Field Gates. 
41 
riveted bolts are better, as the vibration is, in time, apt to throw 
out screws. 
Iron is associated with timber in different ways, and with 
pleasing variety of detail, in the designs for gates. But this is 
rather for ornamental gates, which do not come within the scope 
of this article. 
It is a sound principle in the construction of a gate to make 
the rails taper from heel to head; strength is required for the 
leverage strain at the heel, and at the "point of the lever the 
least weight commensurate with the necessary strength. Thick 
top and bottom rails must be shouldered at the tenons, but the 
less shouldering the better, and, if the thickness of the head and 
heel over that of these rails will allow it, the shoulders should be 
let in there f in., as shown by dotted lines on fig. 1. The mor- 
tises for the intermediate x’ails should receive these their full 
f) 
"a. x v 
X.... /\ 
Xx xx 
. .XX XX J 
x XX X 
>5' l QJ 
Fig. 4.— A Light Cate. 
thickness. All mortises should have square ends, and not round, 
from the boring iron. Tenons are more easily moved in the 
latter. In the heel only the mortice for the top rail should go 
through it. . All should be done that is practicable to exclude 
moisture at joints and laps, and notching at the laps should be 
avoided. Where the tail of the hinge crosses a joint, any differ- 
ence in thickness there should be met, not by checking the heel 
to reduce its thickness, nor by fixing thin pieces on the rail, but 
by kneeing the ironwork, which can be slipped into place over 
the end. 
The heel should not be less than 3 in. thick, and that thick- 
ness requires a breadth of G in., a cross section of 18 in. 
When a series of mortises, say £ in. wide, has to be made in 
timber 3 in. thick, its strength is much reduced ; 31 in. by 
in. is a better size — a cross section pi’actically the same as 
3 in. by 6 in. I he heel of the gate in fig. 3 is usually 4 in. by 
