The life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer Part 49

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.

Brunel's directions, and finished in May 1854. Many experiments were tried with it, at Birmingham and at Manchester, in the spring of 1855, and afterwards at Woolwich; and its performances obtained great notoriety.

The history of this rifle, and the objects Mr. Brunel had in view in its design, will be understood from the following letters to Mr. Westley Richards:--

I.

October 25, 1852.

I have long wanted to try an experiment with a rifle, for the purpose of determining whether there is anything in a crotchet I have upon the subject, but I have been deterred from attempting it from the feeling that in these abominable patenting days (I hate patents) the chances were, that if, in the progress of my experiments, any new result, good or bad, were observed, or a workman should think he _saw_ something, a patent would be taken over my head, and, to say the least, I should be stopped in pursuing my own investigation, as has happened to me more than once.

I have also been deterred by my not knowing whether the existing machinery for rifling barrels would enable me to obtain an increasing or varying twist from one end of the barrel to the other, as this would be necessary to make the experiment, and I should not care to incur the expense of a machine on purpose. My introduction to you, through our mutual friend Whateley, induces me to make the enquiry whether your apparatus or mode of rifling enables you to give such a twist, and if so, whether you could and would make me a barrel. If so, I will trouble you with an explanation of my scheme, as I should have no secrets with you.

II.

February 7, 1853.

I take this opportunity of mentioning again the subject I once wrote or spoke to you about. I want a rifle barrel made octagon shaped inside, the octagon having a twist rather more than usual, and an increasing twist, say twice as much at the mouth of the piece as at the breech. Can you make me such a barrel for an experiment? I will explain to you the object when we meet, as it can only be done _viva voce_.

III.

[The following letter was written to Mr. Westley Richards in answer to a request that Mr. Brunel would permit him to obtain a license from Mr. (now Sir Joseph) Whitworth to make rifles of a polygonal shape. Mr. Whitworth had obtained a patent for improvements in cannons, guns, and fire-arms, in February 1855, and in his complete specification, dated May 30, 1855, he had for the first time claimed--

Firstly, the several combinations of parts forming, when put together, the barrels of ordnance, or fire-arms, having a polygonal spiral shape. Secondly, the use of the spirally-shaped segments.

Thirdly, the adoption of the polygonal spiral for rifled ordnance and fire-arms. Fourthly, the combination of parts forming the breech-loading apparatus.]

November 26, 1858.

I am obliged to you for your communication on the subject of the octagon gun, and in acknowledging your courtesy and gentlemanly feeling I would add that it is only what I always felt I could rely upon from you.

I beg you will not hesitate to take out a license from Mr.

Whitworth for octagon guns (if, as a matter of business, you think it convenient to do so) on account of any prior claim which you may know I could set up, and if you get a license for a nominal consideration, as I understand you can, of course as a man of business you should do so. I have no intention of interfering with Mr. Whitworth's patent, even to indulge the feeling I have against all patents and protective laws, which I consider have become the curse of the day, and the sources of the greatest injury to inventors and manufacturers, and still more to the public; and I should also be very sorry even to annoy my friend Mr. Whitworth merely for the sake of showing that I had previously made the gun (at least you made it for me), and I believe others have preceded me, which he has patented; and I a.s.sure you that I shall not consider your taking out a license as in any way a denial of this fact, of which you are cognisant.

I have never seen Whitworth's patent; what is it exactly that he does patent? It cannot be merely the polygon, because, even if n.o.body had preceded me, that would have been already a copy of mine, which not only was made before he began his investigation, but was lent by me, at your request, to him, I think before his patent. My rifle is, I am told, doing quite wonders at Woolwich, and I begin to think there must be something in the principle which I intended to introduce into it, and which is totally different from what I understood to be Whitworth's. I sought to use a comparatively loose ball, but which I thought would centre itself, both in position and direction, to the axis of the barrel by the peculiar action of a polygon within a polygon acted upon by an increasing pitch, and it really seems from the results as if my theory was correct.[184]

_Gunnery Experiments._

In 1854 Mr. Brunel took up warmly the question of improvement in large guns, which was then attracting the attention of several scientific men.

The friends.h.i.+p which had for some years previously existed between him and Mr. (now Sir William) Armstrong, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, gave Mr.

Brunel opportunities for discussing these matters, with a view to their being carried into practical effect.

The following extracts from a letter written by Mr. Brunel, in April 1855, to Mr. James Nasmyth, explain generally his opinions at that time upon the construction of large guns:--

From what I have observed of the operation of fractures under _sudden_, quick-acting forces--such as bursting of guns, and fractures under blows, as in our railway smashes--I have arrived deliberately by observation at the conclusion, which every mechanical-minded man arrives at more or less by intuition, that h.o.m.ogeneity and equality of tension and of elasticity in the parts are necessary for strength to resist a violent strain applied suddenly in its full force, which I will call a blow. My impression, from the result of observation, is, that this operates much more than is generally a.s.sumed.