centre of the beam, or the central pivot upon which it vibrates. Beam of a balance, the horizontal piece of iron from the ends of which the scales are suspended. Beams, in naval architecture, strong thick pieces of timber stretching across the ship from side to side, to support the decks: they are sustained at each end by thick planks in the ship's side, called clamps, upon which they rest. Bearer, anything used by way of support to another weight. Bearer, in turning, that part of the latbe which supports the puppets. Berring, the distance that a beam or rafter is suspended in the clear: thus, if a piece of timber rests upon two opposite walls, the span of the void is called the bearing, and not the whole length of the timber. Dearing, that part of a shaft or spindle which is in contact with the supports. Searing, a word used in describing a paster figure copied from the antaque. It is generally said, if the drawing or outline of a figure has not the same bearings or angles of inclination as the original posesses, that it is out in all its hearings. Baring, in heraldry, the figures on a coat of arms; a coat of arms in Exeral. bearing, the direction of an object from the person looking. In shippnz.the bearings of a vessel are the wdest part of her below the planksheer; that part of her hull which on the water-line when she is at asesor and in her proper trim. beat eway, in mining, to excavate; usay applied to hard ground. Testing. in navigation, the operation of making progress at sea against L'e wind. Brasfet, a capboard or niche. frey, a beam or joist desi, in painting, that beauty which is freed from the deformity and the peculiarity found in nature ad individuals of a species. Beauty, in architecture, consists of the following qualities: magnitude and strength, order and harmony, richness and simplicity; Construction, in which the chief requisites are magnitude and strength, order and harmony; Decoration, whose requisites are richness or simplicity, according to the nature of the composition. Beazley (Saml.), an architect of reputation, particularly in the construction of theatres; he also executed with success many other buildings. Born 1786; died in 1851. Becalm, to intercept the wind by alternate tacks. Beck, a little river or brook. Beck, an English weight containing sixteen English pounds, or two gallons. Becket, a piece of rope, placed so as to confine a spar or another rope; a handle made of rope in the form of a circle. Bed of a brick, the horizontal surfaces as disposed in a wall. Bed, a term used in masonry to describe the direction in which the natural strata in stones lie; it is also applied to the top and bottom surface of stones when worked for building. Bed, in mining, a seam or horizontal vein of ore. Beds, of stonework, are the parallel surfaces which intersect the face of the work in lines parallel to the horizon. Beds and Bedding. Feather - beds, bolsters, and pillows, filled with feathers and down, with mattresses and every other comfort of this kind, seem to have been as well known to, and enjoyed by, the superior orders of society three centuries ago, as they are now. Directions are, however, mentioned as having been given in the reign of Henry VIII. "to examine every night the straw of the king's bed, that no daggers might be concealed." Beds (Trussing) were beds which packed into chests, for travelling; and, considering the frequent removals, these must have been the most convenient kind. John of Ghent seems to have always slept in such beds, as by his will it appears that he demised to his wife all the beds made for his body, "called in England trussing-beds;" and the "best chambers" of both Master Fermor and Sir Adrian Foskewe had trussing-beds. Bed-chambers: in Tudor times the furniture of these apartments, in great houses, was of the same gorgeous character as that in the chief rooms; and the paraphernalia of an ancient dressing-table yielded only in the splendour and costliness of plate, to the cupboard of the great chamber, or the altar of the chapel. Like the hall, the state bed-chamber had a high place, on which were placed the 'standing bed' and the 'truckle-bed:' on the former lay the lord, and on the latter his attendant. Beddern, a refectory. Bedding-stone, used in bricklaying, a straight piece of marble: its use is to try the rubbed side of the brick; first, to square, to prove whether the surface of the brick be straight; secondly, to fit it upon the leading skewback, or leading end of the arch. Bed-mouldings. This may be under stood as a collective term for all the mouldings beneath the corona or principal projecting member of a cornice, which, without bedmouldings, would appear too much like a mere shelf. Bed-plate, the foundation-plate of a marine or a direct-action engine. Bedsteads in Tudor times the posts, head-boards, and canopies or spervers of bedsteads were curiously wrought and carved in oak, walnut, box, and other woods, and variously painted and gilt. Ginger-colour, hatched with gold, was a favou. rite style, but purple and crimson were also used in their decoration. Bede, among miners, a kind of pick axe used for separating the ores from the rocks in which they lie. Bedesmen, almsmen who prayed for their benefactors and founders. Bede-house, an almshouse or hospital. Beech, a species of timber very much used by artificers: while young, it possesses great toughness, and is of a white colour: the cohesive