34 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECrS JOURNAL. 



[Jan. 20, 



either side of the nave. The clerestory is about 40ft. high, containing four 

 windows. The (julpit, of carved oak, stands in the interior of the second 

 pier, on the north side of the nave. The whole of the nave and aisles are 

 pevted with large square deal pews to the height of 4 ft. 9 in. There are some 

 good encaustic tiles scattered over the pavement, but the patterns are broken 

 by grave. stones. The font, of lead, is close to the western arch ; it bears 

 the date of 1640. The height of the tower is about 84 ft. ; out of it rises the 

 spire to the height of 75fl., which is particularly graceful and slender, its 

 chief beauty arising from its being set so very straight from the base. The 

 whole of the interior of this beautiful church was formerly covered with white 

 and yellow wash ; the window jambs and mtiUions had been broken away, 

 and repaired with plaster ; the pier arches and caps were so thickly coated 

 with plaster that it was impossible to guess what might be contained under 

 it. The mullions, &c., of the windows in the chancel have, however, been 

 restored in the best possible way, the splay and sash of the east window 

 being cased with freestone instead of mortar and wash. The wash and 

 plaster have also been removed from nearly all the piers, caps, and pier 

 arches. Two large pews of 6ft. 7 in. by 6ft. Sin. and 5ft. 4 in. high, on each 

 side of the chancel, have been removed, and are being replaced by two stalls. 

 The expense of these restorations, amounting to 70/., has been defrayed by 

 the rector, with the exception of 5^ from the rural dean, and 5/. from the 

 farmers of the parish. The south porch had been restored through the gene- 

 rosity of the Bristol and West of England Architectural Society. Speaking 

 of gilding in the church, the paper continued — " If symbolism is to retain its 

 full force, the present is not the time for painting and gilding our churches. 

 At a time when the church, if not peculiarly under the harrows, is just 

 emerging from a worse condition, it would seem that, however much we are 

 bound to use every endeavour to extend her circuit and take care that she 

 goes in solemn and costly attire, yet the time is not come when we may 

 clothe her in that joyous and triumphant garb which we fully trust awaits 

 her, fully wrought with gold purified in the fire of affliction." The rev. 

 gentleman, in conclusion, said, that the cost of the proposed farther restora- 

 tion of the church was estimated at £2,000. 



An interesting conversation ensued upon various subjects connected with 

 the church architecture, in which the chairman observed that a work was in 

 course of publication for determining the direction in which churches were 

 built. It was frequently observed that churches were not built due east, 

 which had been accounted for by supposing that respect had been had to the 

 point of the sun's rising on the festival of the saint to whom the church was 

 dedicated. The Orientator was accompanied by a calendar, by which the 

 sun's rising on the festival days could readily be ascertained. The venerable 

 chairman also oliserved that much more good would ultimately be effected 

 by building one church at a cost of £20,000, than four at £5,000 each, in- 

 asmuch as men's minds would be called to the due distinction and honour 

 which ought to be given to a building dedicated to the service of God. 



ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS. 



January 8. — C. Barry, Esq., R.A., V.P., in the chair. 

 A communication was read from W. M. Iliggins, Esq., " On the recent re- 

 itoration of the spire of St. Stephen, at Vienna." — It proceeded to state, that 

 the ancient church of St. Stephen is supposed to have been founded, in the 

 year 1144, by Heinricb Jasomirgott, afterwards the first Duke of Austria, one 

 of the twenty-three children of Agneseus, to whom the Klosternenburgh owes 

 its foundation. The church seems to have been several times injured by fire, 

 and, in 1519, by severe earthquakes, which did great injury to the buildings 

 in Vienna and the vicinity, and on these occasions to have been partly rebuUt, 

 and much enlarged. The tower, as built, or restored, in 1519, in process of 

 time, deviated out of the perpendicular to a considerable extent. An iron 

 bar was carried through it as an axis for the support of the spire, which, 

 having a considerable tendency to vibrate, might be considered as an element 

 of destruction, rather than of strength ; consequently the thin wall of the 

 loner portion uf the spire was reduced almost to a ruin, and at length became 

 in such a dangerous condition, as to require rebuilding. The removal of the 

 old ipire was commenced in August, 1839, and in the following spring all the 

 condemned part had been removed. The mode of construction adopted in 

 the restoration, was novel and ingenious; the slight masonry of the spire 

 being supported by means of a framing of vertical iron ribs fastened, at their 

 lower extremities, to a cast iron plate or base, and united to each other at 

 intervals by horizontal rings of rolled iron. These rings are made to project 

 from the inner surface, so as to admit of a person ascending, with the as- 

 tistance of ladders, to the top of the spire. All the wrought and rolled iron 

 employed in the construction of this iron skeleton, the weight of which was 

 only 123 cwt., was prepared in the government works at Neuberg, in Styria. 

