The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-05 00:00:00

NEW PICTORIAL EXHIBITION
309, REGENT-STREET,
Adjoining the Royal Polytechnic Institution.
The BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE on a Grand Scale, with
Views of WOLVERTON VIADUCT, COVENTRY; BIRMING-
HAM, CHESTER, the VICTORIA TUBULAR BRIDGES over the
CONWAY, &c.. &c., &c., to whiCh has been added SNO vi'DON;
from CA.PEr., CARIG.
Pointe.' by J. W. ALLEN, Esq.
A Description by JOHN CLARKE, Esq.
During the Holidays this Exhibition will open at Eleven o'clock,
Quarter past Twelve, lialf-past One, Quarter to Three, Four, o'clock;
and in the Evenings at Seven and a Quarter-past Eight.
Admission, One Shilling; Schools and Children, half-price.
Doors opened a quarter of an hour before each Exhibition.

et RAND BAL MASQUE, CASINO DE
‘3ll VESISE, 218, Iligh Ilolbo-n.
The SEr'OND BAL MASQUE at this estaill,hment will take
place on BIOND;LY, April 8, for the BENEFIT of Mr. PACKER,
musical director and conductor. The band will be greatly augmented
by the addit'on of numerous artistes of repute. The general ar-
rangements If the bail roam will be superintended by six .51.C.'s.
The snac ons and well.ventilattd salle de dance magnificently embel-
lished, and with accommodation for 3,000 persons, will be threwn
open at half past nine o'clock, dancing to commence at ten o'clock.
Lady's ticket, Is. ; gentlemen's ditto, ss. ; to be had at a 1 the
principal music warehouses and libraries.
Supper in the upper salon at one o'clock, Is. fid. each.
Co:Ammer, Mr. Nathan, Castle-street, Leicesier-squa.z e.—Persons
dressed as clowns, pantaloons, &c., not admitted.

VISIT OF LORD JOHN RUSSELL

TO MANCHESTER.
MANCHESTER, THURSDAY.—Yestereay afternoon was
devoted by Lord John Russell and his friends to sight-
seeing in Manchester. The first place they visited was
the large establishment of Mr. Fairbaitn, the eminent
engineer, whose name has been associated with that of
Mr. Stephenson in the construction of the Britannia Tu-
bular Bridge. They were received at the entrance of
the works by Mr. Fairbairn and the other partners of
the firm, and went over all the -departments of the esta-
blishment. Their stay here was, however, compara-
tively abort, as there was necessarily much similarity
between the works here and those of Messrs. Nesmith
and Gaskell, at Patricroft, which they:had visited in the
morning. His Lordship minutely examined the loco-
motive engines, of which twelve or fifteen were in
various 'stages of progress, as well as several large
stationary engines which were also in course Of
construction. The drawings for these engines were
also inspectiid by his- Lordship; but thole which
most attracted his attention were the drawings for
the Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges, as well
as the drawings for a tubular girder bridge, constructed
on the same principle as the Britannia, one of which is
now in course cf construction for the Norfolk Railway
over the Bure at Yarmouth. Leaving these gigantic
works, his Lordship next turned to several small tank
engines which were making, combining locomotive and
tender in one engine, and calculated to use not more
than half the gaantity of fuel expended by the ordinary
locomotives. These engines are ordered for the Ulster
and the North-Western Companies, and are intended for
those branch lines on which comparatively little traffic
takes place. These engines have a 10-inch cylinder,
which, it is remarkable enough, was the size first
adopted on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
Since then the power and magnitude of the engines
have gone on gradually increasing, till now that the
necessities cf the times have induced the railway com-
panies to return, at least on their small lines, to the
standard which was adopted in the infancy of railway
enterprise.

having gone over these works, Mr. Fairbairn accom-
panied his Lordship and party to the establishment of
Messrs. l'arr, Curtis, and Co., in the immediate neigh-
bourhood, where Lord John minutely examined the in-
genious mechanism there in u€o for making the cards
used in the manufacture of cotton.