strength of this timber requires 12,225 lbs. weight to tear asunder a piece one square inch in thick ness. Beech-wood, common in Buckinghamshire and Sussex as the best ; about fifty feet high and thirty inches in diameter; white, brown, and black colour: it is used for piles in wet foundations; is used also, for its uniform texture and closeness, in in-door works, as the frames of machines, bedsteads, and furniture; also for planes, tools, lathe-chucks, keys, cogs of machinery, brushes, handles, etc. Beef-wood, red-coloured wood, gene rally applied to Botany Bay oak. Beer-drawing machines are contriv ances by means of which beer is drawn from a barrel or cask. Beer or Bere stone, composed chiefly of carbonate of lime, friable and with partial indurations. It is extensively quarried at Bere, or Beer, in Devon. Bees, pieces of plank bolted to the outer end of the bowsprit, to score the fore-topmast stays through. Beetle, or Maul, a large mallet to knock the corners of framed work, and to set it in its proper position : the handle is about three feet in length. Beetle, or Boytle, a wooden instru ment or hammer for driving piles, stakes, wedges, etc. Before the beam, in naval architecture, is an arc of the horizon comprehended between a line which crosses a ship's length at right angles, and some object at a distance before it; or between the line of the beam, and that point of the compass which she stems. Behr (Geo. Hen.), published in 1732 a work on Strasburg Cathedral. Belace, Belage, or to Belay, to fasten any running rope when it is haled, that it cannot run forth again; to mend a rope by laying one end over another. Belandre, in navigation, a sort of Norman vessel. Belay, to make a rope fast by turns round a pin or coil, without hitching or seizing it. Belfry, that part of the tower of a church which contains bells. Bell (Henry), late of Glasgow, who, in 1812, tried Symington's plan for navigating by propulsion a steamvessel on the Clyde. The vessel (The Comet') was 25 tons burden, 40 feet long and 10 feet beam, with a steam-engine of four-horse power, which succeeded. Bell, a metallic instrument rung in the belfry of a church for the attendance of divine worship, and upon occasions of rejoicing; composed of three parts of copper and one of tin, called bell-metal. Bell: the body of a Corinthian or Composite capital, supposing the foliage stripped off, is called the bell; the same is applied also to the early English and other capitals in Gothic architecture which in any degree partake of this form. Bell-cage, a timber frame, also called Belfry, carrying one or more large 1 hells. Bell-trap, a contrivance, usually airtight, consisting of an inverted cup, the edges of which dip into a trench, gutter, or canal holding water, and formed at the top of a pipe, for the purpose of preventing foul smells ascending from the drain into the air. Bellows, the instrument for blowing a fire, with an internal cavity so contrived as to be of greater or less capacity by reciprocating motion, and to draw in air at one place while the capacity is upon the increase, and discharge it by another while upon the decrease. The bellows are placed behind the forge with a pipe, and are worked by means of a lever, called a rocket. Steam machinery is now much used for blowing furnaces. Bellows, or water blowing-engine, is a machine in which the stream of air is supplied by the flowing of water. Belly, the hollow part of a compass timber, the round part of which is called the back. Belt, in building, a string-course and blocking-course; a course of stones projecting from a wall, either moulded, plain, fluted, or enriched. Belvedere, a turret, lantern, or cupola, raised above the roof of a building. It is sometimes applied in Italy to open galleries or corridors. Belzoni (G.), an explorer of Egyptian antiquities; died in 1823. Bema, an ambo, or reading-desk; a raised structure for the seat or throne of a bishop. Bema, the sanctuary, presbytery, or chancel of a church. Bema, in Greek, the platform from which the orators spoke in the Athenæum. Bema, a bishop's throne. do their work on, usually 10 or 12 feet in length, and about 2 feet in width. Bench-mark, in surveying, is applied to a mark showing the startingpoint in levelling along a line, and to similar marks affixed at convenient distances to substantial or permanent objects, to show the exact points upon which the levelling staffs were placed when the various levels were read, thus facilitating reference and correction. Bench-planes. The jack-plane, the trying-plane, the long-plane, the jointer, and the smoothing-plane, are called bench-planes. Bench-table, a low stone seat round the interior of the walls of many churches. Bend, in mining, indurated clay; a name given by miners to any indurated argillaceous substance. Bend, the form of the ship from the keel to the top of the side, as the midship bend, etc. Bends, the strongest parts of a ves sel's side, to which the beams, knees, and futtocks are bolted. Bending-strakes, two strakes wrought near the coverings of the deck, worked all fore and aft, about one inch or one inch and a half thicker than the rest of the deck, and let down between the beams and ledges so that the upper side is even with the rest. Bending of timber. The process of bending wood to any required curve depends on the property of heat, as its pressure increases the elasticity of the wood. Benefice, a church endowed