Transom
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The term transom has several different meanings.
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[edit] Ship terminology
In naval architecture, a transom is a vertical flat surface that forms the stern of a vessel. On smaller vessels where an outboard motor is the source of propulsion, the motor is usually mounted on the transom, and held in place either by clamps or metal bolts that go through the transom. In this arrangement all the power of the motor is transmitted via the transom to the rest of the vessel's structure, making it a very important part of the vessel's construction.
The term is probably a corruption of Latin transtrum, a thwart, in a boat; equivalents are French traverse, croisillon, German Losholz.
[edit] Architecture
In architecture, a transom is the term given to the horizontal member which is framed across a window, dividing it into stages or heights.
Transom is the customary U.S. word for a window over a door, which may be fixed or capable of being opened for ventilation. In England, the transom above a door is usually referred to as a fanlight, and occasionally as an "overlight", or by the French word "vasistas". The word "fanlight" derives from the fan-like shape of early transoms, which became a traditional part of the Georgian style. The French term is phonetically similar to German phrase "was ist das?" ("what is that?"). Hence folk etymology ascribes its origin to German chambermaids in France[citation needed].
Increasingly, transom is used to refer to the horizontal structural member in a curtain wall system which transfers the dead load of the glass and the wind load to the mullion.
[edit] History
In early Gothic ecclesiastical work, transoms are only found in belfry unglazed windows or spire lights, where they were deemed necessary to strengthen the mullions in the absence of the iron stay bars, which in glazed windows served a similar purpose. In the later Gothic, and more especially the Perpendicular Period, the introduction of transoms became common in windows of all kinds.
[edit] Publishing
The phrase "over the transom" refers to works submitted for publication without being solicited. The image evoked is of a writer tossing a manuscript through the open window over the door of the publisher's office.
