alt Hacker NewsHow London's Crystal Palace was built so quickly
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There's a great story about this in Bill Brysons book "At Home". That's how I learned in 1851 the glass window TAX was repealed.
British standard whitworth lives on as the thread which attaches cameras to tripods I think.
I once liberated some simmilar bolts from a broken out tunnel wall at Tottenham Court Road. We machined into tensile coupons and they just stretch out like pulling a toffee bar!
It's amusing these days to think of imperial measurements as a great standardising force in the world in light of our inability to go metric.
Is the a good source for the complete blueprints of the palace? Digital models? I've always enjoyed visiting glass houses but never thought much about how the framework is put together
> Screws were traditionally made by skilled craftsmen, such that no two were exactly alike and it was nearly impossible to replace lost or broken screws.
Screw threads weren’t standardized until the 1840s! That blows my mind.
One thing worth noting is lack of fire safety. Not only did the crystal palace burn down but also most of the similar steel and glass exhibition centres built internationally (of which the crystal palace was the first very large one)