 The cast-iron plates or rings were furnished from the government iron works 

 at Marie-zell. In the autumn of 1842, when the whole of the masonry of 

 the spire had been completed, the upper portion, consisting entirely of iron 

 work, was tixed. This also was attached to a strong cast-iron circular plate, 

 similar in constrnclion to that below. This portion of the traraing, with the 

 other iron work employed in the spire, weighed about 80 cwt., so that the 

 entire weight of iron was about 203 cwt. The new portion of the spire was 

 connected to the old by means of an arrangement of iron work, very appro- 

 priately called " anchor fastenings." The portion of the spire restored, (viz., 



from the gallery of the tower to the top of the crosi) is about 182 ft., the 

 cost thereof being about 130,000 gulden, of which sura 15,500 gulden were 

 expended in taking down the old spire, and in the construction of the ne- 

 cessary scaffolding. Objections have been raised, at Vienna, to the extensive 

 use of wrought iron in the reconstruction, from an apprehension of injury 

 arising from the dilatation of the metal under changes of temperature ; it ap- 

 pears, however, from careful experiments made, that the expansion of a bar 

 of wrought iron 40ft. in length, under an alteration of 40' Reaumur, is not 

 more than three lines, even in a horizontal position, and would be less in a 

 vertical position, in consequence of the pressure of the upper parts on the , 

 lower ; and the opposite effect would increase with the diminution of tempe- 

 rature, the effect being still less when a number of pieces are united, forming 

 a system (as in the iron work of the spirel, than when the same length is in 

 a single piece. It further appears, that Bolinger, the mechanical engineer, 

 found the dilation of one of the iron ribs, between the temperature of summer 

 and winter, to he only one line, and that of the iron framework, when com- 

 pleted and exposed to the direct rays of the sun before it was covered by the 

 masonry, to be imperceptible. 



At the next Meeting, on Monday Evening, the 22nd instant, the following 

 papers will be read : — " A description of the new bridge over the River 

 Moine, at Clisson, near Nantes," by William Bromet, Esq. M.D., F.S.A. 

 " Some observations on the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, at Kettering, 

 in Northamptonshire, by Mr. R. W. Billings, Associate. 



ON BRONZE FOR STATUES. 



By Captain Charles Hoffman, of the Prussian Artillery. 



(Translated for the Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal from the Berlin 

 Gewerbeblalt.) 



Bronze should be of a good colour, and yellowish red is preferred : it 

 should be capable of being wrought with the file and the chisel; it should 

 have the fluidity requisite for filling perfectly all the cavities of the mould, 

 and producing an exact impression, and it should be capable of taking 

 patina or a green colour by the application of a mordant. The first quality 

 is best obtained in those alloys of tin aud copper in which the tin is in a 

 proportion of from 15 to 6 per cent, the red colour of the compound, and 

 its tenacity increasing in inverse proportion to the quantity of tin contained. 

 But all the combinations of copper and tin are formed by the mechanical 

 mixture of anterior combinations of coj)per and tin, of which one containing 

 exactly 61J per cent, of copper, and 38^ per cent, of tin, is distinguished by 

 a bluish tint and crystalline fracture, and possesses considerable hardness; 

 whilst the other contains nearly 95} per cent, of copper and 4| per cent, of 

 tin, and has a bright yellow colour tinged with red, and presenting a close 

 grain, on fracture, a rough surface, and much tenacity. The first combination, 

 which is the harder, contains exactly 3 atoms of copper and 1 of tin, and 

 the second 30 to 40 atoms of copper to 1 of tin. These two combinations 

 may be considered as representing hardness and tenacity, the due develop- 

 ment of which properties of cohesion can only exist as the combination is 

 uniform throughout the mass, an effect difhcult to be produced in pieces of 

 bronze very dissimilar, and cooling with a different degree of rapidity. 

 These reasons form a considerable objection to the use of copper-tin bronze 

 for statuary founding, besides which, although a sufficient proportion of tin 

 will give fluidity so as to fill the mould well, such an alloy is bad for the 

 chisel, flying off in little hits, which prevents the work from looking well ; 

 neither do these alloys present a good patina. 



The capability of being wrought by file and chisel is afforded by copper- 

 zinc alloy, provided the zinc does not exceed 25 per cent, nor fall below 

 5 per cent.; but it is often obstinate to handle, and yet is not hard enough 

 in delicate parts to withstand the action of chiselling. The colours are a 

 yellowish red, verging often to a citron yellow. Some of these alloys are 

 very fluid, but do not fill the mould well, to effect that, 30 or 58j per cent, 

 of zinc must be introduced, but which alloys are hard and brittle under the 

 chisel. Copper- zinc, therefore, is not a good alloy, but zinc added to copper 

 is susceptible of a good patina. 



Profitting by these several properties. Professor Hoffman has made some 

 experiments to obtain a good statuary bronze, and recommends the alloys 

 ranging between the two following cases, 



1st. To produce the reddest bronze. 



88J copper-zinc (7 atoms copper, 1 atom zinc.) 

 Hi copper-tin (3 atoms copper, 1 atom tin.) 



100 

 2nd. A cheap bronze with a bright yellow colour almost golden. 

 93] copper-zinc (2 atoms copper, 1 atom zinc.) 

 6^ copper-tin (3 atoms copper, 1 atom tin.) 



100 



The combinations between these two, Captain Hoffman ranges in five 

 classes, possessing various properties. 



