DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1401#0310
2-56
THE ILLUSTRATED EXHIBITOR.
with which taste and ornament have had nothing to do. Ploughs, harrows, grain reapers, threshers, winnowers mill
and everything which pertains either to the cultivation of the soil or to the preparation of its produce, so fill the
allotted to the United States that the impression almost universally obtains that these and kindred implements Pa°e
stitute the bulk of their contributions to the Exhibition. _ To a certain extent this impression is correct. The demsu°H~
of any country will govern the character and supply of its manufacture, and the great demands in a new country
ever for that which will increase the products of its soil. '
are
There are, however, contributions from the States which indicate an advance in manufactures beyond that stao-
which contributes only to the supply of the strongest human wants. Pianofortes of elaborate carving and brill *
o
lant
tone, carriages of nice construction and elegant appointments, luxurious chairs, graseful epergnes, instruments of e^
scientific construction, and machines of complicated and ingenious invention, are scattered through the department rn
numbers sufficient to show what the great nation of the west is aiming to accomplish side by side with the older nations
of the world.
Our engraving represents one of two chandeliers contributed to the Exhibition by Messrs. Cornelius and Co
of Philadelphia. The demand for their manufactures, sold in the market in competition with the richest productions
of the oldest houses in Europe, enables them to keep nearly 700 hands in steady employment. They are, however the
oldest and largest house in that country, and have succeeded, after many years, in successfully competing with all that
has been brought against them. The articles they exhibit indicate a high advance in the most difficult processes of
their art. Taking them as the best of their productions, expressly designed, cast, elaborated, and finished for the
Exhibition, they need no apology when placed in juxtaposition with the chandeliers of England, France, Russia
or Austria.
The style adopted is a happy medium between the Renaissance and Louis Quatorze. The ornaments are bold
and effective, without detracting from the light and airy effect which it has evidently been the purpose of the designer
to give. The succession of scrolls which form the branches, the grouping of flowers in the canopy above, the han»in<>-
fruit and intertwining convolvulus and lily, are all in the highest style of art. The castings are of brass, lacquered°
without chain, standing 15 feet high, and 6| feet from burner to burner, the whole number of lights being 15. In
addition to the chandeliers, the same house contributes lard-lamps of peculiar beauty of colour, and, from a very
simple scientific arrangement, of great power of combustion, equal, it is said, to twice that of other lamps.
The lamps exhibited by Cornelius and Co. are for burning lard in the coldest weather, and were invented by this
firm in 1838. At the request of the Government of the United States the relative difference between lard and oil was
tried in these lamps. It was found that one pound of lard burned as long, and gave as much light, as one pint of the
best sperm oil; the lard in Philadelphia cost 4d. a pound, and the oil 8d. a pint, which experiment proved a saving of
50 per cent, in favour of the lard ; and in the western country, where lard is much cheaper, the saving is of course much
greater. These lamps are equally well adapted for burning oil, and are the only kind now in use in the United States.
In the immediate vicinity of the chandeliers of Messrs. Cornelius is a contribution totally dissimilar in character, which
deserves notice not only for the mechanical ingenuity displayed in its construction, but for its actual advance in the science
of humanity ;—we refer to the artificial leg by Dr. B. F. Palmer. The articulations of the knee, ancle, and toes in this
limb are so operated, that nowhere is there motion where any two pieces of metal meet, thus entirely avoiding all sound
and all jarring sensation. The bolts upon which the joints move all take bearings in wood, properly padded, which
gives strength and permanence to the articulations. The tendons and springs perfectly imitate nature, performing the
functions of the tendon Achilles, flexor and extensor muscles, and giving firmness and elasticity to the step. When
the heel is placed upon the ground the foot and toes easily and gradually extend; all lateral or rotary motion is avoided,
and the limping gait is almost entirely prevented. Indeed, the exhibitor, who wears one of these limbs, is enabled to
walk without a cane in such a manner as to readily deceive one not acquainted with the facts of the case. The limb is
light, weighing, in full size, less than 3£ lbs., and the exterior covered with an impervious enamelled surface rivalling
in appearance the exquisite mechanism of nature. We understand that the limb has met with great favour in England,
both among the faculty and those whose misfortune has made such an invention a subject of interest, and that it is to
be immediately manufactured here.
