Battens

In general, light scantlings of wood. In ship-building, long, narrow laths of fir, their ends corresponding and fitted into each other with mortice and tenon, used in setting fair the sheer-lines on a ship. They are painted black in order to be the more conspicuous. Battens used on the mold-loft floor are narrow laths, of which some are accurately graduated and marked with feet, inches and quarters for setting off distances. Battens for gratings are narrow, thin laths of oak.