with a revenue for the performance of divine service. Benetier, a vessel to contain holy water; a font, or piscina. Ben-heyl, in Cornish mining, rich in tin. Bentick-shrouds, formerly used, and extending from the futtock-staves to the opposite channels of a vessel. Benzine, the bicarburet of hydrogen, procured by heating benzoic acid with lime. Bergamo, a coarse tapestry. Bergmote, a court held on a hill, for the decision of controversies among miners. Berne machine, for rooting up trees; the invention of Peter Sommer, of Berne. Berth, the place where a vessel lies; the place in which a man sleeps. Berth, convenient sea-room to moor a ship. Bertying a ship, the rising up of the ship's sides. Beryl, a pellucid gum, of a bluish green colour, found in the East Indies, Peru, etc.; used by artists. Bethel's patent for preserving wood. This patent was taken out in 1838, and consists in thoroughly impregnating the wood with oil of tar containing creosote and a crude solution of acetate of iron. Betty, in mechanics, an instrument to break open doors. Béton, the French name for concrete: béton is composed by first mixing the proper proportions of lime and sand, either by hand or by a pugmill, in the same manner as for ordinary mortar. Bevel, any angle except one of 90 degrees. Bevel, in bricklaying, is for drawing the soffit-line on the face of the bricks. Bevel, in joinery: one side is said to be bevelled with respect to another, when the angle formed by these two sides is greater or less than a right angle. Bevel gear, in mechanics, denotes a species of wheel-work where the axis or shaft of the leader or driver forms an angle with the axis or shaft of the follower or the driven. In practice it is requisite to have finite and sensible teeth in bevel gear: these are made similarly to those of spur gear, except that in the latter they are parallel, while in bevel gear they diminish in length and thickness in approaching the apex of the cone: the teeth are of any breadth, according to the strength required. Bevel gearing is stronger, works smoother, and has superseded the face-wheel and trundle. Bevelling, in ship-building, the winding of a timber, etc., agreeably to directions given from the mouldloft. Berel-wheel, a wheel having teeth formed so as to work at an angle either greater or less than half a right angle. Bibbe, in ship-building, pieces of timber bolted to the hounds of a mast, to support the trestle-trees. Bibliotheca, in Greek, the place, apartment, or building where books were kept. Bicarbide of hydrogen. This gas is known by the names of light carburetted hydrogen, marsh-gas, firedamp, and gas of the acetates. It is discharged from fissures in coal in large quantities, and from the bottoms of the pools in which there is vegetable matter. Bice, a blue colour used in painting, prepared from the Lapis Armenius. Bice, or Bise, in painting, a pale blue colour, procured by the reduction of salt to a fine powder. Bicellum, the dwelling of a tradesman, having under it two vaults, for the reception of merchandise. Bichoca, a turret or watch-tower. Ber-balk, the church-road for burials. | Bifrons, in sculpture, double-fronted or faced, usually applied to Janus. Bigelf, an arch or chamber. Bing, to build. Begger, a builder. Eght, the double part of a rope when it is folded, in contradistinction from the ends. Briander, a small vessel with two masts, used chiefly in the canals of the Low Countries. Boes, large bars or bolts of iron, with shackles sliding on them, used for criminals. Baage, the breadth of a floor of a ship when she lies aground. Bilge pump, that which is applied to the side of a ship, to exhaust or pamp out the bilge-water. Election-mouldings, those surround g the panels, and projecting before the face of a door, gate, etc. Dage, that part of the floor of a ship which approaches nearer to a horizontal than to a perpendicular direction. Bilge pump, the forcing-pump worked by a marine engine, to discharge the bilge-water from the vessel. Bilge-pump rod, the plunger-rod, or rod connecting the piston of the bilge-pump to one of the sidelevers. Bill, the point at the extremity of the fluke of an anchor. Billet-moulding, an ornament used in string-courses and the archivolts of windows and doors. Billiard-room. The apartment prepared for the reception of a billiard table, and therefore requiring to be of specific dimensions. Billion, in numbers, the sum of a million of millions. Bills, the ends of compass or kneetimber. Bimedial line, in geometry, the sum of two medials. When medial lines, equal only in power and containing a rational rectangle, are compounded, the whole will be irrational with respect to either of the two; this is called a first bimedial line; but if two medial lines, commensurable only in power, and containing a medial rectangle, be compounded, the whole will be irrational, and is then called a second bimedial line. Binary, in arithmetic, double. Binder, one who undertakes to keep a mine open. Binding-joists, those beams in a floor which support transversely the bridgings above and the ceilingjoists below. Bindings, the iron wrought round the dead-eyes. Binnacle, a box near the helm, containing the compass. Binocular telescope, one to which both eyes may be applied. Bins, for wine, open subdivisions in a cellar for the reception of bottles. Birch-wood, a forest tree, common to Europe and North America; an excellent wood for turning, being |