engaged his name was entered in a book against a certain number, which was
stamped on several brass tickets, three of which were given to each workman
before leaving the ground in the evening.
[Illustration: THE BRASS TICKETS AND MONEY-BOX.]
Every man had to enter the premises three times in the course of the day;
namely, the first thing in the morning, after returning from breakfast, and
after returning from dinner. On each occasion he was required to deposit at
the gate one of these tickets, which were afterwards sorted by the clerks,
and entered in the time-book. In this way, if a man failed to come to his
work, his ticket would be missing, and the time during which he was absent
would not be entered; a corresponding amount being deducted from his week's
wages.
On the Saturday, each man's time was made up from the book; and his wages
calculated accordingly, and the amount entered against his name. The money
due to each man was then counted out and placed in a small tin box, with a
ticket, on which was written the man's name and number, and the amount of
wages paid to him.
[Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF THE PAY-OFFICE.]
All this was done in the time-keeper's office, which was conveniently
placed near the entrance to the works. When all the preliminary
arrangements had been completed, the workmen's bell was rung, and they
assembled (a motley and sometimes clamorous crowd) round the pay-office,
which was provided with two small openings through which the payments were
made.
[Illustration: THE MEN TAKING THEIR WAGES AT THE PAY-OFFICE.]
Two men stationed outside the office then called over the numbers of the
workmen, who presented themselves, in the order in which they were called,
at the pay-windows, where each man took the small box passed out to him
with the money, and left the box in passing out at the gate. If any man
considered the amount of wages paid to him not correct, he presented the
ticket given to him with the wages at the office on the Monday morning
following, when the matter was arranged by the time-keeper.
[Illustration: THE WORKMEN WAITING TO BE PAID.]
Any person acquainted with the irregular habits of vast numbers of our
workmen, who will often be absent from their work a quarter of a day, and
at other times a whole day, thus varying the amount of wages due at the end
of the week to almost every man, will at once see that, without a
well-arranged system, such as that described, the payment of so large a
body of men would have occupied as many days as it really did hours. The
engravings annexed, in illustration of this part of our subject, will
convey to the reader some idea of the scene we have endeavoured to
describe, though it must fall far short of the picturesque reality.
General Statistics.
It is with great pleasure that we are able to mention that, notwithstanding
the difficult character of some of the work, and the extreme rapidity with
which it was carried on, very few accidents of importance occurred; a
circumstance which must be ascribed to the great care taken by the
contractors for the safety of the men while engaged in their work: and in
the cases where the accidents that occurred were of a serious or fatal
kind, their origin was mostly to be traced to a neglect of those
precautions which the men were constantly urged and ordered to take.
A few statistics of the quantities of different parts of the work not
already mentioned will complete this portion of our subject. The whole
amount of iron-work in the building is stated at about 4000 tons; and about
1,200 loads of timber were required for the wood-work. There are 2,941
trussed gutters in the roof, and 1,495 glazed sashes were required to
inclose the sides of the building. As many as 316 iron girders were cast,
in one week, and 442 lengths of the Paxton's gutters were cut out by the
machinery in the same time. No less than 18,392 squares of glass,
containing 62,508 feet superficial, or about one-and-a-half acres, were
also fixed in one week.
It may be further mentioned that the weight of the different parts forming
the flat ridge-and-furrow roofing amounts to three-and-a-quarter pounds per
foot superficial, on the whole surface; the weight of the arched roof of
the transept, including the ribs, amounts to five-and-three-quarter pounds
per superficial foot; and the timbers and boards of the gallery floor weigh
eight-and-a-half pounds to the superficial foot: from these data the actual
weight on the different girders may be calculated.
The light iron-work, with the exception of some of the gallery railing, was
cast at the works of the contractors near Birmingham; and the remainder,
including the columns, girders, &c., was distributed between their own
foundry, and those of the Messrs. Cochrane, of Wood Side, and Mr. Jobson,
of Holly Hall, both near Dudley. The wrought-iron was supplied by Messrs.
Fothergill, and the timber by Messrs. Dowson and Co.
The Parti-coloured Painting.
The coloured decoration introduced in finishing the painting of the
building is a subject which has been much discussed, and many suggestions
have been made by persons generally received as authorities on the subject.
The system adopted was proposed by Mr. Owen Jones, under whose active
superintendence it has been carried out. That gentleman explained his
reasons for its adoption, and the effect which he expected it to produce,
in a lecture at the Institute of British Architects, on the 16th of
December, 1850, some portions of which are submitted to our readers:--
"It is not necessary for me to describe the building, the painting of which
we are now about to discuss, as it is well known to most of you by its
marvellous dimensions, the simplicity of its construction, and the
advantage which has been taken of the power which the repetition of simple
forms will give in producing grandeur of effect; and I wish now to show
that this grandeur may be still further enhanced by a system of colouring
which, by marking distinctly every line in the building, will increase the
height, the length, and the bulk.
