The Unlikely Crystal Palaces – Melted Steel and Glass – Downed by DEW

Hey everybody, welcome back for another
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video. Today we're going to be talking
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about mass production oldw world style
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and a focus is going to be on the
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Crystal Palace of London because there's
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been some new revelations come out about
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the Crystal Palace and its construction.
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So, I thought it was really interesting
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and I'm going to share it with you guys.
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So, let's get into it. Now, the Crystal
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Palace of London was a very impressive
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structure and we're told that it
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initially was located in central London,
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but then it was eventually moved to a
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different part of London. And there are
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some really pretty amazing stories
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behind how it was moved, how quickly it
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was moved, how quickly it was actually
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reconstructed. So, we're going to dig
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into that because it's really a
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fascinating subject with regards to some
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newer information. But we're told that
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the firm that dismantled the original
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Crystal Palace after the 1851 Great
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Exhibition was Fox and Henderson. And
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the amount of material that we're told
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that was transported over a really short
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period of time, relatively anyway, 21
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days, using 300 carts and horses, but
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they transported
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17 to 18,000 tons of iron, glass, and
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other materials. So quite the trek. Over
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20 miles by road. So that in and of
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itself very impressive, but also just
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the glass which I believe they estimate
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to have been about 400 tons of that 17
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to 18,000 tons. But they transported
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almost 300,000 panes of glass. And this
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glass, it wasn't even an inch thick. It
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was 1 16th of an inch. So just very
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impressive feat just transporting all
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this. Nevertheless, the big focus of
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this video is when they actually
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transported it according to the official
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history. We're told they constructed it
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in a grander fashion in 190 days. And
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even the mainstream was wondering how
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did they do it so quick. So, back in
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2024, there's been some studies that
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have come to the conclusion that it's
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due to mass production. And we're going
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to get into that, but I should just
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mention just like a lot of these crystal
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palaces, after it was moved to its new
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location, it burns down by unknown
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causes as far as what caused the fire to
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break out. But in 1936, it burns to the
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ground, unfortunately. And I believe the
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only remnants of the fire was this one
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water tower which gets demolished. It's
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no longer around. And this is just some
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of the ruins of the Crystal Palace from
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the 1950s. Again, not much left, but the
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actual mystery of how it was built so
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fast. Turns out standard screws cracked
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173-y old architectural mystery because
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again, how was it built in just 190
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days? So historians and researchers have
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finally solved this long-standing
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mystery behind one of Victorian
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England's iconic architectural wonders.
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The answer, simple standardized nuts and
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bolts. So your standard nuts and bolts.
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Who knew? The Crystal Palace. Turns out
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it was the first building to utilize
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this Witworth standardized screw thread.
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So this structure was using what
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eventually became known as the British
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Standard Witworth or BW in 1905, but it
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was the first building to actually use
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this standardized screw thread back in
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1851.
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So 50 years before this standardized
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screw thread became the standard, it was
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being used at the Crystal Palace in
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1851.
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And that is pretty fascinating because
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again they didn't find this out until
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2024 that this structure was using this
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standardized screw thread. So really
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interesting to me and it's estimated
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that there would have been around 25 to
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30,000 pairs of these nuts and bolts
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using the standardized screw thread. So,
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and we're going to get into like why is
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that so odd? Because again, we're told
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that there wasn't a lot of
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standardization in the 1800s with
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respect to some of these construction
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materials. So, just interesting. But of
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all the Crystal Palace buildings that
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are left, only the base and foundations
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of the south water tower exist, which
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dates from when the Crystal Palace was
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rebuilt. So, that still visibly exists.
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So they actually had traces of some of
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these columns and they found some of
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these nuts and bolts. So they measured
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the screw threads and they could tell
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that it matched up with this
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standardized screw thread that was
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implemented in 1905. So just really
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interesting. Uh researchers discovered
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the use of the Witworth screw thread at
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the site in Sydenham both in the remains
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of the building in the nearby South
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water tower that was designed by
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Islamabard Kingdom Brunell and prior to
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the Witworth innovation no two screws
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across different manufacturers had the
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same thread we're told. So, what's
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really what stuck out to me is the forms
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of screw threads used in the Crystal
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Palace buildings have not been recorded
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in any of the surviving drawings. And
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furthermore, none of the rare existing
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bolt threads have been measured,
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recorded, and published until 2024. So
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just it speaks to the fact that there
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was probably way more standardization in
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these old world structures and it's
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something a lot of us have probably
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already suspected but I think this is
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what this is showing and just some
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random images of the water tower
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associated with the crystal palace and
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this is the figure who constructed that
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water tower we're told but just an
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interesting bit of information that's
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come out about the crystal palace is the
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use of these standardized screw threads
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that were mass- prodduced five decades
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or so before it even becomes a standard.
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So really interesting to me and yeah
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these crystal palaces a lot of them of
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course they end up being destroyed by
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fire but a lot of them take on the shape
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of ecclesiastical structures in
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architecture like the crystal palace in
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New York. Uh it had this uh Greek cross
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plan and also the garden palace in
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Sydney, Australia, which was inspired by
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the crystal palace which also just gets
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destroyed by fire. But I was designed
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with a cathedral-like crucifform
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cross-shaped structure. So a lot of
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these crystal palaces very interesting.
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Most are destroyed by fire and just even
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their shape possibly leads down
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different rabbit holes. So, I kind of
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just wanted to share some of these
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thoughts and this new information on the
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Crystal Palace. And I think I will
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pretty much leave it here. But yeah, not
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much left of the Garden Palace from
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Sydney, Australia. Just these gates
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basically and some molten glass. But
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that's about all I got for you for
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today. I do want to give a big shout out
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to my channel members. Thank you for all
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your help and support. Greatly
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appreciated. As well as my patrons.
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Thank you for all your help and support
8:01
as well. It's also greatly appreciated.
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So until next time, take care. Bye.