Carving is a trade apart from ordinary joinery, and requires a special ability and some artistic feeling for its successful execution. But even in this work machinery has found a place, and carved ornaments of all descriptions are rapidly wrought with its aid. Small carved mouldings especially are evolved in this manner, and, being incomparably cheaper than those worked by manual labour, are used freely where a rich effect is desired. Elaborately carved panels also are made by machines and a result almost equal to work done entirely by hand is obtained if, after machinery has done all in its power, the hand worker with his chisels and gouges puts the finishing touches to the work.
Ironmongery.—In regard to the finishing of a building, no detail calls for greater consideration than the selection and accurate fixing of suitable ironmongery, which includes the hinges, bolts, locks, door and window fittings, and the many varieties of metal finishings required for the completion of a building. The task of the selection belongs to the employer or the architect; the fixing is performed by the joiner.
| Fig. 13. |
Of hinges, the variety termed butts are in general use for hanging doors, and are so called from being fitted to the butt edge of the door. They should be of wrought iron, cast-iron butts being liable to snap should they sustain a shock. Lifting butts are made with a removable pin to enable the door to be removed and replaced without unscrewing. Rising butts have oblique joints which cause the door to rise and clear a thick carpet and yet make a close joint with the floor when shut. Hinges of brass or gun-metal are used in special circumstances. Common forms of hinges used on ledged doors are the cross garnet and the strap. There are many varieties of spring hinges designed to bring the door automatically to a desired position. With such hinges a rubber stop should be fixed on the floor or other convenient place to prevent undue strain through the door being forced back.
Among locks and fastenings the ordinary barrel or tower bolt needs no description. The flush barrel is a bolt let in flush with the face of a door. The espagnolette is a development of the tower bolt and extends the whole height of the door; a handle at a convenient height, when turned, shooting bolts at the top and bottom simultaneously. Their chief use is for French casements. The padlock is used to secure doors by means of a staple and eye. The stock lock is a large rim lock with hard wood casing and is used for stables, church doors, &c.; it is in the form of a dead lock opened only by a key, and is often used in conjunction with a Norfolk latch. The metal cased rim lock is a cheap form for domestic and general use. The use of a rim lock obviates the necessity of forming a mortice in the thickness of the door which is required when a mortice lock is used. Finger plates add greatly to the good appearance of a door, and protect the painted work. Sash fasteners are fixed at the meeting rails of double hung sashes to prevent the window being opened from the outside and serve also to clip the two sashes tightly together. They should be of a pattern to resist the attack of a knife inserted between the rails. Sash lifts and pulls of brass or bronze are fitted to large sashes. Ornamental casement stays and fasteners in many different metals are made in numerous designs and styles. Fanlight openers for single lights, or geared for a number of sashes, may be designed to suit positions difficult of access.
The following are the principal books of reference on this subject: J. Gwilt, Encyclopaedia of Architecture; Sutcliffe, Modern House Construction; Rivington, Notes on Building Construction (3 vols.); H. Adams, Building Construction; C. F. Mitchell, Building Construction; Robinson, Carpentry and Joinery; J. P. Allen, Practical Building Construction; J. Newlands, Carpenter and Joiner’s Assistant; Bury, Ecclesiastical Woodwork; T. Tredgold and Young, Joinery; Peter Nicholson, Carpenter and Joiner’s Assistant.
(J. Bt.)
JOINT (through Fr. from Lat. junctum, jungere, to join), that which joins two parts together or the place where two parts are joined. (See [Joinery]; [Joints].) In law, the word is used adjectivally as a term applied to obligations, estates, &c., implying that the rights in question relate to the aggregate of the parties joined. Obligations to which several are parties may be several, i.e. enforceable against each independently of the others, or joint, i.e. enforceable only against all of them taken together, or joint and several, i.e. enforceable against each or all at the option of the claimant (see [Guarantee]). So an interest or estate given to two or more persons for their joint lives continues only so long as all the lives are in existence. Joint-tenants are co-owners who take together at the same time, by the same title, and without any difference in the quality or extent of their respective interests; and when one of the joint-tenants dies his share, instead of going to his own heirs, lapses to his co-tenants by survivorship. This estate is therefore to be carefully distinguished from tenancy in common, when the co-tenants have each a separate interest which on death passes to the heirs and not to the surviving tenants. When several take an estate together any words or facts implying severance will prevent the tenancy from being construed as joint.