Column
Column names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Column A pillar or post
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
A pillar or post, usually made either round or rectangular in form, and employed as supports for roofs, entablatures, or other superstructures. The members of a column are capital, shaft, and base, with an abacus for the capital, and sometimes a plinth for the base. Columns are of wood, stone, cast iron, malleable iron, and steel. Made of the latter they are now constructed in segments, riveted together, and shipped as promptly as cast iron ones are made in the foundry. The change from cast-iron to steel has seriously affected the architectural foundry interests and many firms are at present suffering severely on account of the innovation. The following table shows the weight of one foot in length of square columns one inch thick, and the number of inches contained in end section of each column, by which means the weight of one lineal foot of any other casting answering to the total inches given is obtained at once. Dim. of col. in inches. 6X6 7X7 8X8 9X9 10X10 11X11 12X12 13X13 14X14 15X15 Weight of 1 foot in lbs. 63 75 87 100 113 125 138 150 163 174 No. of inches con. in sec. 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 Dim. of col. in inches. 16X16 17X17 18X18 19X19 20X20 21X21 22X22 23X23 24X24 Weight of 1 foot in lbs. 187 200 213 225 238 250 263 275 288 No. of inches con. in sec. 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 TABLE SHOWING THE WEIGHT IN POUNDS OF ONE LINEAL FOOT OF ROUND COLUMNS ONE INCH THICK. Outside diam. of column in in. 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 Weight of on ft. in length in lbs. 30 49 69 89 108 128 148 167 187 206 226
Column a pillar, shaft
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a pillar, shaft, or solid body of considerably greater length than thickness, standing upright, and generally serving to support some superincumbent mass. It is the principal part in the ancient orders of architecture. There are five orders of architecture, each having CORINTHIAN COLUMN respects differs from the Roman Doric, which is an imitation of it. It was short, powerful, and massive, and very simple in character. Its height was between seven and eight diameters. The Ionic column was distinguished by its volutes, and was nine diameters in height. The Co- 709 TUSCAN COLUMN rinthian, which was 10 diameters high, was adorned with leaves, etc., and was noted for its lightness and richness of decoration. Of these the Doric and Ionic were the earliest and oftenest employed in Greek architecture. The Corinthian was preferred by the Romans. The parts of a column are the plinth, the torus, the shaft, the astragal, the neck, the ovato, the abacus. Above these rose the entablature. ع DORIC COLUMN
Column in military tactics
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in military tactics, a formation of troops drawn up in deep files, showing a small front; as distinguished from line, which is extended in front and thin in depth. They are said to be close or open, according to the intervals between the battalions, regiments, etc., of which they are composed. Sometimes the name column is given to a small army, especially when actively engaged.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The 1892 foundry writer was watching his trade die in real time, noting that the shift "from cast-iron to steel has seriously affected the architectural foundry interests": that shift was permanent, and cast-iron columns, brittle in tension and prone to failure in fire, disappeared from new building almost entirely, joined and then largely displaced by reinforced concrete. Column design today is governed by published codes rather than the weight-per-lineal-foot tables reproduced above, and slenderness and buckling calculations, not simple section area, decide the size. Collier's account of the classical orders in 1921 still reads accurately, and the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian proportions it gives are what students are taught now. The military sense has moved furthest: the deep column of files was already lethal against machine guns by 1921, and the word now chiefly describes a road march or a vehicle convoy rather than a battle formation.
Written for this edition, 2026.