Bolts?!
Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2001 9:28 am
I toured the arms and armor hall at the Chicago Art Institute, and they had many suits of armor from the 1400s forward. (Like their medieval art collection, they seem to have started the clock at the 15th Century.)
Anyway, I was amazed to find large bolts on the armor, including a big wing-nut thinggy in the middle of a jousting face plate.
The slotted round heads were about 5/8" to 3/4" in diameter, and looked like they would take a regular mechanic's screwdriver. The threads were coarse, maybe ten to the inch. One suit had half a dozen bolts holding on the breastplate.
Of course, being an art museum, they only described the "medium" (steel, leather, and brass), "artist" and date (in some cases plus or minus 50 years.) So, there were no real notes on the evolution of the craft. But, I must say I expected anything but big round-head screws in the late middle ages.
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Miror Otium Negotium Multum Requirare
Anyway, I was amazed to find large bolts on the armor, including a big wing-nut thinggy in the middle of a jousting face plate.
The slotted round heads were about 5/8" to 3/4" in diameter, and looked like they would take a regular mechanic's screwdriver. The threads were coarse, maybe ten to the inch. One suit had half a dozen bolts holding on the breastplate.
Of course, being an art museum, they only described the "medium" (steel, leather, and brass), "artist" and date (in some cases plus or minus 50 years.) So, there were no real notes on the evolution of the craft. But, I must say I expected anything but big round-head screws in the late middle ages.
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Miror Otium Negotium Multum Requirare