The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-23 00:00:00

THE NEII7 HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.

Our readers will be glad to learn that the great
clock at Westminster is at least progressing towards

completion. In saying this we by no means intend
to convey the impression that the clock will soon
be going, or that a considerable interval may not
yet elapse before it is completed, or even that it will
ever be completed at all. In speaking of a subject
which has given rise to such endless disputes, we
must guard ourselves, we suppose, against express-
ing any opinion at all. We only, therefore, announce
the fact that Mr. Dent's workmen have at last begun
to do that which should have been done long ago, and

that the mechanism of the clock is being put toge-

ther very slowly in the clock chamber behind the
dials. Unquestionably, for a clock whose history now
extends over 15 years, and which has been going
for nearly three years in Mr. Dent's factory, it is
no great matter to say that after all this time it is
at length in course of being sent to the very place
for which it was constructed. But little as this

may be in the way of progress, it, at all events, is
progress, which is more than we have been able to
say of the whole affair any time these two years
past. Before the clock will be really in going, and
striking order many little difficulties, we believe,
have yet to be overcome. One is a contrivance

- - -
which shall catch the hammer of the great bell the
instant it has struck, in order to prevent the re-
bound again dropping it upon the bell, and lift it
clear from the side, that the vibration may not be
interfered with. This is, of course, a difficulty which
can be overcome, though devising and perfecting
the means will require time, especially with a clock
of such accurate construction that its striking is
guaranteed to be true to a single second. Another
difficulty is connected with the arrangements for its
being regularly wound. To wind it by hand labour
is almost out of the question. This monstrous clock
will require winding once in three days, and take
11,500 revolutions of the handle to wind it com-
pletely. Supposing two men to be able at such
labour to work continuously, and to make 800 re-
volutions of the handle per hour, it would require
141 hours of such exertion every third day. If to
this is added the delay caused by the men having
to make up the difference caused by the descent of
the weights when the clock struck (in striking 12
they descend six feet), it is not too much to esti-
mate the labour at 18 hours, instead of 141 ; or, to
speak generally, about four months of every year
would be spent in winding it up. Of course, 111 r.
Denison will devise some contrivance which will ob-
viate this difficulty, and he can scarcely find a better
one than has already been worked out by Mr. James
and the indefatigable clerk of the works at the New
Houses, Mr. Quarm. By the plan of these gentle-
men the clock is made self-winding. When the
weights have descended a certain length they open
a valve communicating with a column of water
from the top of the tower. This water is let into a
cylinder with a piston of six feet stroke, which by
the weight of the water is forced up with the clock
weights to its full height. As often as the clock
strikes this hydraulic winder acts with the expendi-
ture of a very small quantity of water. Of course,
when the piston is out to its full stroke the valve
communicating 'With the column of water is shut off
and the piston descends till the weights again reach
the level at which they require winding. The num-
ber of gas jets to illuminate each dial has been re-
duced to 38, making 152 burners for all. These, as
we have before stated, are so connected with the
mechanism of the clock, as to be gradually burnt
down with the approach of dawn each morning,
and burnt in full again as the sun sinks. All the
additional supports which were required for the bell
framework have been adjusted, and the frame of Big
Ben and his satellites is now as rigid as the tower
itself. A light ironwork staircase is being put up
to lead above the bell chamber into the upper lan-
tern of the tower. As we are upon the subject of
the Houses of Parliament,
we may take this oppor-
tunity of referring to the decay of some parts of the
stonework already, and the effectual method which
has been adopted to arrest this slow but sure de-
struction of one of the noblest edifices in Europe.
Notwithstanding the great care that was taken in
the selection of the stone used in the New Palaces,
it has undoubtedly yielded to atmospheric influences
in many places to a much greater extent than could
have been anticipated from the evidences of its dura-
bility, as shown in ancient buildings, and the results
of the chemical experiments to which it was sub-
jected before being employed. The commissioners
appointed in 1839 to select the stone to be employed,
after having visited 103 quarries, in all parts of the
United Kingdom, and tested 36 varieties of stone,
and after having examined the state of many of
such specimens of stone in upwards of 100 ancient
edifices, recommended the stone which has been
used for its crystalline character, with its close
