EAL   tLSTATE  KECO







AND    BUILDERS'    GUIDE.





Vol. XIL                  NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2^, 1873.                      No. 302





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REPORTS BY ENGLISH WORKMEN ON THE
VIENNA EXHIBITION.





In April, 1873, the counsel of the Society
for the Promotion of Scientific Industry cle-
lermiued to send out a number of selected ar-
tizaus lo report upon the International Exhi¬
bition, theu about to be held at Vienna. Tlie
men left Londou on the 2d of July, reaching
the Austrian capital on the 6th. They \vere
well received, and their work, generally speak¬
ing, was well done. Care has beeu taken in
editing the reports to preserve the character¬
istic features of each, and to leave them pretty
much as thoy left the hands of the writers,
the counsel entertaining the sensible opinion
that tlie individual expressions aud opinions
of the men, whether right or wrong, are of
more value left untouched than if much altered
iu correction.

We can, of course, only notice here the re¬
ports on those trades immediately connected
with the arts of construction and design.

Mr. Frederick Smith, the manager of the
Union Land and Building Society of Man¬
chester, Avas chosen as the reporter on wood¬
work and joinery. His opinion is that the ex¬
hibition of English wood-woiiiing machines
was not fairly to be taken as a test of this
country's strength in that direction. Of what
were tliere he speaks well, remarking that
English makers seem generally to strive to
obtain such a form of machine as will enable
them to cast tlie frame in a single piece, and
to secure solidity, accurate fitting, and ugli¬
ness. The machines are all characterized by
tlie same everlasting lead color, the same stiff¬
ness of outline, and the same accuracy and
strength. The American machines are praised
by Mr. Smith as superior to the English in
general design aud decoration, thougii no bet¬
ter for practical utility, and in point of solidity
and strength scarcely so good. One or two
French machines came in for a word of praise,
but none from any other country called for
special remark. In the manufacture of tools
England is adjudged foremost, the grinding of
them being especially mentioned as superior
to that (of anything of Continental manufac¬
ture. In house joiliiery England and America
showed nothing. Some praise is given to a
collection of mouldings and otlier articles ex-
liibited by a Gothenburg firm, but " the panels
were all jointed, and tlie wood badly matched
in grain and color." A pulpit by' Goyers
Brothers, of Louvain, is well spoken of, but
of the rest of the Belgian joinery Mr. Smith
has evidently a very poor opinion. In par¬
quetry Belgium retrieves her character, Eng¬
land being here a long way behind, the judi¬
cious choice of color striking the eye of the
English visitor as something to which he is
not accustomed. In examining the specimens
of German cabinet work the wide difference
in the quality of the workmanship was much
noticed; the designs were generally excellent.
The Italian and Austrian exhibits are fairly





spoken of, aud the Austrian workman pro¬
nounced in advance of his Continental breth¬
ren. Two cabinets, designed by Owen Jones
and exhibited by Jackson & Graham, helped
well to maintaih tlie honor of England. Mr.
Smith's report does not strike us as being a
very exhaustive one, nor do we gather from
it that he possessed much more than a super¬
ficial knowledge of his subject.

The report on design iu wood, metal, and
stone is by Mr. Richard A. Bastow. A Gothic
pulpit, exhibited by Austria, of very fair de¬
sign, but made in cement, is taken as a text
for a dissertation on the use of that much-
abused materitil. To its more general and
more sensible employment in Dresden and
Vienna, Mr. Bastow attributes the substantial,
cheerful, and respectable aspect of the streets.
Ninety-niue out of every hundred houses are
stuccoed, but there are no cracks visible, no
large brown mouldy patches, no corners
knocked off, and no lines drawn across the
face of the plaster to make believe that the
building is of large solid square stones.

Tlie Austrian wrought-iron work is consid¬
ered scarcely worthy of mention. In this in¬
dustry Englaud, as far as workmanship goes,
is pre-eminent; but in design, behind Con¬
tinental workmen. The cause, Mr. Bastow
thinks, is tliat in all our workshops the general
design for a job and every little detail belong¬
ing to it is drawn by arcliitects tmd tlieir
drauglitsmen " who, practically, know nothing
of a building or of a piece of furniture ;" and
should an intelligent workman see liow an
improvement could be made he dare not men¬
tion it, for if lie did he would instantly be told
to " mind his own business aud work to the
drawing." A pair of wrought-iron gates, ex¬
hibited by Barnard, Bisliop & Barnards, of
Norwich, are mentioned as exceeding an_ything
in the building as a specimen of workmanship
and minute well-finished detail in wrought
iron. A grand entrance, exhibited by tlie
Coalbrookdale Company, must have had an
admirable effect. The perforated panels be¬
tween the two bottom bars, one of which is
illustrated, were designed by Mr. B. J. Talbert,
and well illustrate what can be done in cast
iron. Every leaf, flower, and tendril is uuder-
cut, though each panel is solid and cast in one
piece. The patent twisted metal used for the
bars of the gate is quite a new feature. A
simple bar of ordinary section iron is twisted
by powerful machinery while cold until it
assumes a most telling.undercut effect of
twist.

