May 17, 1872. THE BUILDING NEWS.
5 In addition to the mere luxury which the sea in London would secure to the inhabitants, we are inclined to believe that certain hygienic benefits would result from the passage of the sea-water into the sewers, if that should ever reach a considerable amount. E RAPHALL’s CarTroons.—With a view to presery accurate copies of the cartoons of Raphael, the lords of the Committee of Council on Education, acting through a committee, propose to select nine artists to make preliminary studies of given parts of three of the cartoons. Artists will first be required tocomplete an accurate copy,either in water- colours, tempera, or oil, of a photograph, full size, of a head selected from the Beautiful Gate. These will be sent in to the Secretary of the Science and Art Department by the 31st July, 1872. From the candidates so competing nine may be selected to make accurate coloured copies from the cartoons themselves of portions set out by the committee as a final test. Candidates will be allowed £2 per week for not more than eight weeks to complete these copies, which will be the property of the Science and Art Department. If the competition prove satisfactory a further selection of portions of the cartoons will be made, to continue the work of reproduction. 3 Crass or Construction AND Practice, ARcHI- gectuRAL AssocraTion.—This class will hold its fourteenth meeting for the present session on Friday evening next, the 24th inst., when the subject will be “Surveying and Mensuration.” The following are the questions ;—1. Give an illus- tration from a surveyor’s field-book; also from a Jeyeller’s. Explain both. 2. How would you chain on a line obstructed by a pond, a building, or by a river across which the chain will not reach? 3. In surveying a wood you have to keep the chain lines on the outside; how would you tie them so as to plot and check your work? 4. A portion of railway cutting is 36ft. wide at formation level, and one fur- long in length; side slopes 1 in 2; height to surface at one end 20ft. and 30ft. on each side respectively ; at other end 15ft. and 35ft., the ground sloping gradually between. Give the cubic content. 9. What will it cost to decorate a semi-circular dome 15ft. diameter for a height of 3ft. from the springing, at £1 per foot super? 6. A circular pond one acre in area has a fence round it at a distance of 20ft. from the edge. Required the length of the fence and the area of the ground it encloses. An ExpertmenraL GaAs-worns. — A German Society of Gas and Water Experts in America have under consideration a plan for establishing an ex- perimental gas-works, for the purpose of deciding various questions which may arise in the details of their profession by actual experiment. The pro- posed plan, if adopted, will be upon a large scale, so as to reproduce, as far as possible, all the conditions mct with in practice. ; Tur Worxs or TurNeR AND MuLREADY.— Recently, at the London Institution, Finsbury Circus, Mr. R. Leibreich, the eminent cphthalmic surgeon, gave a most interesting lecture on the results of de- fective vision upon paintings, with especial reference to the works of Turner and Mulready. There were some illustrative experiments, demonstrative of the fact that Turner, in his later years, could not see things as they were, but that they appeared to him elongated in a vertical direction, the immediate effect being the production of that haziness which is so characteristic of his later works. Similarly in Mul- ready’s case, it was shown that the painter’s eye gradually became discoloured with age, and thus aused an intense blue or purple to predominate in his later pictures, a defect which could be entirely neutralised by viewing them through a yellow glass. Re-VArnisurve.—Old jobs should be rubbed well with pumice-stone and water, the bare wood being covered with lead colour. All spots not bare can be touched up with dead colour; then put on a coat of rubbing varnish. If there be spots yet not coloured properly, they can be fixed for the next or finishing coat. It is generally the cheapest plan to colour the carriage part over and stripe anew, as it is a long, tedious job, to touch it up, and never looks well. To Brixp a Brusu.—Brushes, when new, should be bound at least one-third the length of the hair, to preserve them and render them better for use. Some painters bind a strong cord round and round to the proper distance, and secure each end to the handle. But a better way is to take a piece of strong muslin and wrap one thickness around the hair, then tie a cord firmly around the same as low as you desire the binding to come; then fold the muslin back toward the handle, and fasten it by tacking the margin around the border of the original binding. ‘This method makes a very neat binding, especially for varnish brushes.
