You are on page 1of 1

1228

GLOSSARY.
Brattishing. An
(inuimcjit.il cresting. The carved open work over a .slirine.
Brazing. The union of pieces of copper by heating and hammering them. See Soi.kmr-
iNG and Welding.
Breadth. The greatest extension of a body at right angles to its length.
Break. Tlic recess or projection of any part within or beyond the general face of the
work. In either case it is to be considered a break.
Break, ix. In carpentry, it is the cutting or breaking a hole in brickwork with the ripping
chisel for the purpose of in)-erting timber, or to receive plugs, tlie end of a beam, or
the like.
BitEAKiNG DOWN. Sawing a baulk of timber into boards.
Breaking Joint. In masonry or brickwork, it is the placing a stone or brick over the
course below, in such a manner that the joint above shall not fall vertically immediately
above those below it.
Brkast of a Chimney. Tlie projecting or facing portion of a chimney front towards a
room which projects into it. or which, from other construction, may not have a break.
It is, in fact, the wall carried up over the front of a fireplace, whether projecting or
not. See Chimney.
Bbbst of a Window. The masonry or brickwork forming the back of the recess or
parapet under the window sill.
Breeze. Small ashes and cinders used instead of coal in the burning of bricks.
Bressummer or Breast Summkr. That is, a summer or beam placed breastwise for the
support of a superincumbent wall, performing in fact the office of a lintel. It is prin-
cipally used over shop windows to carry the upper part of the front and supported by
iron or timber posts, though sometimes by stone. If the interior of a building the
pieces into which the girders are framed are often called summers.
Brewhouse. An establishment for the manufactory of malt liquors. A hrewhouse is
generally provided as an appendage to dwelling-houses in the country, for brewing the
beer used by the family.
Brick. (Dutch, Bricke.) A sort of fictitious stone, composed of an argillaceous earth,
tempered and formed in moulds, dried in the sun, and finallj' burnt to a proper degree
of hardness in a clamp or kiln. The method pursued by the ancients in making un-
burnt bricks is described by Vitruvius, book ii., cliap. iii. That author describes the
three diifereut sorts in use :Didoron {SiSupov), being one foot long and half a foot
wide
;
the otiier two sorts are called Pentadoron and Tetradoron. By the word Doron
tlie Greeks mean a palm, because the word hwpov signifies a gift which can be borne in
tiie palm of the hand. That sort, therefore, which is five palms each way is called Pen-
tadoron
; that of four palras Tetradoron. The former of these two sorts is used in
public buildings ; the latter in private. Each sort has half-bricks made to suit it.
Towards the decline of the Republic, the Romans made great use of bricks as a building
material. According to Pliny, those most in use were a foot and a half long, and a foot
broad. This agrees nearly with tiie Roman bricks used in England, which are gener-
ally found to be about seventeen inches in length, by eleven inches in breadth. Ancient
bricks are generally very thin, being often no more than one inch and a half tliick,
and are often called tiles. Erom the article in the Encyc. Mifhodiqiie, it appears tiiat in
the researches made among the buildings at Rome, bricks of the following sizes were
found. The least were
7j
inches (French) square and \\
inch thick
;
the medium one I65
inches square and from 18 to 20 lines in thickness. The larger ones were 22 inches
square by 21 or 20 lines thick. The smaller ones were used to face walls of rubble
work; and for making better bond with the wall, they were cut diagonally into two
triangles, the longer side being placeil on the outside, and the point towards the in-
terior of the work. To make the tie more effectual between tlie rubble and the facing,
there were placed at intervals of four feet in height, one or two courses ot large square
bricks. The larger bricks were also used for tiie arches of openings to discharge the
superincumbent weight.
Bricklayer's Work. The art of bricklaying.
Brickwork. Any work performed with bricks as the solid material.
Bridge. (Sax. Bjnsse.) A structure for the purpose of connerting the opposite b 'uks
of a river, gorge, valley. &c., by means of certain materials, forming a roadway from
one side to the other. It may be made of stone, brick, iron, timber, suspended chains
or ropes, or the roadway nay be obtained by means of boats moored in the stream.
In the bridges of the ancients the arches were semicircular; in those erected
during
the mediaeval period the arches were obviously made pointed, and generally of small
^pans, altliough there are a few good exceptions
;
while in those of modern date they
have been segmental or semi-elliptical. The last two forms are very mucli more
.'suitable, because of the freer passage for the stream, especially in the ca.e of floods.
We Mould refer the student to the brick railway bridge at Maidenhead, over the river
Thames, carried out in 1835, by Sir I. Brunei, as a daring effort of work; the
two
largest arches, elliptical in form, are each 128 feet spin, with a rise of 24 feet
3- in.

You might also like