Exposed Cotswold Stone Wall Needs Sealing

[Rod]

[e-mail] wrote in news:1116584638.759634.120340 @g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Many years ago I was similarly curious as to how they handled this. I was told that they heated up the rod in situ, tightened up the threaded portion 'finger tight' and then, as it cooled down, the contraction drew the structure together.

Not in the least sure that I believed it then, but it did have a certain logic. I have a mental picture of the house with no roof and a bloomin' great bonfire in the middle. Possibly not quite what they did...

[Mike]

Possible I suppose. Hate to be the person who got the sums wrong and the rod contracted too far :-)

[Andy Wade]

has this to say on the subject:

"In antiquity, the Greek mathematician Archytas of Tarentum (428 ? 350 BC) was credited with the invention of the screw. By the 1st century BC, wooden screws were commonly used throughout the Mediterranean world in devices such as oil and wine presses. Metal screws did not appear in Europe until the 1400s.

"The metal screw did not become a common woodworking fastener until machine tools for mass producing it were developed at the end of the

18th century. The British engineer Henry Maudslay patented a screw-cutting lathe in 1797; a similar device was patented by David Wilkinson in the United States the next year.

"Standardization of screw thread forms accelerated during WWII so that interchangeable parts could be produced by any of the Allied countries."

There's a fascinating page about Joseph Whitworth too, here:

(takes me back to doing him for O-level metalwork).

[Anna Kettle]

Cannon manufacturers is a new one on me?! Tell me more. It is a line of industry I don't know anything about. The two top blacksmiths I know of round here were Garratts of Leiston and Ransomes of Ipswich both of which I think started c1780 and specialised in agricultural machinery

You mean why was the daub plastered and limewashed, instead of just limewashed? I suspect cos they could. This was one of the richest parts of the country until 1750 and a daubed and plastered and limewashed house would need repair less often than a daubed and limewashed one. Proof being that there is 3sqm intact 250-500 years later

Anna

~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

01359 230642

[Anna Kettle]

I suspect that it is not a screw thread. All I can see from the inside is ... Cue more ascii art ...

-------| |------ Could it be that the tie bar's function is to limit further movement

~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

01359 230642

[Mike]

Makes sense.

Though a modern thread could take the forces involved.

[Mike]

The east of England from the Wash down to Brighton was home to a large number of cannon makers from at least the time of Henry VIII, triggered by his growth in the Navy and use of protective battlements along the shore.

In Elizabethan times output exceeded demand from home use and a lucrative export market began. At first this was to Holland and so on, friendly countries, but when our cannon were found in French and Spanish hands enough was enough and the queen banned exports so some of the cannon makers had to look for alternative outlets for their metalworking skills. I would guess one of these was the forerunner to whoever made your tie.

[Anna Kettle]

I wonder why the industry was in East Anglia cos there is no coal or wood or iron, so I suppose it all came in by water and the ironworkings were near the coast. I had always assumed cannon were cast not wrought but maybe they needed both skills

Anna

~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Lime plaster repairs / ^^ \ // Freehand modelling in lime: overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

01359 230642