Window shutter hardware

A patch of leather spanning between the stile and jamb and fastened with wooden pegs served to hinge a door or shutter.

Hand-carved wooden hinges and pintles, slide bolts and lift-latches were whittled from a variety of woods.

[citation needed] Iron itself was expensive and a valued resource for any kingdom and had many other more valuable uses in weaponry and tools.

In the post-Renaissance period industrial advances provided more iron and the emerging merchant/tradesman classes had money to purchase hardware for their homes and warehouses.

Examples of hardware excavated from the Jamestown and Plymouth colonies of the 17th century were very ornate in design – typical of that being produced in England at the time.

Virtually all of the early hardware in New York, Philadelphia, Annapolis, Alexandria, Key West, or anyplace else where British ships could berth, was made in England.

Away from the ports and cities where British authority was centered, many locally-made examples of early hardware can be found.

Examples of German, French, and Dutch hardware remain in the inland river valleys – the homelands of the early settlers.

[citation needed] Virtually all of the shutters in colonial times were hung with strap hinges – following the examples in Britain.

The rolled barrel was replaced by a pin of about 1⁄2" in diameter and twice the length of the thickness of the shutter mounted perpendicular to the face of the lock.

[citation needed] After the American Revolution machines were invented to make screws and to produce rolled iron in thin sheets.

Cast iron technology had long been available – now machine-made screws allowed such hardware to be economically mounted.

Butt type hinges can be seen during this "Federal" Period (1800–1830) – but they quickly fell from favor, probably because they were subject to breakage.

[citation needed] Strap hinges continued to dominate in the marketplace for hanging shutters.

This pintle was a flat plate of about two inches high and notched to one half of its height and formed to a female barrel.

Often when the shutters were removed – usually in the 20th century – cast type pintles were hit with a hammer and broken off flush with the edge of the window.

The shutters often found their way into the basements of the home to provide coal bins for newly installed central heat or were nailed up in the barn to partition off pig sties or calf pens.

[citation needed] Cast iron tie-backs became much more popular during the Federal period – usually mounted on arms extending from the window sills.

Quick and easy to produce and strong enough to hold heavy shutters, they found favor in the new construction of the period.

[citation needed] Plate steel elements were assembled by unskilled labor in sprawling factories.

Offset – the total dimension that the shutter will travel outwards when moved from the closed to the open position.

Because brick and stone openings are rarely plumb and or perfectly flat, it is typical to use the greatest dimension and allow about ½" cushion.

Throw – This is the measure of the horizontal movement of the edge of the shutter as it swings from the open to the closed position and varies greatly between hinge styles.

Too much throw and too much brick or siding shows between the open shutter edge and the window frame.

Also common in the south of Europe, France, Italy, and Austria, it allows the shutter to sit almost fully parallel to the structure.

They were likely hung on the casing to allow for the frost heaves and movement of the structures in the harsh New England winters.

A strap hinge with a zero offset and an angle pintle matched to the thickness of the shutter will serve in every case.

[2] This style is traditional to suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including Chester, Bucks, and Montgomery Counties.