1844.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



S49 



nth to the 15th centuries inclusive, in the embellishment, by colour, of the 

 architectural members and other parts of their religious and civil edifices. 



2. On tlie various species and qualities of slates, with an analysis of their 

 component parts, — their relative value and apphcability for building pur- 

 poses, and the best chemical tests for ascertaining their durability. 



N.B. Each Essay to he written in a clear and distinct hand, on alternate 

 pages, and to be distinguished by a mark, or motto, without any name at- 

 tached thereto. 



Ihe Soane Medallion to be awarded to be awarded to the best design for 

 a College in an University, of Roman or Itahan architecture, adapted for 

 twenty fellows and four hundred scholars, with chapel, hall, retiring rooms, 

 library, lecture rooms, and a theatre capable of containing one thousand 

 persons. There must be provided a residence for the principal, a suite of 

 four rooms for each fellow, and two rooms for each scholar, with suitable 

 accommodation for the several inferior ofHcers ; likewise kitchen, scullery, 

 buttery, and other requisite domestic offices. 



The building to be placed in an Area of about ten acres ;— the portion not 

 occupied by the buildings to he laid out in gardens, courts, or terraces. 



The Council expect a design, the principal buildings of which shall be 

 composed in a noble and imposing style, with the subordinate features form- 

 ing an appropriate group. 



N.B. The general plan of the buildings is to be as large as a sheet of anti- 

 quarian paper will admit, with two elevations and a section of the entire 

 composition, to the same scale as the plan ; together with such other draw- 

 ings to a larger scale, as the candidate may consider necessary for the perfect 

 development of his design. The block plan may be to a smaller scale. The 

 plans, elevations, and sections, to be tinted in India ink or sepia. 



The competition is not confined to members of the Institute. 



DIRECTIONS FOR CANDIDATES. 



Each Essay and set of Drawings is to be accompinied by a sealed letter, containing the 



name of the writer within, and on the outside the same motto as that attached to the 



Essay or Drawings ; this is to be enclosed in a sealed envelope, containing an address, to 



whicil a communication may be sent of the decision of the Institute, and directed — 



To the Honorary Secretaries of the Royal Institute of British Architects. 



Essay for fliedal (or) Drawings for Medal (Motto). 



The Packet, so prepared and directed, is to be delivered at the Rooms of the Institute, 

 on or before.the 3lst of December, 1844, by Twelve o'clock at noou. 



The Council will not consider themselvea called upon to adjudge a Premium, unless the 

 Essays or Drawings be of sufficient merit to deserve that distinction ; and, if the best 

 drawings should be by a candidate who has been successful on a former occasion, the 

 Institute reserve to themselves the power of adjudging such other adequate reward as 

 they may think fit, and of awarding the Medals oh'ered to the second in merit. The 

 Essays and Drawings, to which Premiums are awarded, become the property of the Insti- 

 tute, to be published by them if thought lit. In case of the papers not being published 

 within eighteen months after receiving the Medals, the authors will be at liberty to pub- 

 lish them. 



THE ROYAL SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF ARTS. 

 June 10, 1844.— MuNGO Ponton, Esq., F.R.S.E., V. P., in the Chair. 



The following communications were made : — 



1. " Oh the Uses and Ailaplation of Iron as a material for Building ;" 

 with Drawings and explanation of the construction of the ilrst iron-house 

 built in Great Britain. By William Fairhairn, Esq., Hon. Member, R.S.S.A., 

 Engineer, Manchester. In this paper Mr. Fairbairn gave a detailed account 

 of an iron-house constructed by hiin for the Seraskier Halil Pasha at Con- 

 stantinople, to be used as a corn-mill. It was 36 feet long by 24 broad, and 

 contained 48 tons of iron — ^was completely fire-proof — and, taking advantage 

 of Mr. Hodgkinson's experiments on the strength of iron, he has given the 

 difterent parts the greatest strength combined with hghtness of metal. Ex- 

 cellent drawings, plan, section, and elevation were also given. Mr. Fairbairn 

 introduces an inner coating of plaster upon coarse wire gauze, leaving four 

 inches of space betwixt the iron exterior and the inner chambers, which 

 guards against the extremes of heat and cold. Mr. Fairbairn also viewed the 

 adaptation of cast-iron to architectural ornament, especially where enriched 

 forms have to be frequently repeated — which affords great facility for the in- 

 troduction of ornament at a moderate cost, and where hut for this it would 

 be unattainable, he, therefore, called the attention of architects and engi- 

 neers to the subject, and shewed that as iron is now extensively used in ship 

 building, so it is well adapted in many situations, particularly where stone is 

 scarce, to architectural purposes, and even where stone may be had in abun- 

 dance, iron is well adapted for decorative purposes. — The thanks of the So- 

 ciety were voted to Mr. Fairbairn, and his communication was referred to a 

 Committee. 



2. •' Observations on the Railways, and the Flax ond Cotton Manufactures 

 ofBclc/ium." With Drawings. By John Anderson, Esq., Cupar-Fife, F.R.S.S.A. 