On leaving Messrs. Curtis's establishment, the party
proceeded to the Mayfield Print Works, a firm which
has acquired so much celebrity from their production of
the fabrics so familiarly known as " Hoyle's Prints."
Here they were received by Mr. Alderman Neild, the
senior partner, and the other members of the firm, who
conducted them over the various departments in their
extensive premises, and showed them, in order, the whole
process of printing. Proceeding first to the roller-room.
the party inspected a great number of cylinders deposited
there, on which were engraved the various designs that
are afterwards to be stamped upon the tehric, from the
simple spot or parsley-leaf up to the most complex and
dslicate patterns. They then proceeded to the engrav-
ing-rootn, where the party—and Lady Fanny Russell in
particular—was much interested in finding a number
of females employed in the, to them, novel species
of industry, that of engraving the design upon the cop-
per cylinder, from a design previously traced and painted
on the copper. The e:xsployment of females in this
branch of industry is, we believe, peculiar to the Ma)-
field works, where it was commenced a short time ago
as an experiment; and we understand the firm have
found it to answer perfectly well. Leaving the en-
graving-room, they then proceeded to the printing-room,
where the cylinders so engraved were at work. In a
large, lofty, and well-ventilated room—the most perfect
of its hied yet constructed—twenty machines were
standing in a row, each employing two men and two boys,
and each throwing off, when at full speed, a" piece" of
thirty yards long in a minute; each too, according to the
pattern on the cylinder at work, preparing the cloth for
receiving from one up to as many as six different
colours. Mr. Alderman Neild here explained to the
Premier the superiority of the cylinder-printing to the
old, though not yet wholly obsolete, practice of printing
from blocks. According to that system the piece of
goods which was thrown off by one of these cylinders in
a minute would, even at the most rapid rate of working.
have occupied a quarter of a day. The superiority of
the cylinders was very early apparent, but practical diffi-
culties for a long time prevented their being brought
into general use, the difficulty lying chiefly in the en-
graving of the cylinder so as to make the pattern fit on
the cloth. But this difficulty has been recently com-
pletely removed by the inventive genius of Mr. ilaskell,
of Manchester, to whom the manufacturers aro under
many obligations for several other mechanical facilities
in the process of their industry. The worthy Alderman
further drew the attention of his Lordship to the fact
that the cloth as it came from the machine had not re-
ceived its colour, and explained the process of fixing the
mordents or chemical preparations, which prepared the
cloth to take on the required colours, in an after stage
of the manufacture. 'these mordents are for the most
part metallic oxydes, their nature varying according to
the various colours required, and they are applied to the
cloth in a solution of vinegar. The party then pro-
ceeded to the drying-stoves, where the cloth, fresh from
the machines, anti prepared as above described, is
brought, and the pieces hung up in a room open on all
sides to the air. As the cloth dries the vinegar flies off,
' while the mordent is completely absorbed into the fabric.
This accomplished, the cloth is removed to the dyehouse,
which was the next department his Lordship and his
friends visited. The Alderman here explained and
made some experiments to show that the chat), pi epared
as above described, is in a condition to receive various
and even contrasting colours from the same material of
dye, according to the different descriptions of mordents
that have been used in its preparation. He also went
into a minute explanation cf the process used in pro-
ducing the beautiful lilac colour for which the firm have
attained so much celebrity,.and which no other establish-
ment has been able to equal. After spending some time
in the chemical department, where Mr. Graham ono of
the partners, explained the process by which the different
mordents are prepared, the party proceeded to the de
partment for bleaching the do lame pieces, where his
Lordship was shown a new process which has recently
beea adopted fur what is technically called " sulphuring
the de !eines." According to the existing plan, the cloth is
hung up in a room made air-tight, where the sulphur
is burnt beneath it until the fabric is supposed to be
saturated with its fumes. The new process consists of a
series of rollers driven by machinery, round which the
cloth is driven, while the sulphur is burning beneath as
before. By this means the sulphur is more closely in-
corporated with the substance of the cloth; and the ad-
vantage of the process is, that it give; the fabric that
eofaaess and delicacy to the touch which has hitherto
been supposed to he peculiar to fabrics made of the
Cachmeee wool. Tho process of manufacture havirg
been completed, the party were finally shown into the
ware.roems, where an immense quantity of goods of ell
qualities, colours, and patterns, were piled up; and se-
veral were shown fur their inspection. Of these Lady
Fanny Russell chose one piece for purchase, the pattern