Bressummer
– Definition of Bressummer:
– Load-bearing beam in timber-framed buildings.
– Derived from “sumpter” or French “sommier.”
– Supports superincumbent walls similar to a wall plate.
– Acts as a jetty sill or an interior beam supporting ceiling joists.
– Also known as breastsummer, summer beam, or somier.
– Use of Bressummer:
– Found in timber-frame construction in overhanging upper stories.
– Acts as a horizontal beam over a fireplace opening or to support a jettied wall.
– Can be a main piece of timber supporting a building or architrave.
– In the US, it spans a room supporting smaller floor joists.
– Supports forebay beams and barn frames above in the US.
– Variations and Terminology:
– In the UK, outward beams are called summers, while inner beams are called summers.
– Also referred to as lintel, mantel beam, jetty bressummer, and jetty sill.
– Breastsummer carries loads over large openings.
– Summer beam in the US supports smaller floor joists.
– Breast-Summer is a beam that supports the front of a building.
– References:
– Sources like dictionaries, glossaries, and architectural publications.
– Includes “A Dictionary of the Old English Language” and “Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary.”
– References Ephraim Chambers’ work on Bressummer.
– Cites works by N. W. Alcock and Richard Harris.
– Refers to publications on timber-framed buildings and architectural terms.
– Historical Significance:
– Bressummer has historical importance in timber-framed buildings.
– Used in various regions like the UK and the US.
– Found in different architectural styles and periods.
– Evolution and distribution of bressummers in North America.
– Plays a crucial role in traditional timber-framed house construction.
A bressummer, breastsummer, summer beam (somier, sommier, sommer, somer, cross-somer, summer, summier, summer-tree, or dorman, dormant tree) is a load-bearing beam in a timber-framed building. The word summer derived from sumpter or French sommier, "a pack horse", meaning "bearing great burden or weight". "To support a superincumbent wall", "any beast of burden", and in this way is similar to a wall plate.
The use and definition of these terms vary but generally a bressummer is a jetty sill and a summer is an interior beam supporting ceiling joists, see below:
- (UK) In the outward part of the building, and the middle floors (not in the garrets or ground floors) into which the girders are framed. In the inner parts of a building, such beams are called "summers". It is part of the timber-frame construction in the overhanging upper story in jettying.
- (UK) "Horizontal beam over a fireplace opening (alternatively lintel, mantel beam), or set forward from the lower part of a building to support a jettied wall, a jetty bressummer".
- (UK) "...usually the sill of the upper wall above a jetty; otherwise any beam spanning an opening and supporting a wall above." also called a "jetty sill".
- (UK) Breastsummer is a beam in a wall which carries the load over a large opening derived from breast being in the front, mid-level and summer: "A horizontal, bearing beam in a building; spec. the main beam supporting the girders or joists of a floor...".
- "a main piece of timber that supports a building, an architrave between two pillars"
- "Breast-Summer, an architectural term for a beam employed like a lintel to support the front of a building, is a corruption of bressumer..."
- (US) "Summer beam: A large timber spanning a room and supporting smaller floor joists on both sides."
- (US) "Summer beam. Heavy main horizontal beam, anchored in gable foundation walls, that supports forebay beams and barn frame above."