The candle machine exhibited by T. R. Roddis is claimed to be a great improvement upon the ordinary process
of manufacturing what has become a large article of commerce. One man, by this machine, can do the work of five
in the usual way of making mould candles. It saves the expense of preparing and cutting the wick, places it in the
centre of the candle, and, by the same process that draws the candle from the mould, draws in and sets the wick. The
simplicity of the operation cannot fail to recommend itself to those engaged in this manufacture.
The bell telegraph exhibited by Mr. Brooks is a neat and facile invention for doing away with the present
awkward array of house bells. It consists of an ornamental piece of furniture, that can be affixed to the wall or placed
upon a stand or table. The dial is marked with numbers, corresponding with the numbers of the rooms and chambers
in the house. When a bell is rung the number requiring a servant is uncovered, and remains so until sprung back,
thus indicating whence the call was made until it is answered. It is generally introduced into the large hotels of the
United States, and has been adopted by the Atlantic steamers.
Among the agricultural implements may be seen the plough of Prouty and Mears, which received the medal of the
jury. It is of light manufacture, compact, strong, and capable of doing a character of work in loam soils very greatly
superior to any ploughs now in use. Messrs. Burgess and Key, of Newgate-street, have made such arrangements
with the exhibitors as will enable them to supply these ploughs to English farmers. The same enterprising house have
also entered into negotiations with Mr. M'Cormick, the inventor of the reaping machine, for building that universally-
approved implement in this country.
( It cannot fail to be noticed that the colour of the glass sent from the United States is unrivalled in clearness and
purity. Awkward and bizarre in shape, faulty in design, and very far below other contributions of glass in fabric,
it stands unapproached in colour. This is owing to the quality of the sand used in the glass-works of the United
States, samples of which are exhibited. When compared with all other sands now used—the Isle of Wight,
Australian, and Fontainbleau—it possesses a whiteness and purity unapproached. Its cost of freight is the objection
to using it generally in our own works ; but it cannot be, in the present rivalry for excellence among the glass-makers
of Europe, that the enhanced expense of a few shillings will prevent them from embracing the means of a great
improvement.
We shall take an early opportunity to call attention'to the new arrivals of goods from the United States.
John C'assel: , 335, Strand.
THE ILLUSTRATED EXHIBITOR.
with which taste and ornament have had nothing to do. Ploughs, harrows, grain reapers, threshers, winnowers mill
and everything which pertains either to the cultivation of the soil or to the preparation of its produce, so fill the
allotted to the United States that the impression almost universally obtains that these and kindred implements Pa°e
stitute the bulk of their contributions to the Exhibition. _ To a certain extent this impression is correct. The demsu°H~
of any country will govern the character and supply of its manufacture, and the great demands in a new country
ever for that which will increase the products of its soil. '
are
There are, however, contributions from the States which indicate an advance in manufactures beyond that stao-
which contributes only to the supply of the strongest human wants. Pianofortes of elaborate carving and brill *
o
lant
tone, carriages of nice construction and elegant appointments, luxurious chairs, graseful epergnes, instruments of e^
scientific construction, and machines of complicated and ingenious invention, are scattered through the department rn
numbers sufficient to show what the great nation of the west is aiming to accomplish side by side with the older nations
of the world.
Our engraving represents one of two chandeliers contributed to the Exhibition by Messrs. Cornelius and Co
of Philadelphia. The demand for their manufactures, sold in the market in competition with the richest productions
of the oldest houses in Europe, enables them to keep nearly 700 hands in steady employment. They are, however the
oldest and largest house in that country, and have succeeded, after many years, in successfully competing with all that
has been brought against them. The articles they exhibit indicate a high advance in the most difficult processes of
their art. Taking them as the best of their productions, expressly designed, cast, elaborated, and finished for the
Exhibition, they need no apology when placed in juxtaposition with the chandeliers of England, France, Russia
or Austria.
The style adopted is a happy medium between the Renaissance and Louis Quatorze. The ornaments are bold
and effective, without detracting from the light and airy effect which it has evidently been the purpose of the designer
to give. The succession of scrolls which form the branches, the grouping of flowers in the canopy above, the han»in<>-
fruit and intertwining convolvulus and lily, are all in the highest style of art. The castings are of brass, lacquered°
without chain, standing 15 feet high, and 6| feet from burner to burner, the whole number of lights being 15. In
addition to the chandeliers, the same house contributes lard-lamps of peculiar beauty of colour, and, from a very
simple scientific arrangement, of great power of combustion, equal, it is said, to twice that of other lamps.