WATER SUPPLY AND SANITARY MATTERS. Tur Water Supply oF THE MreTroporis.—At the meeting of the Board of Works on Friday last, the Parliamentary Committee presented a report on the regulations for a constant supply of water made by the Metropolitan Water Companies, and sub- mitting a series of amended regulations to be pro- posed to the Board of Trade, in substitution for those made by the companies.—Mr. Dalton said the regu- lations proposed by the companies were of such a restrictive character that if they were adopted there would, in fact, be no constant supply. The regula- tions did not become law till they had received the sanction of the Board of Trade. That Board had referred the regulations for the opinion of this Board. He moved the adoption of amended regulations, which would secure to the inhabitants a constant supply of water—Mr. Newton said this was a most important matter, because, if the companies should succeed in passing their regulations, they would defeat the object the Board had in view. The motion was carried. —————_—— MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEE. WEDNESDAY. — ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION.— Meeting of Elementary Class of Design ; subject: ‘‘ Front of timber house, with such a section as is necessary to show the construction (fifteenth or sixteenth cen- tury).” 8 p.m. Fripay.— ARCHITECTURAL ASsOCIATION.—Meeting of Class of Construction and Practice; subject : “Surveying and Mensuration.” 6.30 p. m—Meeting of Class of Design ; subject: ‘Elevation and section of half- timbered house and shop-front in street, 25ft. frontage.” 5 p.m. —_————— CHIPS. On Saturday afternoon last the foundation stone of a new Wesleyan Chapel was laid at Penistone: The building will be Gothic in style, and will ac- commodate 400 persons, the cost being about £1,600. The work has been let to various local contractors. The friends of the late Mr. Samuel Bamford are going to erecta monument to his memory in his native town (Middleton, Lancashire), at a cost of £500. The inhabitants of Syracuse are building a monu- ment of white marble to Mazzini in the famous quarries in which 7,000 Athenians were confined after the siege of Syracuse and the defeat of Nicias. On Tuesday week the foundation stones of two new harbours were laid at Bonne Nuit and Gréeve- de-Lecq, on the north side of the island of Jersey, the contract for the former being £7,000, and for the latter £8,000. The township of Blackrod has agreed to adopt the Local Government Act. A new Baptist Chapel at Briercliffe was opened on Tuesday week. The cost of the building has been £600. Messrs. Oates & Stanworth, ‘of Wors- thorne, were the contractors for the masons’ work, the joiners’ work being carried out by Mr. J. Wise- man, of Burnley. Sittings are provided for 340 persons. A new police and fire station has been erected in Manchester at a cost of £10,775, covering an area of 1,480 square yards. The plans were prepared by Mr. J. G. Lynde, the city surveyor, and Messrs. R. Neili & Sons were the contractors. There is to be a grand International Workmen’s Exhibition in the Palais de Industrie on July 14th, its principal object being the furtherance of domestic economy. Thus articles of food and details relating to the better warming and lighting of houses will be specially exhibited. The new Educational Institute at Harwood was opened last week. The building has been erected from a design by Mr. C. J. Darbishire, architect, of Manchester. Mr. Mackenzie has withdrawn the resignation he had tendered of his appointment as superintending gardener of the Victoria and Albert Embankments. Considerable quantities of human remains have been discovered in digging for the foundations of some new premises on the west side of Charterhouse- street, near the Metropolitan Meat Market. The dead wall formerly opposite Sion College, London Wall, which shut in the churchyard of 5. Alphage, has been removed, and a light iron railing substituted, preparatory to turning the plot into a garden. This improyement inlight and cheerfulness is further enhanced as it exposes to view the fine piece of the old London wall there remaining. The memorial stones of a new Wesleyan Chapel at Hampstead were laid on the 2nd inst. The chapel is one of fifty to be built in or near the metropolis during the next nine or ten years. Mr. Charles Bell, A.R.1.B.A., is the architect, and Mr. John Nutt the builder. Asphalte paving is about to be laid down in Old- street, Shoreditch, in front of the Town Hall.
