Eiffel Tower replicas and derivatives and one in the Isle of Man and sold shares to potential investors, including many prominent Blackpool families. When the corporation got into financial difficultly John Bickerstaffe stopped the scheme from collapsing and ensured the scheme was a success. The Blackpool Tower, though one of the oldest, is not a true replica of the Eiffel Tower and differs from the Paris tower in a number of ways: it is approximately half the height of the Eiffel Tower (158 m compared to 324 m), it is not freestanding and the base contains buildings which house entertainments including the Tower Circus and
Eiffel Tower 2.5 million rivets. At first the legs were constructed as cantilevers, but about halfway to the first level, construction was paused in order to create a substantial timber scaffold. This renewed concerns about the structural integrity of the tower, and sensational headlines such as "Eiffel Suicide!" and "Gustave Eiffel Has Gone Mad: He Has Been Confined in an Asylum" appeared in the tabloid press. At this stage, a small "creeper" crane designed to move up the tower was installed in each leg. They made use of the guides for the lifts which were to be fitted in the four legs.