approach to the equivalent proportions of lime
and magnesia. It was found to absorb
182-1,000 of its bulk of water, while the
least absorbent from Chilmark was 053-1,000,
and the most absorbent from Bath 312-1,000.
This power of absorbing, of course, indicated the
amount of space between the molecules of the stone,
as the tests were all conducted under the exhausted
receiver of an air pump. The decay in this stone
which has already taken place seems to be confined
principally to the parapets where the stone is ex•
posed on two faces, in the water tables, tills, bases,
tappings, and plinths, and the stonework above and
below them within the influence of the drippings
and splashings of showers, and more especially
where these parts are exposed to the south and
south-west winds. Sir Charles Barry considers
that a most fruitful source of decay is due to the
unusual and extensive use of water externally for
purposes of ventilation, by'whioh a considerable
portion of the masonry is rendered alternately wet
and dry, the most severe test to which the durabi-
lity of any stone can be subjected. The first symp-
toms of decay in the stone are manifested by a
blackish discolouration, which appears to be caused
by absorption of the moisture and dirt of the atmos-
phere. The next stage is an eruption of a coating
of this discoloured material, under which the natural
colour of the stone appears, but in a state of powder,
which continues from time to time to be removed,
and so occasions a rapid and constant disruption of
the surface. During the last four years no less than
six inventors have applied their compositions to
various parts of the building, for the purpose of dis-
coverin g by actual test the best means of defending the
stone from all atmospheric influences. With one
exception, all these inventions have failed more or
less totally to effect their object. The one composi-
tion which has succeeded beyond all expectation is
an invention or discovery of Mr. Szerelmey's,
Polish gentleman. What this composition is
is unknown to all except the inventor, but the
effect produced by the application of the almost
colourless liquid is perfectly marvellous. It
at once renders the stone unabsorbent of mois-
ture, thereby removing the primary cause
of all decomposition due to atmospheric in-
fluences. It seems to fill completly the inter-
stices between the molecules of the stone with
an intensely hard flinty substance, which Mr.
Szerelmey declares will literally last for ever
against the action of the air. The secret, whatever it
is, was obtained from analysis and examination of
the flinty coating which has protected the bricks of
the Pyramids and the statues of Egypt for thou-
sands of years. As it is now applied in some parts
of the new Palace, it endures without change any
amount of heat and cold, and resists the action
even of the strongest acids. The colour of the com-
position is that of the stone when newly worked,
and neither the granulated appearance of the sur-
face nor the tool marks upon it are obliterated by
its application, which is effecte I rapidly by means
of a common brush, as in painting. Many attempts
have been made to remove the composition or im-
pair its effects by long-continued scrubbing with
wire brushes and water, but without making the
least impression on it. In reporting on the merits
of this composition to the Board of Works, Sir
Charles Barry strongly recommends its application
to all the external masonry of the New Palace as a
specific against further decay, and in a great degree
against all discolouration arising from the impuri-
ties of the atmosphere. The cost of applying this
composition to the stonework is only ls. per square
yard, and it is an operation which is done as quickly
as whitewashing. Some of the river front (though
only very small portions), the Speaker's Court, and
aSastbecopluehtae
nnt
aols
yearsilali hall
thavey a
an
ndbdeae asnh
auc
lonf thye
unchanged
as gt
theehe d
cloaontmet cpsii•odps eiltaiocofenSfitos. r
as the day it was first applied.
Another composition of Mr. Szerelmey's, which
has also been extensively used in the roof of the
New Houses, is a very cheap solution, called a gra-
nite composition, for the preservation of iron from
overtbh e
eet hn e
ironwork,pi•roeo
preserved
esrvo ef
both
theota
hs
asVniildeatsocrbai esaet Towers, ohawpa esprlsit,eidlaunsd
Ilcv•
o.soteu.kg This i
ht
bright and even shining as the day it left the
foundry.
Both compositions, as we have said, have proved
themselves eminently successful, but ofthe two that
which prevents all chance of rust in iron is thought
to be the most valuable, as being,
perhaps, more
generally.required. Iron when thus coated seems
uttterly indestructible by the action of the ele-
ments, and even if immersed in uri sal h • p c acid no
effect is produced. Its adhesion to the surface is so
tenacious that when small portions are removed with
chisels a part of the surface of the iron is generally
removed with it. The process of covering the iron
and stone work of the new houses with these com-
positions is gradually goingforward, though almost
too slowly when the undoubted efficacy of the
means for preventing decay have been so long tried
and proved so eminently successful.