Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A short beam attached to the foot of a principal rafter in a roof, in place of a tie-beam. Hammer-beams are used in pairs, and project from the wall, extending less than half way across the apartment. The hammer-beam is generally supported by a rib resting upon a corbel below, and in its turn forms the support of another rib which constitutes, with that springing from the opposite hammer-beam, an arch. Although occupying the place of a tie in the roofing, it does not act as a tie; it is essentially a lever, as is shown in the figure. Here the inner end of the hammer-beam, A, receives the weight of the upper part of the roof, which is balanced by the pressure of the princinal at its outer end.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Gothic Arch.) A member of one description of roof truss, called
hammer-beam truss , which is so framed as not to have a tiebeam at the top of the wall. Each principal has two hammer-beams, which occupy the situation, and to some extent serve the purpose, of a tiebeam.
Examples
“Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament The hall has been altered over the centuries and its famous hammer-beam roof was built between 1394 and 1399.”
“The rafters of the hammer-beam roof above were ancient martoz wood that had blackened and hardened over the decades until they resembled iron.”
“The magnificent hammer-beam roof of the Great Hall in which we met in daily session was partially destroyed by bombs during the last war.”
“He armed himself with knife, hammer-beam, mind-blinder, swallowed a pellet of nerve-tonic, then unobtrusively made his way to the roof-deck.”
“The noble hammer-beam roof is a fine specimen of its kind, spanning”
“This was most probably a hammer-beam roof, and was coloured and gilded and decorated with angels holding shields.”
“The strong, alien voice of the priest vibrated under the hammer-beam roof, and a loneliness unfelt before swamped their hearts, as they searched for places in the unfamiliar Church of England service.”
“The tapestried walls, the high windows, and the fine Perpendicular hammer-beam roof together form a magnificent and pleasing whole, one of the noblest halls of its period that the country has to show.”
“This great hall with its two entrances at the lower end near the gateway, its magnificent hammer-beam roof, its daïs, its stained glass, was a worthy place of entertainment, and had been the scene of many great feasts and royal visits in the times of previous archbishops in favour with the sovereign, and of a splendid banquet at the beginning of Grindal's occupancy of the see.”
“Richard II. raised the hall and gave it the splendid hammer-beam roof, one of the finest feats in carpentry extant.”
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