It is somewhat encouraging to find the
English furniture noticed as having " one fea¬
ture in common—that is, ornamented flat sur¬
faces, the designs of wdiich point to a refined
taste in our midst, and artistic talent which
will, if cared for, and not confined to one par¬
ticular rut, soon elevate us above the level of
our neighboring nations." We wish w^e felt
quite so sure of this as Mr. Bastow seems to be.

The general character of French design is
declared to be animated by a love of display.
No other nation decorates so mucli and so
extravagantly; if they cannot combine utility
with beauty ihey will have the latter at the
expense of the former. German design dis-
■ plays much more real taste. Some good spec¬
imens of cast-iron work are specially noticed,
and an illustration given of a garden-table,
with ferns forming the centre, and ivy running
round for a rim on the top.   Of the artistic





ability of the Italians there can, Mr. Bastow
thinks, be but one opinion; the "general up¬
shot of his ideas" is that Italy is the native
hotbed of European art, and that if not an
Englishman he would be an Italian. They
are very nice sentiments, but we should have
preferred a more detailed notice of the Italian
exhibits. Some Belgian cabinets and a Swed¬
ish octagonal pavilion tire well spoken of, and
so are the Hungarian aud Swiss collections.
Spain, as far as design goes, is said " to pitch
pearls to swine with a vengeance." A cottage
piano is instanced, Avhich, if viewed at the
distance of three yards, looks like a packing-
case with brown paper pasted over it. On
closer inspection it is found to be carved most
elaborately in Geometrical arabesque, Russia
appears to have made a poor show, and the
Turkish attempts at imitation of European
furniture, judgiug from the illustration given,
are, to say the least, amusing. The difference
in design shown in the works of the ancient
and modern Egyptians is commented on, and
with cause. The dome, the minaret, the cres¬
cent, and the ungcientific arch and colored
embellishments of the Mussulman have alto¬
gether taken the place of the monolithic style
of the Pharaohs. One large Egyptian build¬
ing was a fine specimen of Moorish architect¬
ure. Roumauia, Persia, China, aud Japan
sent collections, but little was to be learnt, in
an art point of view, from any of them.

Under the heading of " Machinery in gen¬
eral," Mr. F. N. Millington reports on " Wood
Working Machinery;" and a very well written
and practical report it is. He praises the
American and English machines, and especi¬
ally notices those exhibited by Messrs. Robin¬
son & Son, of Rochdale, and 'Messrs. A. Ran-
some & Co., of Loudon. Considering the im¬
mense amount of woodwork done in Austria,
Mr. Millington was surprised to find the
native display such a poor one. Taking a
general survey of the wood-working machinery
exhibited, he is of opinion that, with the
exception of. one-or two special machines iu
the American section, most of the improve¬
ments consist in matters of detail, which are
common among all the best makers. In log
frames the tendency seems to bo to do away
with the heavy carriage fed forward with rack
underneath and to substitute in its place two
light trucks running on rails to carry the log,
while the feed motion consisted ot two grooved
rollers, one before, the other behind—the
standards of the saw; the log was allowed to
rest on the rollers until the pressure was suf¬
ficient to cause them to bite; the rollers were
driven by the ordinary silent feed. Mr.
Millington fears that this system will hardly
answer very well for the crooked oak timber
grown in England. Most makers of band
saws are doing away with the flange ou the
pulleys, alleging that it causes a deal of useless
friction, and that it is too flxr removed from
the table to give an efficient support to the
saw when sawmg. The saw is prevented
from leaving the pulley by a small plate of
steel, or a roller in some cases, which is
attached to the guide, and prevents the saw
from \m(Mmg.—London Building Neics.





The Chicago Inter Ocean comes to us replete
with general information. It is one of the
foremost of Western pap.ers, of wide circula¬
tion, and is the leading Republican paper in