The lamps exhibited by Cornelius and Co. are for burning lard in the coldest weather, and were invented by this
firm in 1838. At the request of the Government of the United States the relative difference between lard and oil was
tried in these lamps. It was found that one pound of lard burned as long, and gave as much light, as one pint of the
best sperm oil; the lard in Philadelphia cost 4d. a pound, and the oil 8d. a pint, which experiment proved a saving of
50 per cent, in favour of the lard ; and in the western country, where lard is much cheaper, the saving is of course much
greater. These lamps are equally well adapted for burning oil, and are the only kind now in use in the United States.
In the immediate vicinity of the chandeliers of Messrs. Cornelius is a contribution totally dissimilar in character, which
deserves notice not only for the mechanical ingenuity displayed in its construction, but for its actual advance in the science
of humanity ;—we refer to the artificial leg by Dr. B. F. Palmer. The articulations of the knee, ancle, and toes in this
limb are so operated, that nowhere is there motion where any two pieces of metal meet, thus entirely avoiding all sound
and all jarring sensation. The bolts upon which the joints move all take bearings in wood, properly padded, which
gives strength and permanence to the articulations. The tendons and springs perfectly imitate nature, performing the
functions of the tendon Achilles, flexor and extensor muscles, and giving firmness and elasticity to the step. When
the heel is placed upon the ground the foot and toes easily and gradually extend; all lateral or rotary motion is avoided,
and the limping gait is almost entirely prevented. Indeed, the exhibitor, who wears one of these limbs, is enabled to
walk without a cane in such a manner as to readily deceive one not acquainted with the facts of the case. The limb is
light, weighing, in full size, less than 3£ lbs., and the exterior covered with an impervious enamelled surface rivalling
in appearance the exquisite mechanism of nature. We understand that the limb has met with great favour in England,
both among the faculty and those whose misfortune has made such an invention a subject of interest, and that it is to
be immediately manufactured here.
The candle machine exhibited by T. R. Roddis is claimed to be a great improvement upon the ordinary process
of manufacturing what has become a large article of commerce. One man, by this machine, can do the work of five
in the usual way of making mould candles. It saves the expense of preparing and cutting the wick, places it in the
centre of the candle, and, by the same process that draws the candle from the mould, draws in and sets the wick. The
simplicity of the operation cannot fail to recommend itself to those engaged in this manufacture.
The bell telegraph exhibited by Mr. Brooks is a neat and facile invention for doing away with the present
awkward array of house bells. It consists of an ornamental piece of furniture, that can be affixed to the wall or placed
upon a stand or table. The dial is marked with numbers, corresponding with the numbers of the rooms and chambers
in the house. When a bell is rung the number requiring a servant is uncovered, and remains so until sprung back,
thus indicating whence the call was made until it is answered. It is generally introduced into the large hotels of the
United States, and has been adopted by the Atlantic steamers.
Among the agricultural implements may be seen the plough of Prouty and Mears, which received the medal of the
jury. It is of light manufacture, compact, strong, and capable of doing a character of work in loam soils very greatly
superior to any ploughs now in use. Messrs. Burgess and Key, of Newgate-street, have made such arrangements
with the exhibitors as will enable them to supply these ploughs to English farmers. The same enterprising house have
also entered into negotiations with Mr. M'Cormick, the inventor of the reaping machine, for building that universally-
approved implement in this country.
( It cannot fail to be noticed that the colour of the glass sent from the United States is unrivalled in clearness and
purity. Awkward and bizarre in shape, faulty in design, and very far below other contributions of glass in fabric,
it stands unapproached in colour. This is owing to the quality of the sand used in the glass-works of the United
States, samples of which are exhibited. When compared with all other sands now used—the Isle of Wight,
Australian, and Fontainbleau—it possesses a whiteness and purity unapproached. Its cost of freight is the objection
to using it generally in our own works ; but it cannot be, in the present rivalry for excellence among the glass-makers
of Europe, that the enhanced expense of a few shillings will prevent them from embracing the means of a great
improvement.
We shall take an early opportunity to call attention'to the new arrivals of goods from the United States.
John C'assel: , 335, Strand.