There is even a simple, but patented, bent-wire device for storing line. An occasional spool is hollowed out at one end so the bob can be stored in it for protection. There are homemade and manufactured examples and finely-crafted examples in exotic woods, brass or ivory. (I) Off-bob line storage: Spools or bobbins are commonly used to store line some have handle-spindles to facilitate winding and unwinding. This third option includes some of the most complex mechanisms among all hand tools. There are three options with multitudes of variations: (1) store the line on a device off the plumb bob, (2) store the line on the outside of the bob and (3) store the line on a reel inside the bob. "What should we do with the string?" is a question answered in three issues of The Plumb Line. I've wondered whether the more exotic brass or ivory plumb bobs that collectors prize may not have had their origins in Freemasonry, either as symbols of office or as gifts for service but, an expert in Freemasonry assures me this is not the case, at least in England or America. And, the plumb bob is the symbol of a past master. Masonic Trestle Boards of the 18th century depicted both the plumb board and the plumb level. As shown on page 45 of Jay Gaynor and Nancy Hagedorn's exhibition book (same name), it's decorated with symbolic tools including three plumb bobs which symbolize uprightness. In the current Williamsbwg exhibition, Tools: Working Wood in Eighteenth-Century America, there is a Master's Chair from a Virginia Masonic Lodge that dates to the late 1760s. Stone masons of the guilds in Europe relied on plumbs and plumb levels in their work, and the importance of these and other tools has carried over symbolically into Freemasonry. Many of the finest brass plumb bobs are from England. Note the amount of decoration on all of these bobs. Figure 2 shows a whale bone bob to the left of three ivory ones. Figure 1 shows Bruce with some of the bobs that occupy a wall in his home. There are little bobs for clockmaking, large bobs for shipbuilding, bobs for special purposes, and bobs with exotic shapes and extraordinary hand-done decoration and filigree. Collectors have bobs of ivory, bone, pottery and wood. Several catalogs had the same selection suggesting a common manufacturer.īut not all plumb bobs of this period were so mundane. Steel points were offered with some bobs and japanning was offered with some iron bobs. Most bobs offered in this general market were heart shaped, with an occasional turnip shape, and were made of brass, lead or iron. Symmetrical construction to assure the plumb bob would hang on its central axis, affixing the line on the central axis with the point, and the point itself were the improvements that brought us to the bobs we find in American hardware catalogs of the 1800s (Shannon, Walter's, Russell & Erwin, Hammacher Schlemmer etc.). The plumb bob evolved to meet requirements for accuracy in such functions as erecting tall buildings, installing machinery, mining and surveying. Illustrations of early plumb bobs appear in the December 1992 issue of The Plumb Line. An early improvement was the drilling of a hole to attach the line. Such crude bobs, with no thought yet of a point at the bottom, offered sufficient accuracy for their purpose. These very early bobs were simply shaped stones, sometimes with grooves around them to keep the line from slipping off. So I want to thank Bruce for sharing his knowledge and providing the photos for this article.Įgyptians certainly used plumb devices to build the pyramids, and perhaps others used them earlier. Bruce is General Manager of News Channel 15 in Fort Wayne and an avid plumb bob collector. This article takes its inspiration from several phone conversations with Bruce Cynar of Fort Wayne, Indiana and from his publication The Plumb Line.
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