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CLASS XXII.
REPORT ON IRON AND GENERAL HARDWARE.
The figures after the Names (between parentheses) refer to the Exhibitors’ Numbers aiul to the Pages in theOfficial Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue.]
Jury.
Hon. Horace Greeley , Chairman , United States ; Editor.
NY . Bird, Dejmty Chairman , 5 Martin’s Lane, Cannon Street, City ; Iron Merchant.
Arthur Adams, "Walsall ; Hardware Merchant.
W. Dyce, R.A., Riporter , 2 Fitzroy Square.
G. Goldenberg, France ; Manufacturer ; Member of Central Jury, &c.
Don Manuel IIf.redia, Spain ; Merchant.
£. Stirling Howard, Sheffield; Sheffield Plate Manufacturer.
George Shaw, Cannon Street. Birmingham ; Patent Agent.
Ferd. S pita els, Belgium ; Member of Senate, Vice-President of Chamber of Commerce , Charleroix.Dr. F. Steinbeis, Zollverein ; Member of the Board of Trade and Commerce.
Associates.
Sir II. R. II. Bishop, 13 Cambridge Street, Hyde Park; Professor of Music at Oxford. (Juror inClass xa.)
Warren de la Rue , Ph . D., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., F.C.S , 7 St. Mary’s Road, Canonbury, Islington ; Manu-facturer of Ornamental Stationery. (Juror in Class xxix.)
A. W. Hoffman, Ph . I)., F.R.S.. F.C.S., Zollverein ; College of Chemistry, Oxford Street; Professor ofChemistry. (Juror in Class xxix.)
Chevalier Neukomm, Zollverein ; 9 Carlton Terrace. (Juror in Class Xa.)
Richard Redgrave , R.A., 18 Hyde Park Gate, South Kensington Gore, Artist. (Juror in Class XXX.)Dr. Schafiiautl, Zollverein ; Professor of Geology, Mining, and Metallurgy . (Juror in Class Xa.)
W. Wyon, It. A., Her Majesty’s Mint Medalist. (Juror in Class XXX.)
Tire range of Class XXII. maybe said to be co-extensive■with the employment of the baser metals in manufacture.In that respect it forms a nucleus round which, eitherwholly, or in certain particulars, various other classes, tothe number of seven or eight, arc distributed; and whichare separated from it on grounds, partly of convenience,and partly of the subjection of metal-working, as such, tothe purposes of specific brandies of industry or science.
Owing, however, to the difficulty, in many cases, ofmaking such a separation, the range of Class XXII. hasbeen limited rather with respect to the number of objectsembraced by it, than to their nature; among which, iupoint of fact, there are included examples either analo-gous to, or identical in all essential particulars with, aconsiderable portion of those exhibited in Classes I., V.,VI., VIII., IX., X., XXI., XXIX., and XXX. Thus, forexample, although it belongs to Class I. to determine themerits of iron, steel, copper, or other wire, under thehead of “ Metals in their progress to finished manufac-tures,” the same wire, when twisted or woven, coniesunder Class XXII., in which its merits, with this newquality superadded, must again be tested by a rule in**volving a judgment on the material itself. Then again,Class XXII. abounds, if not with machines, at least withmachine-like contrivances, and with implements and tools,which identify it with several of the Classes above enume-rated. In the case of metallic sculpture, this identitywith Class XXX. is especially to be remarked. As ageneral rule, it was thought that the Jury of Class XXII.might with advantage confine themselves to the consider-ation of art as it is applied to ornamental purposes; butpractically it was by no means easy, if indeed it waspossible, to define in every respect the limits betweenornamental art and fine art; and besides, it was to beborne in mind, that statues in metal, and other similarworks of art, while they are to be judged of aesthetically,are also, as the result of various metallurgic operations,amenable to the criticism of the founder and metal-worker, and may have, in that respect (as the J ury believeto be the case in more than one instance in the Exhibi-tion) a merit, which, though not independent of artistic
excellence, is nevertheless separable from it. On thisground, nearly the whole of the sculptures in metal havepassed under the review of this Jury; aud they wouldremark, with respect to this and other cases, that althoughtheir duties would have been lightened by a more exactdefinition of the limits of their Class, and, in all in-stances in which it was practicable, by a statement of theparticular merit on which the exhibitor wished to foundhis claim to reward, yet the exhibitors of those articleswhich have undergone the scrutiny of more than oneJury, will have no reason to complain of an arrangement,which, at the least, must have tended to enlarge thegrounds of criticism, and make more fully known theirclaims to notice.
The objects included in Class XXII., considered withreference to material, range themselves for the most partunder the heads of:—
1. Brass Manufacture.
2. Copper, Zinc, Tin , Pewter, and General Braziery.
3. Iron-work.
4. Steel Manufactures.
The following particulars being comprehended underthese heads:—
1 . Brass Manufactures.
a. Cabinet and general brass founder}’: consisting ofhinges, fastenings, escutcheons, bell-pulls, brass foun-dery used in ships, knockers, door-springs, castors, &c.
b. Plumber’s brass foundery: cocks, valves, pumps,water-closets, See.
c. Stamped brass: cornices, curtain-bands, finger-plates, &c.
d. Gas fittings, brackets, chandeliers, pillars, gas-burners and consumers’ meters, &c.
e. Tubing, plain and ornamental.
f. Metallic bedsteads.
g. Chandeliers, lamps and candelabra for oil, candles,or camphine, and lamp-chains.
h. Railway and carriage brass foundery, and signallamps and lanterns.
i. Bronze figures, busts, and chimney ornaments.