"The very nature of the material of which this building is mainly
constructed, viz., iron, requires that it should be painted. On what
principle shall we do this? Should we be justified in adopting a simple
tint of white or stone colour, the usual method of painting iron? Now, it
must be borne in mind that this building will be covered on the south side,
and over the whole of the roof, with canvass, so that there can be but
little light and shade. The myriads of similar lines, therefore, of which
the building is composed, falling one before the other, would lose all
distinctness, and form, in fact, one dull cloud overhanging the Exhibition.
"A line of columns (as it may be seen even now at the building) would
present the effect of a white wall, and it would be impossible, in the
distance, to distinguish one column from another. This mode of painting
would have the further disadvantage of rendering the building totally
unconnected with the various objects it is to contain.
"May the building be painted of a dark colour, like the roofs of some of
our railway-stations? This, equally with the white method, would present
one mass of indistinctness; the relief of the cast-iron would disappear,
and each column and girder would present to the eye but a flat silhouette.
"Let us now consider the building as painted with some pale neutral tint,
dull green or buff. In doing this we should be perfectly safe, as, provided
the colours were not too pale so as to be indistinct, or too dark so as
sensibly to affect the eye, we could hardly make a mistake. Yet how tame
and monotonous would be the result! It would be necessary that this tint,
whichever we might choose, should be of a very subdued neutral character,
in order to avoid the difficulty well known to mounters of drawings and
painters of picture-galleries, viz., that in proportion as you incline to
any particular shade of colour, so in that exact proportion you injure or
destroy those objects it is intended to relieve which may have similar
colour. To this, then, we should be reduced--a dull monotonous colour
without character. How unworthy this would be of the great occasion! How
little would it impress the public! How little would it teach the artist!
It would be to cut instead of patiently to unravel the knot.
"We are now brought to the consideration of the only other well-defined
system which presents itself, namely, parti-colouring. This, I conceive, if
successfully worked out, would bring the building and its contents into
perfect harmony, and it would fitly carry out one of the objects for which
this Exhibition was formed, namely, that of promoting the union of the
fine-arts with manufactures. It would be an experiment on an immense scale,
which, if successful, would tend to dispel the prejudices of those whose
eyes are yet unformed to colour, to develope the imperfect appreciations of
others, and to save this country from the reproach which foreign visitors,
more educated in this particular than ourselves, would not fail to make
were the building otherwise painted; it would everywhere bring out the
construction of the building, which, as I said before, would also appear
higher, longer, and more solid."
Mr. Jones then adduced the practice of the ancient and mediæval artists,
and explained the kind of colours they generally adopted, mentioning that
in the best periods of art the primary colours were chiefly or exclusively
used.
"In the decoration of the Exhibition building I therefore propose to use
the colours blue, red, and yellow, in such relative quantities as to
neutralise or destroy each other; thus no one colour will be dominant or
fatiguing to the eye, and all the objects exhibited will assist, and be
assisted by, the colours of the building itself.
"In house-decoration we occasionally find a run on one colour; thus we have
a green room, a pink room, and a red room; but it would obviously be unwise
to adopt any one colour for this building, whose contents will be of all
imaginable hues from white to black. Discarding, on the other hand, the
perfect neutral white as unfit for the occasion, we naturally adopt the
colours blue, red, and yellow, in or near the neutral proportions of eight,
five, and three; but to avoid any harsh antagonism of the primary colours
when in contact, or any undesired complementary secondaries arising from
the immediate proximity of the primaries, I propose, in all cases, to
interpose a line of white between them, which will soften them and give
them their true value.
"As one of the objects of decorating a building is to increase the effect
of light and shade, the best means of using blue, red, and yellow is to
place blue, which retires, on the concave surfaces; yellow, which advances,
on the convex; and red, the colour of the middle distance, on the
horizontal planes; and the neutral white on the vertical planes.
"Following out this principle on the building in question, we have red for
the under-side of the girders, yellow on the round portions of the columns,
and blue in the hollow parts of the capitals.
"Now, it is necessary not only to put the several colours in the right
places, but also to use them in their due proportions to each other.
"Mr. Field, in his admirable works on colour, has shown by direct
experiment that white light consists of blue, red, and yellow, neutralising
each other in the proportions of eight, five, and three. It will readily be
seen, that the nearer we can arrive at this state of neutrality the more
harmonious and light-giving will a building become; and an examination of
the most perfect specimens of harmonious colouring of the ancients will
show that this proportion has generally obtained among them; that is to
say, broadly, there has been as much blue as the yellow and red put
together, the light and the shade balancing each other.
