Chat. I. PIERS AND VAULTS.

V
Barlow's edition of Tretlgold's work, from 34 to 36, is reiieated. G. Ueniiie, in lonie
^arufiil experiments at London Bridge, found tliat dressed voussoirs coniinenced sliding,
without mortar, at an angle of 33 30'; and, with morar fresh laid, at
'25 30'.
1496. Well may it be said that tiie thrust of an arcli is the constant dread of an
architect; but it depends entirely on the method em|)loyed in the construction. It is only
dangerous where the jirecautions indicated in tlie foregoing examples have had no atten-
tion paid to them. It has Ijeen seen that the least fracture in too thin an a'ch of equally
deep voussoirs may cause its ruin
; and we shall here add, that this defect is more
ilangerous in arches wherein the number of joints is many, such as those constructed in
biick ; for when tliey are laid in mortar they are too often rather heapetl together tlian
well fitted to each ottier.
1497. Whatever materials are used in the construction of vaults, the great ohJ93t is
to prevent separation, which, if it occur, must be immediately met by measures for
making the resistance of the lower parts capable
of counterbalancing the effort of the upper parts.
Those fractures which occur in cylindrical arches are
the most dangerous, because they take place in straight
lines which run along parallel to the walls bearing
them. To avoid the consequences of such failures, it
is well to fill up the haunches to the height where the
fracture is usually to be found, as in K, K', K", K'"
(Jif/.
590. ) and diminish the thickness towards the key.
1498. Rondelet found, and so indeed did Couplet
before him, that the least thickness wliich an arch of
equal voussoirs ought to have, to be capable of stand-
ing, was one fiftieth part of the radius. But as the
bricks and stone employed in the construction of
arches are never so perfectly formed as the theory sup-
poses, the least thickness which can be used for cy-
lindrical arches from 9 to 15 feet radius is 4^ inches
at the vertex if the lower course be laid with a course
of brick on edge or two courses flatwise, and 5 inches
when the material used is not a very hard stone, in-
creasing the thickness from the keystone to the point
where the extrados leaves the walls or piers. But if
the haunches are filled up to the point N
{Jig. 590.),
it will be found that for the pointed arch in the figure
the thickness need not be more than the
f^j
of the
radius, and for the semicircular arch,
gL.
For arches
whose height is less than their opening or that are seg-
mental the thickness .should be i part of the versed sine
;
a practice also applicable to Gothic vaults and semi-
circular cylindrical arches, to which for vaults cemented
with plaster one line should be added for each foot in
length, or
-^
part of the chord subtended by the ex-
trado.s. With vaults executed in mortar
J-.
may be
added, the thickness of the arch increasing till it reaches the point N, where the arch becomes
detached from the haunches, and where it should be once and a half the thickness of the key.
It was in this way the arches throughout the Pantheon at Paris were regulated, and a very
similar sort of expedient is practised in the dome of the Pantheon at Rome. A like
diminution at the keystone may be used in groined, coved, and spherical vaults.
14 99. For vaultings of large openings, Rondelet (and we fully concur with him) thinks
wrouglit stone preferable to l;rick or rubble stone, because it has the advantage of being
liable to less sstllement and stands more independent of any ceinentitious medium em-
ployed. It is indeed true that this cannot connect wrought stone so powerfully as it does
rul)l)!e ; but in the former we can employ cramps and dowells at the joints, which are useful
in doubtful c.ises to prevent derangement of the parts. In many Roman ruins the suriaces
C/f the voussoirs were embossed and hollowed at the joints, for the purpose of preventing
their sliding upon each other ; and expedients of tlie same nature are frequently foimd in
Gothic ruins.
149961. The figure 590. is one that has been found to perplex students, as it is herein
given without much explanation of it. In Hondelet's work it is engraved for the purpose
of elucidating certain tables of thicknessis of the keystones, the parts KN, and the piers,
for ready reference in designing arched constructions. As a proi)er imderstanding of the
above system is of immense iniportaJTce to the effective carrying out of buildings, we
append an explanatinn from Rcuidelet, hut in a much abridged foiiu.
L>jSy