 Mr. Anderson's paper was the result of a tour lately made in Belgium. After 

 a few introductory remarks, he described the Belgian system of railroads, and 

 gave the estimated cost of the difterent lines, and the anticipated cost of 

 the whole establishment when the Government project shall have been fully 

 completed. He enumerated the principal works of art, and stated the radii 

 of the most important curves, and also the principal gradients. From this 

 paper it appeared that the fares on the Belgian lines were considerably lower 

 than those in this country, and that in 1839, when they were for a time 

 raised, a great diminution of passengers was the result. The accidents that 

 have taken place upon the difterent links throughout the country are com- 



paratively few, and when the number of passengers is compared with an 

 equal number who travelled by the common diligence, the calamities by rail- 

 way communication are found to be fewer, and the safety of the passengers 

 in general much greater. The concluding part of the paper described the 

 present state of the ftax and cotton manufactures in Belgium, and compared 

 them with those in this country. Mr. Anderson believed that the Belgians had 

 made great improvement in some of the manufacturing arts ; and he had no 

 doubt that if they continued to show the same spirit of improvement which 

 they had done for these two or three years past, they would soon rank among 

 the most important manufacturing nations of Europe. — Thanks voted, and 

 referred so a committee. 



3. Description, with a Drawing, of a new Arrangement of a Canal LocH. 

 By William Galbraith, M.A., teacher of mathematics, Edinburgh. — Mr. Gal- 

 braith proposed a plan which had occurred to him some years ago, for the 

 more speedily filling and emptying of Canal Locks. He proposes two side 

 chambers, the one in connection with the upper, and the other with the lower 

 reach, with sluices upon them, the effect of which is, that when the one is 

 opened the water flows into the lock through numerous pipes of large diame- 

 ter, along the whole length of the lock ; and when the other sluice is opened, 

 and the former shut, the water in the lock is speedily emptied into the lower 

 reach, by which a great saving of time is eft'ected, and the great agitation of 

 the water in the lock prevented.- -It was remarked by the Secretary, that he 

 understood that a lock on this principle had been introduced by Mr. Walker 

 civil engineer ; and this was an instance which frequently occurred, where 



two ingenious men hit upon the same idea unknown to each other. Thanks 



voted, and referred to a committee. 



4. Jji Elliptograph, on the trammel principle, was exhibited, by which an 

 Ellipse may he formed of any given proportion and size, from half an inch to 

 18 inches radius. Invented by Mr. D. R. Hay. Communicated bv Mr. 

 Alexander Bryson. — Mr. Hay exhibited the Elliptograph, and described it 

 verbally, showing at the same time its mode of operation. It consists of a 

 plane table of iron, having a trammel cut on the under side, into which two 

 studs work, and these studs can be brought close together, or separated from 

 each other, by right and left handed screws, while at the same time the arm 

 bearing the pencd for describing the Ellipse is pushed outwards or drawn in- 

 wards by another screw, A wooden table is fitted to the iron table, on which 

 the paper is fastened ; and after adjusting the studs and pencil to the re- 

 quired Ellipse, the table is turned round by the hand, and the pencil traces 

 the Ellipse. Mr. Hay promised to give a written description and drawing of 

 the machine. — Thanks voted, and referred to a committee. 



ON LOUD BEATS OF CLOCKS USED IN OBSERVATORIES. 



A paper by J. S. Eiffe, Esq., lately read at the Astronomical Society 

 explains a simple and easily applied method of obtaining very loud beats for 

 the astronomical clock. The mode of constructing the apparatus is as fol- 

 lows : — Two pieces of thin brass are placed at the sides of the frame-work 

 of the clock, in length the same as the space between the pillars ; in width, 

 about two inches or more at pleasure ; the pieces are placed horizontally, at 

 about the same altitude from the base as the axis of the escape-wheel pinion, 

 and at right angles to it or nearly so. They should be made of such a size 

 as would insure a sound, distinct, sharp, and short. The little tables can be 

 made to any size. Upon these tables or plates two hammers ply, supported 

 by arbors at the same elevation as all the others. The pivots should be 

 made small for easy motion. The hammers are intended to beat upon the 

 middle of each brass table simultaneously with the drop proper of the escape 

 wheel ; through the agency of the pendulum, they are lifted alternately by 

 the heels of the anchors of the pallets, assisted by a passing spring similar to 

 that used in the chronometer escapement. It has just been observed, that 

 the arbors which support those little hammers are placed at the same eleva- 

 tion from the base of the brass frame-work of the clock as the escape- 

 wheel arbor, hut at the sides, and as near to the edge as possible. About 

 the centre, or midway between them, are affixed brass collets, about ^ 

 of an inch in thickness, and ^ of an inch in diameter. Two slender pieces of 

 spring are secured to the collets by screws passing through square holes 

 formed longitudinally, to secure power of adjustment for bringing the arms 

 into proper contact with the anchor of the pallets. The little hammers beat 

 upon the plates or tables at one end, and at the other the lifting action takes 

 place, assisted by the passing spring. The strokes upon these brass tables 

 have a peculiar sharpness of tone, which can be accounted for in some mea- 

 sure, when it is considered that they are very different from the sounds pro- 

 duced by the teeth of the wheel itself ; in the dead-beat escapement, the 

 teeth have a shding motion in the moment of drop, hut not impulse, for it is 

 well known that that is subsequent to the sound. By such application it is 

 proposed to obtain sound, so loud as to be distinct in the stormiest night ; 

 but as the constant connexion of such apparatus would neither be desirable 

 as concerns the action of the clock, nor pleasant to the ear as a companion, 

 a mode has been introduced of readily detaching it altogether. By a certain 

 method, which shall be explained, the hammers are raised from the tables at 

 one end, and the arms at the other entirely disengaged from the anchor at 

 the pallets, without inconvenience or disturbing action to the clock itself. 

 The apparatus within is immediately, and at pleasure, acted upon through 



