Window

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This article is about the part of a building. For the Microsoft operating system, see Microsoft
Windows. For other uses, see Window (disambiguation) and Windows (disambiguation).

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Window of traditional design in Porto Covo, Portugaland double- and triple paned windows.
The Romans were the first known to use 3.5 Horizontal sliding sash
o 3.6 Casement
3.6.1 Awning
3.6.2 Hopper
o 3.7 Tilt and slide
3.7.1 Tilt and turn
o 3.8 Transom
o 3.9 Side light
o 3.10 Jalousie Window
o 3.11 Clerestory
o 3.12 Skylight
o 3.13 Roof
o 3.14 Roof lantern
o 3.15 Bay
3.15.1 Oriel
o 3.16 Thermal
o 3.17 Picture
o 3.18 Multi-lit
o 3.19 Emergency exit/egress
o 3.20 Stained glass
o 3.21 French
o 3.22 Double paned
4 Terms
o 4.1 Labeling
5 Construction
o 5.1 Grids or muntins
o 5.2 Frame and sash construction
o 5.3 Glazing and filling
o 5.4 Other construction details
6 Windows and the sun
o 6.1 Sun incidence angle
o 6.2 Solar window
o 6.3 Passive solar
o 6.4 Window coverings
7 Gallery
8 See also
9 References
10 External links
Etymology[edit]
The word window originates from the Old Norse 'vindauga', from 'vindr wind' and 'auga eye',
i.e., wind eye. In Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic the Old Norse form has survived to this day
(in Icelandic only as a less used synonym to gluggi), in Swedish the word vindga remains as a
term for a hole through the roof of a hut, and in the Danish language 'vindue' and
Norwegian Bokml 'vindu', the direct link to 'eye' is lost, just like for 'window'. The Danish (but not
the Bokml) word is pronounced fairly similarly to window.
Window is first recorded in the early 13th century, and originally referred to an unglazed hole in a
roof. Window replaced the Old English eagyrl, which literally means 'eye-hole,' and 'eagduru'
'eye-door'. Many Germanic languages however adopted the Latin word 'fenestra' to describe a
window with glass, such as standard Swedish 'fnster', or German'Fenster'. The use
of window in English is probably because of the Scandinavian influence on the English language
by means of loanwords during the Viking Age. In English the word fenester was used as a
parallel until the mid-18th century and fenestration is still used to describe the arrangement of
windows within a faade. Also, words such as "defenestration" are in use, meaning to throw
something out of a window.
From Webster's 1828 Dictionary: Window, n. [G. The vulgar pronunciation is windor, as if from
the Welsh gwyntdor, wind-door.]
[4]

History[edit]


Fragment of a Roman window glass plate dated to 1st to 4th century A.D.
Note the obvious curvature, this is not a flat pane.


Alabaster 'mullion' divided decorative windows in Santa Maria La Major church (Morella, Spain).
The earliest windows were just holes in a wall. Later, windows were covered with animal hide,
cloth, or wood. Shutters that could be opened and closed came next. Over time, windows were
built that both protected the inhabitants from the elements and transmitted light: mullioned
glass windows, which joined multiple small pieces of glass with leading, paper windows, flattened
pieces of translucent animal horn, and plates of thinly sliced marble. In the Far East, paper was
used to fill windows.
[2]
The Romans were the first known to use glass for windows, a technology
likely first produced in Roman EgyptIn Alexandria ca. 100 AD, cast glass windows, albeit with
poor optical properties, began to appearbut these were small thick productions, little more
than blown glass jars (cylindrical shapes) flattened out into sheets with circular striation patterns
throughout. It would be over a millennium before a window glass became transparent enough to
see through clearly, as we think of it now.
Over the centuries techniques were developed to shear through one side of a blown
glass cylinder and produce thinner rectangular window panes from the same amount of glass
material. This gave rise to tall narrow windows, usually separated by a vertical support called a
mullion.Mullioned glass windows were the windows of choice among European well-to-do,
whereas paper windows were economical and widely used in ancient China, Korea and Japan. In
England, glass became common in the windows of ordinary homes only in the early 17th century
whereas windows made up of panes of flattened animal horn were used as early as the 14th
century.
[5]
Noted science historian, author and television show host/producer James
Burke attributes the rapid deforestation of Great Britain in the late 1500s to the uptick in
production of glazed windows as well as iron cannon production (1st Cast in 1547). He writes
further this gave rise to coal for fuel, which spurred iron production, requiring more coal, and
more iron, then steam engine pumps, canals... and more iron; all because windows became a
middle class commodity in the latter days of the little ice age, one large factor among several
leading to the deforesting English woodlands, and the switch over to a coal economy.
Modern-style floor-to-ceiling windows became possible only after the industrial plate glass
making processes were perfected. Modern windows are usually filled with glass, although a few
are transparent plastic.
[2]

Types[edit]
Eyebrow[edit]
The term eyebrow window is used in two ways: a curved top window in a wall or in an
eyebrow dormer; and a row of small windows usually under the front eaves such as the James-
Lorah House in Pennsylvania.
[6]

Fixed[edit]
A window that cannot be opened, whose function is limited to allowing light to enter (unlike an
unfixed window, which can open and close). Clerestory windows are often fixed. Transom
windows may be fixed or operable. This type of window is used in situations where light or vision
alone is needed as no ventilation is possible windows without the use of trickle vents or
overglass vents.
Single-hung sash[edit]
One sash is movable (usually the bottom one) and the other fixed. This is the earlier form of
sliding sash window, and is also cheaper.
[2]

Double-hung sash[edit]
A sash window is the traditional style of window in the United Kingdom, and many other places
that were formerly colonized by the UK, with two parts (sashes) that overlap slightly and slide up
and down inside the frame. The two parts are not necessarily the same size. Currently most new
double-hung sash windows use spring balances to support the sashes, but traditionally,
counterweights held in boxes on either side of the window were used. These were and are
attached to the sashes using pulleys of either braided cord or, later, purpose-made chain. Three
types of spring balances are called a tape or clock spring balance; channel or block-and-tackle
balance; and a spiral or tube balance.
Double-hung sash windows were traditionally often fitted with shutters. Sash windows can be
fitted with simplex hinges that let the window be locked into hinges on one side, while the rope on
the other side is detachedso the window can be opened for fire escape or cleaning.