The first pair of ribs was hoisted December 4th, and the eighth pair on December 12th. The operation, which was one of great excitement and considerable anxiety, was personally superintended by the contractors, aided by their most able foremen and assistants; and a crowd of visitors, including many of the illustrious promoters of the undertaking, watched with intense interest the steady ascent of the apparently unwieldy piece of construction, and every spectator seemed astonished at the mechanical regularity with which the whole operation proceeded. It took about one hour to raise a pair from the ground to the level of the lead-flat, and the whole was done without any accident whatever. About sixty men were employed in the hoisting, there being eleven men to each crab, and the remainder on the lead-flats.
HE semicircular form of the transept roof rendered it necessary to adopt a different mode of operation for glazing it to that used in the horizontal portion. A stage, thirty-two feet long and about three feet wide, with a protecting rail at the side, was constructed, so that it rested upon rollers, travelling on the ridges. It was slung by ropes from the crown of the arched roof, and could be raised and lowered at pleasure. It accommodated eight workmen, with the necessary quantity of materials in sash-bars and glass; and they thus performed, with ease and rapidity, an operation which before the fitting-up of the stage appeared at least extremely difficult, and to the uninitiated next to impossible.
STAGE FOR GLAZING THE ROOF OF TRANSEPT.
The men commenced fixing the glass at the bottom or springing of the arch, and as they completed their work the stage was raised at intervals by labourers stationed on the lead-flat. A portion of the glazing at the crown of the arch was effected by men working on a light scaffold, suspended within from the temporary ties mentioned as having been attached to the ribs; whilst those upon the stage worked upwards till they joined the portion done from the top.
PORTION of the work which necessarily occupied a very large amount of time was the painting, which was necessary for the preservation of all the parts, as well as for their appearance; and when it is considered that every portion required to be gone over four times, it must be evident that it was highly desirable to adopt some means for facilitating the operation. It was found that the sash-bars of the roof, being in short lengths and of small dimensions, could readily be operated upon by some mechanical contrivance.