A TALL CHIMNEY.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 568, 13 April 1876, Page 3

A TALL CHIMNEY.

(2V. O. Times.) The tallest chimney in the world is the Townsend Chimney, Glasgow, Scotland. It was built by Robert Corbett, of Glasgow, for Joseph Townsend, of Crawford street Chemical Works. The total height from foundation to top of coping is 468 ft, and from ground line to summit 454 ft, the outside diameter at foundation being 60ft, at ground surface 32ft, and at top of coping 12ft Bin. The number of bricks used in the erection were as follows :—Common bricks in chimney 1,142,532 ; composition and fire bricks for inside cone. 157,478 ; common bricks for Hues, &c, 100,000; total, 1,400,000, The weight of bricks at 5 ton per 1000 i* equal to 7000 tons. When within sft of complc tion, the chimney was struck by a gale from the north-east, which caused it to sway 7ft Din off the perpendicular, and it stood several feet less in height thau before it swayed. The people round about were terribly Frightened, expecting every moment to see the chimney fall down, it was therefore found advisable to clear them out of their houses withiu a radius of 200 yards from the chimney. The Dean of Guild Court of Glas gow, a time-honored and most excellent institution, immediately appointed a number of scientific and practical men—including Mr Macquorn Rankin, C.E. (Professor of Civil Engineering, Glasgow University), and Mr Charles O'Neill, C.E. (of the PubUc Woiks office, Glasgow)—to inspect and report on the structure, and meantime to take such necessary precautions as to prevent any risk of life to the lieges. The examination was made with preat care, the inspectors directing their at'ention to every stage of the work,.from the foundation to the very top of the leaning chimney, and reported to the Court, wh ch then ordered the immediate taking down of about one-half

of the chimney. The order had to be obeyed, but meanwhile Mr Townsend begged in court to be alio wee! to try a saving experiment, under the direction of a gentleman who had straightened chimneys in the north of England. Tlie inspectors willingly permitted the ex piriment to be tried; therefore, in bringing back the shaft to its true vertical posit on " sawing back" was resorted to, which was performed by Mr Townsend's own men, ten working in relays, four at a time sawing, and two pouring water on the saws. The work waß done from the inside, on the original scaffolding, which had not been removed. Holes were first punched through the sides to admit the saws, which were wrought alternately in each direction at the same joint, on the side opposite the inclination, so that the chimney was brought back in a slightly oscillating manner. This was done at twelve different heights, and the men discovered when they were gaining by the saws getting tightened by the superincumbent, weight.

The column was made perfectly plumb, and for days after many visitors, ladies and gentlemen, were lifted by the inside cage to the very top of the building, Mr Townsend himself gallantly assisting the ladies to have their hooped dresses (the then fashion) roped round to prevent danger in passing up the interior framework and scaffolding. Since that time, about fifteen years ago, the smoke has never ceased curling gracefully out of the great chimney. The view from the top, as may be imagined, was truly splendid. What a panorama ! On the right the Clyde winding by Renfrew and Greenock to the Firth— on the left Hamilton and Blantyre, and not far eff Tennent's big stalk rearing its head in sullen grandeur, with the grave satisfaction that although it has lost its supremacy in height of building by a few feet, it still stands on higher ground and was monarch of the chimneys of the world for nearly half a century.