Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

252 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. The size of the statue is far greater than any other in the world, the celebrated Colossus of Rhodes having been but some 105 feet in height, and that of Nero, by Zenadore, about 118 feet. The designing and modelling of the figure entailed a vast amount of labour ; in- deed, it occupied sixty men ten years. It is ceeded to construct models or moulds upon which the copper casing, or envelope, could be shaped. This outer covering of copper, it may be added, is only about o of an inch in thickness, and necessitated elaborate precau- tions to keep tho outlines and corners rigid and in shape. THE MODEL OF THE LEFT HAND OF THE STATUE AND OF PART OF THE DRAPERY. the figure prepared a How the Model was prepared. Moulding the Pieces. thought that Bartholdi modelled from his mother. First of all, he study model, seven feet high. This was enlarged to four times its original size. This, in turn, was very carefully studied and remodelled, and then divided into a great number of sections, over three hundred in all, each of which was marked with a distinguishing figure or number. The exact form of the statue having been settled, the sculptor pro- All of the sections referred to above were again enlarged four times. They were made with the greatest geometrical precision by means of a number of wires and leads attached to the pieces, from which dimensions were taken off with compasses, some of the sections requiring as many as 9,000 separate measurements. Plaster moulds of these sec- tions were then prepared, and as these were completed carpenters built wooden models of