Quoin

Quoins (/kɔɪn/ or /kwɔɪn/) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. They exist in some cases to provide actual strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble and in other cases to make a feature of a corner, creating an impression of permanence and strength, and reinforcing the onlooker’s sense of a structure’s presence.

Stone quoins are used on stone or brick buildings. Brick quoins may appear on brick buildings that extrude from the facing brickwork in such a way as to give the appearance of uniformly cut blocks of stone larger than the bricks. Where quoins are used for decoration and not for load-bearing, they may be made from a wider variety of materials beyond brick, stone or concrete, extending to timber, cement render or other stucco.

Techniques

Uniform ashlar blocks

In a traditional, often decorative use, large exactly cuboid ashlar stone blocks or replicas are only used on the corners with their longest sides horizontally: the longest sides are laid to be on one wall plane then the other that the corner forms (course after course). This forms a long-side, short-side alternate pattern, which by using the same size blocks alternates when the viewer passes the corner. This can be called the alternate, horizontal quoining technique.

Quoin (disambiguation)

Quoin or Du Quoin may refer to:

Places

Other

See also

Cannon operation

Cannon operation required specialised crew and gunners, who were first enlisted by the Spanish in the 14th century. The nature of cannon operation often depended on the size of the cannon and whether they were breech-loading or muzzle-loading. English cannon of the late 14th century became mobile, while the largest cannon (such as the heavy siege cannon of the Ottoman Turks or the Jaivana cannon of India) required huge crews to transport and operate them.

As the "giant gun" trend disappeared in Europe, in favour of lighter, more manoeuvrable pieces in larger numbers, and cannon operating crews became smaller, heralding the early use of true field artillery. While the medieval Dardanelles Gun had required 200 men just to operate it, 18th-century English cannon required only a dozen men, including two gunners, while during the Napoleonic Wars five gunners were used.

Overview

Cannon operation is described by the 1771 Encyclopædia Britannica. Each cannon would be manned by two gunners, six soldiers, and four officers of the artillery. The right gunner was to prime the piece and load it with powder, while the left gunner would fetch the powder from the magazine and keep ready to fire the cannon at the officer's command. Three soldiers stood on each side of the cannon, to ram and sponge the cannon, and hold the ladle. The second soldier on the left was charged with providing 50 rounds.