RIB (from 0. Eng. ribb; the word appears' in many Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Rippe, Swed. reb)

This article appears in Volume V23, Page 281 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: RHY-RON

RIB (from 0. Eng. ribb; the word appears' in many Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Rippe, Swed. reb) , in anatomy, the primary meaning, one of the

series

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

of elastic arched bones (costae) which form the casing or framework of the

thorax

THORAX (Gr. BWpaE, breastplate, also the part of the
body
- BODY
covered by it)

(see SKELETON: Axial). The word is in meaning transferred to many objects resembling a rib in shape or

function

FUNCTION

. In architecture, it is thus used of the arches of stone which in medieval work constitute the skeleton of the vault, and carry the shell or web. Although in the Roman vault the rib played an important

element

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

in its construction, it was generally hidden in the thickness of the vault and was made subservient to its geometrical surfaces. The Gothic masons, on the other hand, reversed the process, and not only made the vaulting surface ' subservient to the rib, but by mouldings rendered the latter a highly decorative feature. The principal ribs are the transverse (arc doubleau), the

diagonal

DIAGONAL (Gr. &a, through, ywvia, a corner)

(arc ogive) and the

wall

WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the
original
- ORIGINAL
O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

rib (formeret). Those of less importance are the intermediate, the

ridge

and lierne ribs. The

ridge

-rib is one first introduced into the vault to resist the thrust of the intermediate ribs between the

wall

WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the
original
- ORIGINAL
O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

and

diagonal

DIAGONAL (Gr. &a, through, ywvia, a corner)

ribs; it also served to mark the junction of the filling-in or web of vaults in those cases where the courses dipped toward the diagonal rib. (See VAULT.) A lierne rib (the term is borrowed from the French) is 'a short rib, introduced into the vaulting in the Early Perpendicular period, which coupled together the transverse and intermediate ribs; in the later period the " lierne " rib becomes one of the

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

features of the " stella " vault (see further VAULT).

End of Article: RIB (from 0. Eng. ribb; the word appears' in many Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Rippe, Swed. reb)

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