Illustration of an abat-son

An abat-son (plural usually abat-sons) is an architectural device constructed to reflect or direct sound in a particular direction. It consists of large louvers. The term is commonly used to refer to angled louvers in a bell tower or belfry designed to redirect sound or to prevent ingress of water.[1]

Abat-son can also refer to a louver or board used in the device.[2][3] These boards or sheets are typically made of wood or metal.[4]

The term comes from the French term of the same name, which literally means "to strike down" (abat) the "sound" (son) or "sounds" (sons).[5][6]

In the windshields

The slats, generally of the grid type and fixed to a carpentry frame, are usually made of wood or covered with metal, slate or lead; In addition to redirecting the sound of the bells towards the ground, they prevent rain or snow from penetrating the bell tower and allow the tower's carpentry to be ventilated. «Beffroi», is an architectural technical Gallicism that appeared in the 19th century, replacing the popular name of «windscreen» (abat-vent).[7]

Loudspeakers are often inserted into twin bays on each of the steeple faces, more rarely in the skylights of steeple arrows. These vain bell towers are typically flanked by columns with capitals and decorations, in Romanesque architecture, with archivolts, and with interlocking fretwork in Gothic architecture. Turntables developed especially from the 13th century, and were often already decorated with fretwork, serrated bottoms, or embossed in lead.[8]

References

  1. ↑ Curl, James Stevens, 1937- (2015). The Oxford dictionary of architecture. Wilson, Susan (Historian) (Third ed.). [Oxford]. ISBN 978-0-19-175298-8. OCLC 913074935.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Bond, Francis. An Introduction to English Church Architecture from the Eleventh to the Sixteenth Century. London: H. Milford, 1913. Print.
  3. ↑ Montague, Don (2003-09-02). Dictionary of Building and Civil Engineering. doi:10.4324/9780203475430. ISBN 9781135821685.
  4. ↑ Ph.D, Maxim Newmark (1950-01-15). Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-3401-7.
  5. ↑ "Definition of ABAT-SONS". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  6. ↑ Passy, Paul; Hempl, George (1904). International French-English and English-French Dictionary. Hinds, Noble & Eldredge.
  7. ↑ Pierrel, Jean-Marie (2013-11-25), "Structuration et usage de ressources lexicales institutionnelles sur le français", Ressources Lexicales (PDF), Lingvisticæ Investigationes Supplementa, vol. 30, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 119–152, doi:10.1075/lis.30.04pie, ISBN 978-90-272-3140-6, retrieved 2022-03-26
  8. ↑ . doi:10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-06/jillson/figure1 http://dx.doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-06/jillson/figure1. Retrieved 2022-03-26. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)

Further reading

  • Sturgis, Russell, et al., eds. (1902) "Abat-Sons". Dictionary of Architecture. Reprinted 1989 as Sturgis' Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture and Building Vol. I A–E. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-26025-9.
  • Media related to Abat-sons at Wikimedia Commons
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