A GREAT TOWER FOR LONDON.

Bush Advocate, Volume V, Issue 354, 16 August 1890, Page 6

A GREAT TOWER FOR LONDON.

(daily news.) In the autumn of last year, when visitors to the French capital were returning to England delighted with what was undoubtedly the distinctive feature of the Exhibition— the Eiffel Tower— Sir B. Watkin and a small circle of friends, conceived the idea of erecting a structure of oven loftier dimensions within tho metropolitan area of London. Early in November they announced their intention of offering prizes of 500 and 250 guineas respectively tor the best and second-best design and estimate for a tower of not less than 1,200 ft. in height. It was Btated in the conditions of competition that due power of resistance to windpropsure and adequate protection against lightning were prime essentials. Steel was the i material preferred by the promoters, but thedesigner was not confined to the übo of that or any other material. The tower was to be divided into such number of storeys as individual taate suggested, the only condition imposed being tbat adequate floor space should be arranged for, and that each storey should becapable of beuring the weight of restaurantsand other offices. Safe and speedy lifts were to be introduced, supplemented from storey to storey by staircases. As a matter of information, it was mentioned that the Eiffel Tower had two Roux lifts to the first platform, which could raise together 2,400 visitors per hour ; two Otis lifts, capable of carrying together 800 per hour ; and one Edoux lif t, from Becond to third platform, 800 per hour. As an illuminant, the electric light was, of course, to be employed. The competition was at first announced to remain open till the end of February, a date which, on the application of engineers ii> the United States and Canada, was extended to the middle of March. Ultimately, between eighty and" ninety sets of drawings were received by MrAlfred B. Garside, the secretary, although of th«3e nearly twenty were, for obvious reasons, ruled to be not admissible for competition. Sixty- eight, however, remain for the consideration of the committee of jurors, which ia com-r posed of Mr. E. H. Carbufct, Sir Fredk, Bramwell, Sir Benjamin Baker, Sir Edward Harland, Professor Aiex. B. W. Kennedy, flTr. C; Liddell, Mr. J. F. Moulton, and Mr. T. Verity. The ' drawings form certainly, an interesting and in many respects a unique display. As to the commercial value of the designs, apart from their picturesque aspect, men of technical training alone can pronounce. Many which look attractive enough in colours on. paper, would prove faulty in construction wheit their details come to be worked out by practical men. Of the drawings^ as a whole, it may be said that the majority incline to what, for lack of a bettor phrase, may be called the Eiffel principle; but this visitors are aesured ia'du^not so mnch to a spirit of plagiarism aa to the fact that certain mechanical difficulties wbicJi are inevitable in a tower of so great height, can only ba overcome by generally accepted rule*. Where a departure has been made from this dominating principle an octagonal base has often been adopted. But to this rule, in its turn, there are several notable exceptions. For instance, ono exhibitor has sent in a drawing of a circular granite structure 700 metres m height and 176 metres in diameter ; whilst another, hailing from Manchester, hoe based hia idea upon the mined tower of Atesh-Gahj Bfr Feruzabad, which can ba ascended oik foot by means of an inclined pathway winding round its fout face*. One design,, if adopted, would lead to the erection of what would look like nothing so much as a monster lighthouse on land. As a set-off to this, a model of a steel mast, 1,200 ft. high, stayed with steel ropes, has been Bubmittea. A Londoa competitor haa detailed a steel tower on tts general outline of Sir Christopher Wren's spire to Bow Church, Cbeapaide, whilst another nuiy apparently be eaid to be indebted so far as outliuegbes, to the' Clock Tower of the House of Commons. The designs range from a towfcc whose height is 2,000, and whose base wouM cover sixty-four acres, to one of 1,218 ft., wHelk would have a base of 500 square feet. In mote than one instance tho base is covered with glastf* forming a dome, capable of being laid out as a winter garden.