"Of course, we cannot in decorating buildings always command the exact
proportions of coloured surface which we require; but the balance of
colours can always be obtained by a change in the colours themselves. Thus,
if the surfaces to be coloured should give too much yellow, we should make
the red more crimson and the blue more purple; that is, we should take the
yellow out of them. So, if we had too much blue, we should make the yellow
more orange, and the red more scarlet.
"A practised eye will as readily do this as a musician can tune a musical
instrument; it is here that science abandons the artist, who must trust to
his own perceptions, cultivated by renewed trials and repeated failures."
In concluding, Mr. Jones said, with reference to some specimens of the
proposed decoration which had been executed, "I would ask you to banish
from your minds the glare of light by which this decoration is now seen--to
forget the rough foreground, where men are engaged in every variety of
occupation for the completion of this great building; and I would ask you
to fill it in imagination with the gorgeous products of every clime. I
would ask you to picture to yourselves in the foreground the brilliant
primaries, blue, red, and yellow--the rich secondaries, purple, amber, and
green, moulded in forms of every conceivable diversity; and, lastly,
against them the darker tertiaries fading into neutral perspective.
"The conception of such an effect, difficult even to the artist accustomed
to abstract his attention from present interruptions and to calculate
future harmonies, is impossible to the uninstructed spectator, who, from
the experimental decoration of a single column, draws a premature and,
necessarily, a fallacious inference as to the collective effect of the
whole.
"From my brother architects I hope for a more patient, a more
comprehensive, and a fairer appreciation; for myself, I have a confident
hope, grounded on the experience of years devoted to this particular branch
of art, that the principles and plans I have had the honour to propose to
the Royal Commission, for the decoration of this magnificent structure,
will be found, when complete, not to disappoint the public expectations, or
to prove wholly unworthy of the great occasion."
In this lecture, Mr. Owen Jones asked his hearers, and the public
generally, to suspend their final judgment upon his system of colouring
until the whole should be completed, and the building filled with the
objects to be exhibited, as he considered that many of the objections which
were raised to his proposition resulted from a want of consideration of the
ultimate effect to be produced by the whole, when completed and occupied;
and so far as this effect has been realised, we believe it has inclined the
public opinion more in favour of the coloured decoration than originally,
when it was undoubtedly very strongly commented upon in various quarters.
Without venturing to express any opinion ourselves, we may trust that Mr.
Owen Jones's fondest hopes will be fully realised.
[Illustration: View of the Building from the North Bank of the Serpentine.]
The Water Supply.
The supply of water necessary both for the protection of this enormous
building from fire, and for the use of fountains and machinery to be
exhibited, is furnished at a very liberal rate by the Chelsea Waterworks'
Company. It is brought into the building by a 9-inch main pipe, at about
the centre of its length, branching out into three 6-inch pipes, which
extend throughout the whole length of the building. Short pipes branch off
from these, terminating in fire-cocks, placed at such distances that a
circle of 120-feet radius from any one of them will touch a similar circle
described round the adjacent ones; by which means the whole extent of the
building may be brought under the action of hose attached to each of the
fire-cocks. The water is supplied at a pressure equal to a column of about
seventy feet, so as to work the fountains that will be exhibited, and to
play efficiently from hose in case of any accident by fire. The quantity
which the Company have undertaken to supply is 300,000 gallons a day.
The Stability of the Building.
The subject of the strength and stability of the building is one on which
considerable anxiety has been felt, both by the public at large and by
those professional bodies more capable of forming a correct judgment upon
it. In the prolonged discussion which followed the reading of Mr. Wyatt's
paper at the Institution of Civil Engineers, many points of objection were
raised which seemed at first sight of a very serious nature; but, in most
cases, the answers that were given to them were perfectly satisfactory. The
two greatest difficulties raised were, firstly, the enormous surface
presented by the exterior to the pressure of the wind, with apparently but
a slight power of resistance; and, secondly, the construction of the
galleries, which, it was thought, would not be able to resist the vibratory
motion likely to be produced by great numbers of people walking upon them.
The results of several calculations were adduced on the occasion alluded to
in support of the objections on the first point; but perhaps the best
answer that could be given to them was the circumstance mentioned by Mr.
Fox--that on the 5th of that month (January) the pressure of the wind,
which blew a perfect gale, was not only much above the average, but very
nearly reached the greatest amount known within a considerable period in
London--about 25lbs. per square foot; and that as the building, although in
an incomplete state, had resisted that pressure without receiving any
injury, it was fair to conclude that, when finished, it would be able to
sustain the greatest force which the wind could be reasonably expected to
exert upon it.
