 1850.
Mien is, probably, no subject whatever occupying
BO large a share of the public attention, nor one in
which the mat:kW honour and character are more
deeply interested, than the success of the great exhi-
bition of next year, to which the nations of the whole
world are invited to contribute, and which in all
probability will be witnessed by people from almost
every clime. Nor is it, perhaps, saying too much to
an an opinion that few greater curiosities or no-
• des will be exhibited—if, indeed, there be any—
that will attract more attention than the magnificent
etracture which is already rearing itself in Hyde-
park, almost, as it were by the " stroke of the en-
&antis's wand." The history of its idea Mr. Paxton
has already made known. It will assuredly be matter
d additional interest it the public are somewhat
elmniliarised with the manufactories, and the means
'employed to produce within a few months the euor-
' moos quantity of glass and iron which are to be com-
bined in the building now in course of erection.
With this view, and carrying out your instructions,l
have visited the great establishments where the re-
quisite elements are now in course of preparation,
and as far as I am able I shell endeavour to describe
them and the operations going on, fur the information
of your readers. Curiously enough, the three esta-
blishments where the materials are being manatee-
:need are in many respects the most remarkable, as
they are by far the most extensive, to be found in the
United Kingdom, perhaps in the world. The im-
mense and varied appliances they have ordinarily at
command, the enormous value of their annual pro
ducts, and the mighty resources they have developed
in an instant, for executing the great work on which
they are now engaged, assuredly entitle them to this
pre-eminence.
At the Woodside Works, near Dudley, will be pro-
duced the largest portion of the iron framework ;
Mesas. Chance and Co., of Spon-lane, stand in the
same position with respect to the glass. Messrs. Fox,
Henderson, and Co., of the London Works, Smeth-
wick, whose undertakings are known to be as exten-
sive as they are varied in their character, are the
actual contractors for the ironwork ; but in COW*.
quenoe cf the great facilities existing at the works
named above for producing so large a quantity of
castings as are now required in a period so limited, a
considerable quantity of the heavy work has been
transferred to Woodside, the proprietors of which
establishment stand in the position of sub-contractors
to Mean. Fox, Henderson, and Co., the latter taking
charge of the erection of the building, with the execu-
tion of the numerous fittings that are required, as well
as a portion of the columns and girders.
As iron forms what may, perhaps be not inaptly
termed the shell of thebuildiog, I jail first take the
reader through the iron works.
Taking Dudley as a starting-point, and traversing
the high road, (if such it can be called) through the
ooal field in the direction of Brierly Hill and Stour-
bridge,thenoe divergingfrom it about a mile below the
tows, if you bend your steps towards the valley. on
your lett hand, about another half-mile, having
nothing to greet the eye besides ricketty looking
buildings which have long since lost their perpendi-
cular, and an abundance of smoke and gnme of eh
descriptions, yea find yourself by a sudden turn in
the road in front of the "Woodside Iron Works,"
they stand in fact about a mile and a half south of
Dudley, and being between Lord Ward's Pinsnett
Canal, on the high level, and the Dudley Canal on
the lower, are well off for water conveyance ; in short
on one side the works, the canal runs close, so that
all the products may be lowered without inoonveni-
ence almost from the casting shops into the boats
on the water.
The works themselves are of great extent : there
are piles and piles of buildings weltering under huge
foregoes and cupolas, each vomiting forth dense
I volumes of flame and smoke at any and every hour
out of the twenty-four, and so on week after week na-
ceasiogly.
The works are carried on in the name of Messes.
Cochrane and Co. ; thee* are, however, I belieks,
several gentlemen composing the partnership whose
names do not appear. One of the members of the
firm courteously offered to take me through the
works ; but before I conduct the reader there I must
endeavour to convey to him an ides of the amount of
power employed and the extent of the operations car-
ried on. There are produced at these works castings
of every description ; one division of the foundry is
specially set apart for the production of large pipes,
and, as proof of the means employed, it is now turn-
ing out some 50 large 30-inch pipes a day, of 25 cwt.
each. All the minerals are raised on the spot. There
are a couple of immense blast furnaces for smelting
the ore and converting it into pig iron, besides nine
cupolas constantly blowing, re-melting the pig
iron for casting purposes, and each smelting
from ten to thirty tons daily. The furnaces
to which I have referred will each produce
on an average 240 tons per week of cold blast
iron. There are produced daily, under ordinary cir-
cumstances, the enormous quantity of 100 tons of
castings, an amount far beyond the capacity of any
other foundry in the kingdom. Turning next to
manual labour, on inquiry I found that there were
generally about 1,200 persons employed, exclusive
of clerks. In the foundries alone there are about 800
persona, of whom about one-fifth ere boys; the re-
Illiainder are engaged in the collieries and at the far-
mers.
I With this general idea of the works themselves, we
shall next turn to something doing on account of the
subject under notice. Everybody who has seen the
aunty-executed lithograph plans of Mr. Paxton's
palace, as who has seen the partial erection in Hyde.
park, er who may hereafter see the completed build-
ing, will not fail, after inspecting the slight and
elegant columns which support the roof, to notice
also the girders which constitute a very component
feature in the iron-work. The manufacture of these
is a singularly interesting process. I shall endeavour
to describe it.
almost as soon as you enter these works the first
tieing that tints your eye is a gigantic shed con-
ducted of wood; this is from eighty to a hundred
puds in length, some 60 feet wide, and 50 feet high.
On inquiry I found that immediately on receiving
the contract for the exhibition work this place
was prepared, and within a few days the
elements were all at hand and the men in full
work. The stranger entering this shed would be
amazed at finding that a work requiring so much
minuteness could be carried on in a place where such
a mass of smoke and heat and steam is generated.
Yet look:oe those hundred blackened faces and brawny
arms—their movements are as continual sad almost
as systematic as is the machinery over their heads in
the roof. To describe the process very summarily,
one might say that the floosie strewn over with hogs
oak boxes, each box weighing some seven tons—that
the pattern having been formed by means of fine loam
is properly bedded in—the top of the box is placed on
it—having been first filled with sand, which is firmly
rammed up round the pattern—a trough some five or
six feet in length is placed over the middle—into It
the metal is rapidly poured, and in some 26 seconds a
slight flow of the metal issuing from a corner of the box
indicates that the casting is complete, and that a
girder is perfectly formed. The lid of the box is re-
moved as quickly as possible, to allow for the oontrao-
tion of the girder, and in about an hour and a half
the girder itself is removed from the bed of sand.
Bach are, shortly, the means employed, and such
the malt. If, however, the process is looked on more
minutely, it will be seen how varied are the appli-
ances, and bow large an amount of skill and ingenuity
are called in aid to attain so much suoceas. Cast your
eye into the roof of the building, you find that the
entire fortress (so to speak) below is commanded by
e Rl9l. of poured mom lifting 20 tons each,
viwi traverse a milmei running from end to end
of the building; thus seams are worked sash
they brae disbud to this a owe* el
=Walt wok ' mess orabolb auldesoji
sheet rod pselstearbenest at
arptiing ahotesste sod egdi
set Ivp a
at
When% saly ths4oup
g wet la wales 4
6004 sad terldrestris width amble's,' berg
, brought. Sevreibg
_bask to the soda( proses. eel
&shag whit it a little mss Le doted. yea goOdort.
Are having larked
weirthe egrestisee OR a taw
' sisatss, that whoa atet the boos the mould is
prepared fee it ersdno -the parting sand is strewn
toes, and dot the Urge cover requires to be lifted
yes it, delis doles do wane in a moment, raises it
mast plaits It ea the allay with about as much ease
audi al • lady nine the lid of her