407 The new Lambeth Workhouse promises to be a more expensive affair than was at frst contemplated. The builders’ (Messrs. Crockett, Dickenson, & Oliver) contract alone amounts to £41,000, and the Guardians last week, on the recommendation of the architects (Messrs. Parris & Aldwinckle), decided to apply to the Local Government Board for powers to borrow an additional £16,000 for extra works. A Bill to confirm a scheme prepared by the Metro- politan Board of Works for the preservation of Hackney Fields has been introduced into the House of Commons. The tramway in the Commercial-road is being laid down very rapidly at the present time, and it is stated that the whole length, from Whitechapel- road to the East India Dock, will be completed before the end of next month. Thorne Wesleyan School-chapel, Bacup, was opened for public worship on Sunday week. Tt has been erected from plans by Messrs. Russell & Whittaker, architects, of Bacup and Rochdale, at a cost of about £2,400. The Theatre Royal, Melbourne — the premier theatre of the Australian Colonies—was destroyed by fire on the 19th March. The Melbowrne Argus says :—“ The destruction of three large Australian theatres—the Haymarket in Melbourne, the Prince of Wales's Opera House in Sydney, and now the Theatre Royal—in the brief space of eighteenmonths, seems aremarkable coincidence.” On Tuesday week the foundation stone of new schools, for the parish of Shaftesbury 8. James, Wilts, was laid by the Dowager Marchioness of Westminster. The schools, which will be erected by Mr. T. B. Miles, from a design by Mr. J. Soppitt, architect, will cost about £840. Tt is proposed to restore Shalbourne parish church, Wilts. Lord Ailesbury has given £500. The restoration of Purton Church, Wilts, after a design by Mr. Butterfield, is progressing, and in a few weeks the east end will be ready for use. A new staincd glass window has just been completed at All Saints’ Church, Maidstone, as a memorial of the late Mr. Alexander Randall. The window is by a Brussels artist, and has cost about £1,000. ————_>—_——__ NEW PATENTED INVENTIONS CONNECTED WITH THE BUILDING TRADES. 3383. G.H. Exuis, London, ‘ Asphalte roads, ways, and floors.’—Dated 14th December, 1571.— These improvements consist,first, in laying down two layers of bituminous or asphalte composition, the lower layer being of an inferior and softer quality to and about twice the thickness of the upper layer. Secondly, in a new combination of bitumen with glue or other analogous substance, a quantity of suitable grit being afterwards added. 2672. R. Goun, Birmingham, ‘‘ Cowls or hoods for chimneys, &¢.”—A communication.—Dated 9th Oc- tober, 1871.—According to this invention, the body of the cowl consists of a chamber open at bottom, the lower part being globular and the upper part cylindri- cal and perforated with holes and surmounted by a cover. A trumpet-mouthed shaft or tube supports the cowl, the trumpet mouth occupying the globular part of the body of largest diameter. A disc or plate is suspended in the cowl immediately over but not quite in contact with the mouth of the trumpet-shaped shaft. When the external air is quiescent, the air rising in the shaft enters the cowl and passes out by the holes in the cylindrical part without impediment. When a horizontal current of air strikes the cowl if enters the cowl by the holes described, but is deflected by the suspended dise or plate and escapes by the open bottomof the cowl. If the current of air has an up- ward tendency, it enters the lower part of the cowl, is deflected by the trampet mouth of the shaft against the globular part over the suspended disc or plate, and passes out by the holes in the cylindrical part. The result of this arrangement is that downward draught is prevented and the proper action of the chimney, ventilator, lamp, or lantern to which the cowl is ap- plied is secured. 2675. H. Hucuers, London, ‘“ Apparatus for at- tachment to windows.”—Dated 9th October, 1871.— Plates, tubes, or pieces of metal are formed with flanges and projection, the flanges to be driven into timber to hold the plates in place, and the projections to receive the wear and tear. If theplates are of tubular shape plugs or stoppers are employed. 2703. P. BRANNON, London, “ Construction 0 fire-proof houses and other buildings.’"—Dated 12th October, 1871.—This invention consists informing the entire walls, floors, roofs, arches, viaducts, and other parts of any building or engineering construction im one mass by the employment of a metallic skeleton framework in combination with and permeating a con- tinuous and undivided body of concrete or earthy materials. 9710, S. SLATER, Oldham, Lancashire, ‘* Excluding draughts, &c.”—Dated 13th October, 1871.—The inyen- tion consists in the application and use of a bar or a lath of wood for closing the openings at the bottom of doors, and which the inventor attaches by means of bolts passing through the flaps of hinges, which are slotted perpendicularly to enable the bar to be raised or lowered to any angle according to the height required and to suit the inequalities of the floor.