The question of the strength of the galleries was one of even greater
importance than the other, as, in case of any failure in that part of the
building, human life must almost inevitably have been sacrificed to a great
extent. It was therefore deemed necessary to ascertain, as far as was
practicable, by experiment, that their strength was abundantly sufficient;
and in Mr. Wyatt's paper, as printed, the following description of the
experiments instituted for this purpose will be found.
Testing the Galleries.
In the interval between the reading of this paper and its going to press a
series of experiments have been tried to ascertain the action of these
galleries under the strain of a moving load. A complete bay, twenty-four
feet square, was constructed, raised slightly from the ground, consisting
of the four cast-iron girders, with the connecting-pieces at the angles,
and on this the timbers and boards of the flooring. Rows of planks the full
width of the platform led up to it and down from it, so that a body of men
as wide as the gallery might be able to march up and down in close rank.
"The area of the platform was first covered over with labourers packed as
closely together as possible; but no action of walking, running, or jumping
that 300 men could perform did any injury whatever to it, and the greatest
deflection of the girders did not exceed a quarter of an inch. Soldiers of
the corps of Royal Sappers and Miners were then substituted for the
contractors' men; and although the perfect regularity of their step in
marking time sharply appeared a remarkably severe test, a minute
examination of the construction after the completion of the experiments
showed that no damage whatever had been done by their evolutions.
"But as the Commissioners were deeply impressed with the necessity of
thoroughly convincing the public, who should visit the Exhibition, that
they might feel perfectly secure in every part of the building, it was
deemed desirable to apply a still further test to the actual galleries as
they stand; as it might perhaps be said that the single bay which had been
experimented upon was not similarly circumstanced to those forming parts of
the building.
[Illustration: Testing the Gallery Floor.]
[Illustration: View of the Boiler House.]
"For this purpose a very ingenious apparatus was devised by the late Mr.
Field, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, for testing the
stability of the galleries _in situ_, and on being applied over the greater
part of the building not a single bolt or girder gave way under its action.
This apparatus consisted of eight square wooden frames divided into
thirty-six compartments, each just capable of containing and allowing to
rotate a 68-pounder shot. The surfaces of the balls placed in each of these
compartments came in contact with the gallery floor, the frames themselves
being attached to one another and running along the floor by means of
castors fixed at the angles; the whole apparatus being drawn along by a
number of men. Two hundred and eighty-eight 68-pound shot confined in a
limited area were thus set rolling over more than half the extent of the
galleries; when, not the slightest mishap having occurred, the experiment
was considered decisive, and a persistence in it deemed unnecessary."
The pressure obtained in this experiment amounted to about a hundred pounds
per square foot, and it had been ascertained that the greatest pressure
caused by packing men together as closely as possible was equal to about
ninety-five pounds per square foot; so that the testing force applied was
considered amply sufficient, as a considerable portion of the surface of
the gallery will be occupied by light articles exhibited in the cases and
stalls which are placed along the centre of the gallery, where a great
weight would have most effect.
This ingenious method of proving the strength of the galleries _in situ_,
without endangering those engaged in the experiment, is admirable; and the
result of the proof will no doubt allay all fear in the mind of the public
as to the safety of this portion of the building.
General Advantages of the Building.
It is always much easier to point out the defects of any work than its
excellences; whilst we may, therefore, safely leave the former, as regards
our present subject, to be discovered and enlarged upon by those who may be
perhaps more competent than ourselves, we will attempt to point out what we
conceive to be some of the advantages obtained in the present building.
One of the principal of these, considering throughout the purpose of the
structure, is, perhaps, the uninterrupted view of the interior which the
spectator may obtain from any point of the building--a matter of great
importance to the general grandeur of its effect. From the galleries more
particularly, which will be less obstructed by large objects, the eye of
the spectator will be able to range from end to end of the vast edifice;
while the transparency of the material used for the roof allows every
object to be brilliantly illuminated. The slender lines of the supports,
though they serve to sustain a protecting covering, scarcely interrupt the
view of the objects protected, and the absence of any fixed divisions or
partitions enables all the articles exhibited to be so arranged as to suit
the peculiar requirements of each particular class; while the ample space
between the supports has admitted of the formation of large open avenues
for the free passage of visitors, who may thus reach as readily the
remotest corners of the building as those situated near the entrances; and
whenever the visitor may find himself fatigued by the labour of
sight-seeing, he will be sure to find himself near one of the numerous
exit-doors, whereby he may immediately free himself from the crowd of
spectators.