Tile
a kind of thin slab of baked clay, used for covering roofs, paving floors, lining furnaces or ovens, constructing drains, etc. Tiles, both flat and curved, were in great demand in Roman TILESTON architecture. Roofs were covered with the flat and curved tiles alternating. Tiles are manufactured by a similar process to bricks. Roofing tiles are of two sorts, plain tiles and pantiles; the former are flat, and are usually made 5/8 inch in thickness, 10½ inches long, 6½ wide.
They weigh from 2 to 2½ pounds each, and expose about one-half to the weather; 740 tiles cover 100 superficial feet. They are hung on the lath by two oak pins, inserted into holes made by the molder. Pantiles, first used in Flanders, have a wavy surface, lapping under and being overlapped by adjacent tiles of the same rank. Crown, ridge, hip, and valley tiles are semicylindrical, or segments of cylinders, used for the purposes indicated. Siding tiles are used as a substitute for weatherboarding.
Holes are made in them when molding, and they are secured to the lath by flat-headed nails. The gauge or exposed face is sometimes indented, to represent courses of brick. Fine mortar is introduced between them when they rest on each other. Siding tiles are sometimes called weather tiles and mathematical tiles; these names are derived from their exposure or markings. They are variously formed, having curved or crenated edges, and various ornaments either raised or encaustic. Dutch tiles, for chimneys, are made of a whitish earth, glazed and painted with various figures.
Draintiles are usually made in the form of an arch, and laid on flat tiles called soles. Paving tiles are usually square and thicker than those used for roofing.
Galvanized iron tiles have been introduced in France. They are shaped like pantiles. In brass founding, the cover of a brass furnace, now made of iron, but formerly a flat tile. In metallurgy, a clay cover for a melting pot. As a slang term, a tall stiff hat; a tall silk hat, or one of that shape.