Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The tools and implements used for making gauged arches, only a decade
before the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837, are detailed by Pasley (1826,
240-41) as:
1. A banker or bench, on which the bricklayers prepare their bricks.
2. A camberslip or ruler, curved in the proportion of about 1 inch in 6 feet. This
marks the moderate curvature usually given to the intrados of flat arches over
doors and windows…
3. A large board, for which an old door is frequently used.
4. A lath is used for describing semicircular or segment arches, with a nail driven
through one end for the centre, and a pencil at the other end of it.
5th. The instrument called a trammel for describing elliptical arches.
6th. A mould. A piece of wood 15 or 16 inches long, cut on each side to corr-
espond with the radiating joints of the proposed arch…
7th. A pair of steel compasses.
8th. Rules, such as by carpenters are termed straight edges.
9th. A small square with a brass blade.
10th. A small level [this should be bevel?] with a brass blade for marking bricks that
are to be cut obliquely, which is also necessary for the joints of groined arches…
11th. Templets, which are rectangular pieces for the purpose of marking the
lengths of the several arched bricks. A long templet is used for marking those
bricks which appear as stretchers; and a shorter one for marking those which
appear as headers, in the face of the arch.
12th. A small tin saw with a wooden back and handle, …to commence the cutting
of a brick, in order to prevent it from splintering.
13th. A brick axe to complete the cutting begun by the saw. It has an edge at each
end, like a very large chisel, with a round stem in the centre for grasping it. It is
used by striking down over:
14th. A chopping block.
15th. A rub stone, to give the bricks a smooth surface, after being axed. This is a
thin round stone fixed on the banker.
16th. A float stone. This is a stone convex on one end, to rub bricks to a concave
form when necessary, as in niches, &c.
In so many respects these tools had changed little from the time of Moxon,
Neve and later Nicholson. It is likely that the slow pace of development in
