Some Things Every Parent Should Know About The Origins Of The Sash Window
Any average American who opens a window by grasping the frame or a small handle and pushing it upward is dealing with a sash window. Children know all about sash windows even if they don’t know the name. In all likelihood the average child in America or even in England would know little about the origins of the sash window.
The first hint an American child might have that there is a connection between windows and sashes might occur upon the hearing of the Twas the Night before Christmas. This of course is the famous poem generally attributed to Clement Clarke Moore but the authorship of which is disputed.
The significant relationship between windows and sashes comes in the line where the author claims to have flown to the window “like a flash” and he says he “tore open the shutters and threw up the sash”. At this point some children with little knowledge of architecture but great powers of imagination require an explanation. They may ask why the author/narrator barfed up his bathrobe belt.
A kind and considerate adult will take time to explain what a window sash is and how it differs from a sash worn around the waist. This good person will explain that a window sash is like a frame that goes around the glass pane and fits into the actual window frame and slides up and down.
Armed with this knowledge the curious child might set out to learn about Robert Hooke who is credited with inventing the sash window back in the 1600s. The exact date of the invention is not really available since it developed over a period of time and no one patented the idea.
Actually there had been windows that slide up and down in use for a long time, probably since the 1200s. But windows didn’t have glass in them in those days so a sash window would have been more of a sliding wood panel. You could open it to let in light and bugs and air but it wouldn’t keep anything out unless it was closed.
The modern sash window came into being when the vertical sliding panel was combined with glass window panes and pulleys and weights to counterbalance the weight of the wood and glass so that the window could be opened by someone who did not possess super strength. One of the best places to explore the origins of the sash window is Ham House in England. It’s a National Trust Estate that is open to visitors and has sash windows that were installed in 1670.
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