Editing Great Exhibition (section)

== Exhibits ==
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[[File:Image taken from page 237 of 'The Half Hour Library of Travel, Nature and Science for young readers' (11237196445).jpg|thumb|upright|A telescope at the 1851 exhibit]]
The official descriptive and illustrated catalogue of the event lists exhibitors not only from throughout Britain but also from its "Colonies and Dependencies" and 44 "Foreign States". Numbering 13,000 in total, the exhibits included a [[Jacquard loom]], an envelope machine, kitchen appliances, steel-making displays and a reaping machine that was sent from the United States.<ref>[http://www.victorianstation.com/palace.html "The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091216045749/http://victorianstation.com/palace.html |date=16 December 2009 }}. Victorian Station. Retrieved 3 February 2009.</ref>

*The [[Mintons]] stand exhibited ceramics including [[majolica]] which proved a world-wide success. 
*The [[Koh-i-Noor]], meaning the "Mountain of Light", the world's largest known diamond at the time, was one of the most popular attractions of the India exhibit.
*The [[Daria-i-Noor]], one of the rarest pale pink diamonds in the world, was shown.
*The early 8th-century [[Tara Brooch]], discovered only in 1850, the finest Irish [[penannular brooch]], was exhibited by the Dublin jeweller George Waterhouse along with a display of his fashionable [[Celtic Revival]] jewellery.
*[[Alfred Charles Hobbs]] used the exhibition to demonstrate the inadequacy of several respected door [[Lock (security device)|lock]]s.
*[[Frederick Bakewell]] demonstrated a precursor to the [[fax]] machine.
*[[Mathew Brady]] was awarded a medal for his [[daguerreotype]]s.
*William Chamberlin, Jr. of Sussex exhibited what may have been the world's first [[voting machine]], which counted votes automatically and employed an interlocking system to prevent over-voting.<ref>"The Great Exhibition," ''[[Manchester Times]]'', 24 May 1851.</ref>
*The first modern public [[flush toilets]] invented by [[George Jennings]] were installed at the exhibition, with 827,280 visitors paying the penny fee to use them. The toilets remained even after the exhibition was dismantled. "Spending a penny" became a euphemism for using a toilet.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://findery.com/californiawilliam/notes/spending-a-penny-for-the-monkey-closet | title=Spending a Penny for the Monkey Closet | access-date=13 September 2017 | archive-date=13 September 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913141113/https://findery.com/californiawilliam/notes/spending-a-penny-for-the-monkey-closet | url-status=dead }}</ref> Such was their popularity the first public lavatories opened in 1852.<ref name="Historic UK"/>
*[[Firearms]] manufacturer [[Samuel Colt]] demonstrated his prototype for the 1851 [[Colt Navy]] and also his older [[Walker Colt|Walker]] and [[Colt Dragoon|Dragoon]] revolvers.
*The [[Tempest prognosticator]], a [[barometer]] using [[leech]]es, was demonstrated.
*The [[America's Cup]] yachting event was instigated with a race held in conjunction with the Great Exhibition.
*Gold ornaments and silver enamelled handicrafts fabricated by the [[Sunar]] caste from [[Sind Province (1936–55)|Sind]], [[British India]].
*C.C. Hornung of Copenhagen, Denmark, showed his single-cast iron frame for a [[piano]], the first made in Europe.
*"The Trophy Telescope", so called because it was considered the "trophy" of the exhibition, was shown.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Trophy Telescope at Wester Elchies|journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society|volume=23|pages=1|bibcode = 1862MNRAS..23....1S|last1 = Smyth|first1 = C. P.|year=1862|doi=10.1093/mnras/23.1.1|doi-access=free}}</ref> Its main lens of 11 inches (280&nbsp;mm) aperture and 16 feet (4.9 m) focal length was manufactured by [[Ross (optics)|Ross]] of London. The [[Equatorial mount#German equatorial mount|German equatorial mounting]] was made by [[Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies|Ransome & May]] of Ipswich.
*The instrument maker J. S. Marratt exhibited a five-foot [[achromatic lens|achromatic]] telescope and a transit [[theodolite]] used in surveying, tunnelling, and for astronomical purposes.
* [[Asprey]] exhibited a [[kingwood (wood)|kingwood]] and [[ormolu]] mounted lady's dressing case with silver-gilt contents bearing the "Annie" cipher.
*The emphasis of the [[New Zealand]] exhibit featured natural resources, as well as crafted items made by [[Māori people|Māori]], such as [[Kete (basket)|flax baskets]], [[Whakairo|carved wooden objects]], eel traps, mats, fish hooks and hand clubs.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wolfe|first=Richard|date=2019|title=International Exhibitions|url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/research/crafting-aotearoa/international-exhibitions|access-date=21 April 2021|website=Auckland War Memorial Museum}}</ref>