The BUILDING of the Crystal Palace.

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HOISTING GIRDERS AND TRUSSES.

The girders and trusses were raised by horse power in the following manner:- A pair of “shears,” formed of two scaffold poles supported by guy ropes, was erected, and a pair of blocks suspended from it. The rope from the blocks passed through a snatch block, and was carried along in a horizontal direction. One or more horses were harnesses to this rope, and by walking forward in a straight line, raised the girder. By this means a large amount of manual labour was saved.

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HOISTING TRANSEPT RIBS.

The semicircular ribs of the Transept roof were connected together in pairs and stiffened by spars attached to them. The pair of ribs was then raised by means of a tackle at each of the four corners. As the width of the ribs was rather greater than the clear space between the girders, it was then deposited upon planks resting upon rollers, and moved along to its required position, and lowered into its place on the top of the columns by means of screw-jacks.

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MANUFACTURE OF THE SASH-BARS.

The sash-bars were cut out of planks by means of a machine containing a number of circular cutters, which formed the grooves and bevelled the edges at the same time. Several bars were cut simultaneously out of each plank, and they were separated as they passed through the machine by a series of circular saws. The ends of the sash-bars were afterwards notched and bevelled by circular saws. The holes at each end for receiving the nails were pierced by means of revolving augers, driven by a steam-engine, the bars being presented to them by hand. The proper angle of the hole was secured by resting the other end of the bar in a notch in a fixed frame or gauge.

The sash-bars were painted in a very simple and expeditious manner. A number of the bars were immersed in a trough of paint, from which they were taken singly and passed through a series of fixed brushes, by which the superfluous paint was brushed off, instead of brushing the paint on in the ordinary manner.

This and most of the other machines employed in the construction of the building, were designed by Mr. Edward Cowper, at that time in the employment of Messrs. Fox, Henderson, and Co.

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MISCELLANEOUS DETAILS.

The mode of glazing the roof has already been described. To facilitate the operation, a number of small carriages were constructed with wheels to run in the Paxton gutters. Each carriage contained two glaziers, who fixed the glass one ac side of one of the ridges. The boxes of glass and the sash bars and putty were hoisted up and placed on the carriage. As the workmen fixed the sheets of glass, they pushed back the carriage, ad thus travelled from the Transept to each end of the building. A somewhat similar carriage was employed in glazing the arched roof of the Transept, being raised and lowered by means of suitable tackle.

The roof was covered with canvas, to reduce the light and heat in the interior of the building. The canvas was nailed to the ridges and allowed to hang down between them. It was in two breadths, with the seam in the centre; the rain which fell upon it passed through the seam and dropped into the Paxton gutter.

The flooring on the ground level was laid with ½ inch spaces between the boards, to allow of the dust falling through when the floor was swept. Machines were provided for sweeping the floor, but were found unnecessary, as the dresses of the female portion of the visitors performed the office in a very satisfactory manner.

The cylindrical had-rail of the gallery railing was cut out of a rough piece of mahogany by means of a series of cutters fixed to a chuck on a hollow mandril, which was caused to revolve with great rapidity while the piece of wood was pushed through it.

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PAXTON’S LATEST IMPROVEMENTS IN ROOFS.

Sir Joseph Paxton* has recently introduced a form of roof which possesses great elegance of appearance, while retaining the general principles of the roofing above described. In this new form of roof the glass covering is made to follow the diagonals of the trusses, and thus the whole of the roof is contained within the depth of the truss.

This will be readily understood by referring to Plate XI, Fig 1, which is an elevation of the 48 feet truss. If we suppose the diagonals DF to be removed, together with the diagonals G, in the second 8 feet compartment from each end, and that the remaining diagonals are made of iron of sufficient strength, and provided either with rebates or wooden sash-bars, for the reception of the glass, we shall obtain a very good idea of this construction. The lower rail is in the form of a gutter, and serves instead of the wooden main gutters above described, and the Paxton gutters rest upon it.

In another form of this improved roofing, the covering is that of sheet iron instead of glass, and it is carried in large undulations over and between the diagonal struts. The lower part of the undulation or “valley” serves in lieu of the Paxton gutter, and conveys the water to the main gutter which forms the bottom rail of the truss.

We cannot conclude our description of the Exhibition building without calling attention to the fact that the tender of Messrs Fox, Henderson and Co, was only accepted on the 26th July 1850, and the Exhibition was opened to the public on the 1st May 1851, as originally intended. The formal contract was not executed until 31st of October 1850, but the contractors had begun to fix the columns on the 26th September, and had already incurred liabilities to the extent of £50, 000. The tender for the original design was £79,800 for the use of the building, or £150,000 for the complete purchase of it, but an additional piece of 936 feet long and 48 feet wide was added to the north side, and various other additions were made. The cost of erecting the building in the short space of time allowed for it, also considerably exceeded expectation, so that the actual prime cost of the building amounted to about £200,000, or about £25 per 100 square feet of ground covered.

Since the commencement of this work, the honour of knighthood has been conferred upon Mr. Joseph Paxton. Mr. Charles Fox, and Mr. William Cubitt, as an acknowledgement of their services in the cause of the Great Exhibition.

G. Woodfall and Son, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.

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I haven't put anymore images on this forum recently, as it just means the old ones get dumped . . .

Here's a link to this book online, though they didn't pull out the plans when they scanned it, sadly . . .

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=T1JJ ... &q&f=false