Three towns—Eccles, Bootle, and Ramsgate—supply cases in their arms in which a Lighthouse is depicted, and this charge would appear, so far as can be ascertained, not only to be restricted to English armory, but to the three towns now named.
Locomotives appear in the arms of Swindon (Plate VI.) and the Great Central Railway (Fig. 555).
Of a similar industrial character is the curious coat of arms granted at his express wish to the late Mr. Samson Fox of Leeds and Harrogate, which contains a representation of the Corrugated Boiler-Flue which formed the basis of his fortune.
| Fig. 556.—Catherine wheel. | Fig. 557.—Staple. | Fig. 558.—Hawk's Lure. | Fig. 559.—Fylfot. |
An instance of the use of a Sand-Glass occurs in the arms of the Scottish family of Joass of Collinwort, which are thus blazoned: "Vert, a sand-glass running argent, and in chief the Holy Bible expanded proper."
A Scottish corporation, too, supplies a somewhat unusual charge, that of Scissors: "Azure, a pair of scissors or" (Incorporation of Tailors of Aberdeen); though a Swabian family (by name Jungingen) has for its arms: "Azure, a pair of scissors open, blades upwards argent."
Barrels and Casks, which in heraldry are always known as tuns, naturally figure in many shields where the name lends itself to a pun, as in the arms of Bolton.
Wheels occur in the shields of Turner ["Argent, gutté-de-sang, a
wheel of eight spokes sable, on a chief wavy azure, a dolphin naiant of the first">[ and Carter, and also in the arms of Gooch. The Catherine Wheel (Fig. 556), however, is the most usual heraldic form. The Staple (Fig. 557) and the Hawk's Lure (Fig. 558) deserve mention, and I will wind up the list of examples with the Fylfot (Fig. 559), which no one knows the meaning or origin of.
The list of heraldic charges is very far, indeed, from being exhausted. The foregoing must, however, suffice; but those who are curious to pursue this branch of the subject further should examine the arms, both ancient and modern, of towns and trade corporations.