Transom (architecture)#Japan
{{Short description|Horizontal structural piece separating a door from a window above it}}
{{other uses|Transom (disambiguation)}}
File:10 Downing Street. MOD 45155532 (cropped).jpg, London, showing a transom separating the door from the window above]]
In architecture, a transom is a transverse horizontal structural beam or bar, or a crosspiece separating a door from a window above it. This contrasts with a mullion, a vertical structural member.{{cite web |url=http://www.efficientwindows.org/glossary.cfm#t |title=The Efficient Windows Collaborative: Glossary |access-date=2007-12-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128060303/http://www.efficientwindows.org/glossary.cfm#t |archive-date=2007-11-28 }} Transom or transom window is also the customary U.S. word used for a transom light, the window over this crosspiece.{{cite web |url=http://www.bigbluewindow.com/faq.aspx#q50 |title=What is a transom window? |publisher=Big Blue Window |access-date=2007-12-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071228022533/http://www.bigbluewindow.com/faq.aspx#q50 |archive-date=2007-12-28 }} In Britain, the transom light is usually referred to as a fanlight, often with a semi-circular shape, especially when the window is segmented like the slats of a folding hand fan. A prominent example of this is at the main entrance of 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
History
In early Gothic ecclesiastical work, transoms are found only in belfry unglazed windows or spire lights, where they were deemed necessary to strengthen the mullions in the absence of the iron stay bars, which in glazed windows served a similar purpose. In the later Gothic, and more especially the Perpendicular Period, the introduction of transoms became common in windows of all kinds.{{cite web |url=http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/9/7/3/19737/19737.htm |title=The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, Elucidated by Question and Answer, 4th ed. |publisher=Project Gutenberg |access-date=2007-12-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110625135303/http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/9/7/3/19737/19737.htm |archive-date=2011-06-25 }}
Function
Transom windows which could be opened to provide cross-ventilation while maintaining security and privacy (due to their small size and height above floor level) were a common feature of apartments, homes, office buildings, schools, and other buildings before central air conditioning and heating became common beginning in the early-to-mid 20th century.Fred. T. Hodgson, "Ventilation of Middle-Class Dwellings", Popular Science News August 1902, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fWLnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA185 p. 185]"Going 'over the transom': Interior Windows and the Hardware that Moves them", Old-House Journal January–February 1996, p. 52
In order to operate opening transom windows, they were generally fitted with transom operators, a sort of wand assembly.Brian D. Coleman, "Window Hardware 101" Old House Interiors July–August 2010, p. 29 In industrial buildings, transom operators could use a variety of mechanical arrangements.Lord & Burnham Company, Manufacturers of Sash Operating Apparatus for Hinged and Pivoted Sash, in Chemical Engineering Catalog, 1919, [https://books.google.com/books?id=uxETAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA706 p. 706]
Idiomatic usage
The phrase "over the transom" refers to works submitted for publication without being solicited. The image evoked is of a writer tossing a manuscript through the open window over the door of the publisher's office.{{cite web |url=http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/articles/gettingstarted/QAoverthetransom.htm |title=What Does Over The Transom Mean? |publisher=About Freelance Writing |access-date=2007-12-13 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213192844/http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/articles/gettingstarted/QAoverthetransom.htm |archive-date=2007-12-13 }}
Similarly, the phrase is used to describe the means by which confidential documents, information or tips were delivered anonymously to someone who is not officially supposed to have them.Hartocollis, Anemona. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/nyregion/16indict.html?ex=1353301200&en=7eea0ce14dac4703&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink Former G.O.P. Official Admits He Evaded Taxes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171105234045/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/nyregion/16indict.html?ex=1353301200&en=7eea0ce14dac4703&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink |date=2017-11-05 }}, The New York Times, 16 November 2007. DA Morganthau Cites "Over the Transom" Letter as root of fraud investigation
Some such phrases may refer instead to the transom of a ship – large waves from behind can bring water over the transom.
File:Kochi Castle 05.JPG designed to look like a wave]]
"Like pushing a piano through a transom" is a folk idiom used to describe something exceedingly difficult; its application to childbirth (and possibly its origin) has been attributed to Alice Roosevelt Longworth and Fannie Brice.
France
In French, a transom window is called an imposte. The term {{lang|fr|vasistas}} (previously spelled {{lang|fr|wass-ist-dass}}), from the German {{lang|de|was ist das?}} {{lit|what is that?}},“[http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/vasistas vasistas]” in {{lang|fr|Trésor de la langue française informatisé}} (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).[https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2013/11/vasistas.html Grammarphobia blog: vasistas] refers to any single pane within a door or window sash which is hinged independently to provide discrete ventilation without opening the entire sash.
Japan
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Wiktionary inline|transom window}}
- {{Commons category inline|Transoms (architectural elements)}}
{{Room}}