Part 49 (1/2)

Not being a member of the Commission, I have perhaps no right to express an opinion upon a principle which seems to have been adopted--that of giving prizes--but as applied to machinery I suppose I may. I strongly disapprove of any prizes being offered in our section.

1. I believe it is quite unnecessary.

2. I believe it will be impossible to define beforehand the subjects for which any limited number and amount of prizes are to be promised, the subjects are so indefinitely numerous; and like the building, however large it may be made, will not be large enough to hold all that is sent, so as regards the prizes, however numerous the subjects, they may very likely not embrace the very things which turn out to be most deserving.

3. I believe it will be impossible to distribute any limited number of prizes with justice, and quite impossible to satisfy the public.

Two machines for the same purpose may be remarkable--one for its ingenuity and beauty of workmans.h.i.+p, but of doubtful practical economy in application; the other clumsy, and not well made, but apparently likely to have the germs of much good--there are thousands, or rather an infinity, of shades of degrees and qualities of merit.

And lastly, I believe the prizes will be mischievous, as conferring undue advantages in many cases upon a thing well displayed, and well got up, and will be sought for and obtained for puffing purposes. The opportunity of exhibition I believe will be quite sufficient to induce all the compet.i.tion we can desire.

I think money prizes quite a mistake, and medals or distinctions pretty nearly as bad. I hope you hold the same views, but I send you mine.

Mr. Brunel's views found no favour at the time; but subsequent experience has convinced those best able to form a sound judgment in the matter, that 'no prizes of any kind should be awarded' in International Exhibitions.[182]

Mr. Brunel was also a Member of the Building Committee; and he accepted the office of Chairman and Reporter of the Jury for Cla.s.s VII., on Civil Engineering, Architecture, and Building Contrivances.

He took a very active part in the proceedings of the Building Committee.

Designs were invited, and two hundred and forty-five were sent in. None of these were considered satisfactory by the Committee, and they submitted to the Royal Commission a design of their own, the princ.i.p.al feature of which was a dome 200 feet in diameter.

Mr. Brunel was responsible as a member of the Committee for the plans prepared by them, and as regards the dome may be said to have designed it himself, but he expressed strong objections to the substantial and expensive buildings which it was proposed to erect in brickwork. His idea was that the building should be in what he called the 'railway shed style;' and he wished to produce effect rather by the construction of the roofs, &c., than by any architectural elevation.

When, therefore, the plans of the Building Committee failed to meet with public approval, and the late Sir Joseph Paxton submitted his well-known design, Mr. Brunel gave it his cordial support, and defended it against its detractors. He thus spoke of it in the report of the Jury of Cla.s.s VII.

As regards Mr. Paxton's claim, amid the compet.i.tion of the whole of Europe, he proposed that mode and form of construction of building which appeared on first sight, and has since proved to be, the best adapted in every respect for the purpose for which it was intended.

The design possessed this merit of fitness for its object in a singular manner. There was no startling novelty in any one point which could lead astray the judgment of those who had to determine upon the choice of plan, or which could in the first instance obtain, still less permanently secure, the good opinion of the public. As regards the form of outline, which is most simple, several designs nearly resembling it had been submitted in the general compet.i.tion. As to the material, several proposals had been previously made to cover the whole area to be enclosed with gla.s.s, and iron would of necessity be employed for the framing; but in the combination of form and materials, in the particular mode of applying those materials, and in the adaptation of the forms to be selected to their convenient use, as well as in the various details by which the whole was rendered perfect, the design was entirely distinct in character from all that had been proposed, and appeared at once to have the one single merit of being exactly that which was required for the purposes in view. The design as realised has completely fulfilled every condition of utility.

The award of Council Medals (the highest prize given) was recommended to Sir Joseph Paxton, and to the contractors, Messrs. Fox, Henderson and Co.

In a later part of the report, in announcing the recommendation of a Council Medal to His Royal Highness Prince Albert, for the model dwelling houses which were erected near the Exhibition building, and exhibited by the Prince, Mr. Brunel spoke in emphatic language of the magnitude and importance of the results which would follow from the introduction of improved dwellings for the working cla.s.ses.[183]

When the Crystal Palace Company was formed in order to purchase the Exhibition building and erect it, with additions, at Sydenham, Mr.

Brunel took a great interest in the project, and frequently went down to examine the progress of the building and gardens, and the beautiful architectural courts which were to be the chief attraction in the interior of the Palace. The water towers, which are so conspicuous a feature in the building, were designed by him.

The towers are 284 feet high, and carry near the top tanks 47 feet in diameter and 38 feet high, holding 1,200 tons of water.

The foundations required great care in their construction. The tanks had to be placed at a height of more than 200 feet, and the towers, which, with their load, weighed fully 3,000 tons each, had to rest on the sloping side of a clay hill. There was also the possibility that by the bursting of a pipe a large quant.i.ty of water might be suddenly discharged, and so cause a slip in the surrounding ground. Mr. Brunel carried the foundations down to a considerable depth, forming a large base of Portland cement concrete, and placing on it a cone of brickwork in cement, rising up to the ground level. The towers are twelve-sided, with two hollow cast-iron columns at each angle. The height of the building below the tanks is divided into ten stories, and at each floor there is a strong wrought-iron diaphragm, or shelf, 5 feet wide. The columns are also connected by strong diagonal bracing in the sides of the tower.

The tanks are made of wrought iron, and the water pipes are placed in the interior of the tower. Mr. Brunel did not think it would be prudent to form any of the columns of the towers into pipes, lest the expansion due to the temperature of the water should cause unequal support to be given to the tanks.

In July 1855, the pipes were proved, and the towers were completed shortly afterwards.

The remainder of this chapter will relate to matters which have but little in common with the subjects of the earlier part of it; but the change is hardly less marked than that which took place in the nature of the questions which occupied public attention within a few years of the close of the Great Exhibition.

_Polygonal Rifle._

In October 1852, Mr. Brunel consulted Mr. Westley Richards, of Birmingham, as to the manufacture of a rifle 'for the purpose of determining whether there was anything in a crotchet he had upon the subject.' The rifle was made by Mr. Westley Richards according to Mr.