Piers Vaults.: When May

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Chap. I. PIERS AND VAULTS.

385
1499//.
"
Tn analysing a dome, it will be found that it is nothing more than rib-vaulting
carried to its maximum, that it consists of as many ribs as there are vertical sections to be
made in the dome, or is composed wholly of ribs abutting tgainst each other, in direct
opposition, by wliich the force of each is destroyed. In the ceilings of King's College
Cliapel, Cambridge, and Henry VII. 's Chapel, London, this most admirable invention is
exemplified. The author ventures an hypothesis, that, in an equiUbrate.d dome, the tliick-
ness of the vaulting will decrease from the vertex to tlie sjjringing, and assigns tlie following
reason theoretically, and the Gothic vaulting practically, in contirmation.
1499i.
"
The parts of a circular wall compose a horizonial arch; but the whole gravity
of each part is resi.sted by the bed on which it rests, thtrelore the parts cannot be in mutual
opposition; and, althougli the paits are posited like those of an arch, a circular wall has
not the properties of one. In a semi-spherical dome the first course answers this descrip-
tion, no part gravitating in the direction of its radius. When the beds are oblique on
which the parts of the wall rest, each course may then be called an oblique arch, as it then
assumes the property of an arcli, by having a double action, the one at right angles to, or
on the bed, and the other in the direction of theradius; and if this arch be of equal thick-
ness tliroughout, and has an equal inclination to the horizon, it will be an arch of equili-
bration. All the courses in a dome are oblique arches of etjuilibration, of various inclinations,
between the horizontal line at the springing, and the perpendicular at its vertex.
]499y.
"
A dome is comprised of as many vertical arches as there are diameters, and as
many oblique arches as there are chords. The actions of the parts of a vertical arch are
eccentric, an oblique arch concentric
;
conse(juently they will be in opposition, and the
greater force will lose power equal to that of the Lss. An oblique arch bears the same
relation to a dome as a voijssoir does to an arcli
;
when the vertical arches are not in ecjui-
lihration, the action is upon the whole ohlicjue arch, not ujion the voussoirs separately
;
although a whole course or oblique arch (which must be tlie case, or no part of it, admit-
ting that each course in itself is similar and equal throughout) be tiirust outwards by the
inequilibration of the vertical arches; the incumbent oblique arches will descend per})en-
dicularly, keeping tiie same congruity of their own parts.
1499/j.
'
As the voussoirs of each oblique arch are in equilibration, no one can approach
nearer to the centre of the dome than another, unless the other voussoirs squeeze or crush,
which, in investigations of subjects of this nature, are always assumed perfectly rigid
;
therefore, in their position in the dome, they have obtained their concentration. Hence
we obtain the essential distinction between an arch and a dome, that no part of the latter
can fall inwardly. Since no part of a dome can fall inwards, it resembles an arch resting
on the centre on whii-h it has l)een constructed, and the resistance which the vertical arch
meets with from that centre is similar to the oi^position of the ol)lique arches to the vertical
arches. If this deduction be just, the mechanician will be able to describe the extrados of
equilibration to a dome and its abutment wail, with the same facility as he may to an arch
and its abutment piers."
1499/. Pasley has likewise stilted that
"
as soon as any course is completed all round,
the stones or bricks composing it form a circular arch like that of a cone, whicli cannot
i)y any means fall inw.irds. Hence there is an important difference between tlie dome and
the common arcli, which latter cannot stand at all without its centering, unless tlie whola
curve be comjileted, and when fini.shed, the crown or upjier segment tends to overset the
haunches or lower segments. 'I'he dome, on the contrary, is perfectly strong, and is a com-
])lete arch witlioutits upper segment; and thus, as the pressure acts differently, there is less
strain upon the haunches and abutments of a dome, than on those of a common arch of the
sane curve. Hence a sufficient dome may be constructed witli much thinner materials than
would be proper for a common arcli of the same section. The dome of St. Paul's Cathe-
dral offers a fine specimen of tliis kind of work." It has been described in par. 472.
1499m. The Pantheon, at Paris, has a dome formed of tiiree portions. The first, or in-
terior one, is a regular hemisphere of about 66 ft. ^h'l't^. span, with a circular opening at
top of about .SI ft. 4|-in. in diameter. It is built of cut stones, varying from
18^ in. tiiick
at bottom, to
10^ in. at top. Tims tlie thickness is only about ^^vA part of the span. The
intermediate dome is a catenarian curve having a span of about 70 ft. with a rise of 50 ft.
;
and it lias to support consideralile weiglit at top. It lias four large openings in its sides to
give light, about 37 ft. high by 31 ft. wide, arclied at top in a somewhat parabolic form.
The outer dome has an external diameter of 78 ft. Its height is not stated, but it appears
to be a modeiately pointed Gotliic arch had it been continued, witliout forming an opening
at top for the sides of a lantern, which it was intended to support. Tiie thickness of the
stone at bottom is about 28 in. and 14 in. at top. A threat part of the surface is only half
the above thickness, as the dome is laid out internally in piers, supporting three tiers of
arched recesses, or niciies, of less substance, and showing like the panels in joiners' work.
(See figs. 177 and 178.)
1499. Partington, in the British Cyclopcedia, 1835, expresses the opinion that "the
weight of the dome may force out its lower parts, if it rises in a direction too nearly ver-
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