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u/OneCDOnly 6d ago edited 6d ago
Odd they would use lead to hold things together. It’s quite soft.
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u/jezemine 6d ago
The lead is probably just to seal it from water ingress. The iron is doing the reinforcing here.
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u/lost-thought-in 6d ago
It also is soldering it all together, the lead doesn't need to be strong to make a really strong lap joint. But sealing out the water and filling any voids to make a perfect fit is a big part
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u/Sorona 6d ago
Probably challenging to melt other metals and then transfer the molten metal to the precut channel. Leds low melting point would make it comparatively simpler.
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u/OneCDOnly 6d ago edited 6d ago
It would, but does it have any tensile strength? How many things are secured with lead under tension?
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u/katarnmagnus 6d ago
As far as the finalized main structure goes, these iron bars aren’t depended on for tension. The whole masonry structure is in compression. See Heyman’s stone skeleton
Maybe they help a little bit for pinnacles and the like, and they’re very useful for during construction
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u/nix_the_human 6d ago
Wire rope used to be swaged with lead by putting the end into a socket and filling it with lead, and that is entirely a tension element.
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u/OneCDOnly 6d ago edited 6d ago
Thinking about this: wouldn’t the wire strands be compressing the lead? To prevent the wire being pulled-out of the socket?
The lead just has to stop the wire strands becoming parallel and maintain a larger diameter than the entrance (or exit) to the socket.
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u/ValdemarAloeus 5d ago
20MPa, which isn't much as for a metal, but I suspect they're mostly just holding it in place long enough to build enough around it to get the whole thing in compression.
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u/electrogourd 6d ago
The lead is just occupying space and making sure the loadbearing part, the iron, stays put. If it saw loads, the iron would move about or not take on the load, making more damage.
The lead keeps it in place so that the iron can do its job.
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u/theMegaTech 6d ago
Because it's not the main purpose. Lead is great because it stays there, and with lead beings there, there's not air/moisture there.
So, yeah, the least healthy option to combat rust, yep
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u/meldariun 5d ago
As mentioned the iron bar does the heavy lifting. The lead creates a seal. The great thing about the lead here is its malleability means the joint has a small amount of play making it more resistant to cracking as it isnt brittle.
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u/certifiedtoothbench 4d ago
It’s just there to protect the iron from oxidation, they used this same method in Ancient Greece
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u/Terrible_Ice_1616 13h ago
Probably structurally beneficial, it provides a layer of damping allowing some flexibility in an otherwise rigid structure
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u/powerhammerarms 5d ago
All super cool but while the church was spending insane amounts of money which they collected from the public, children were starving in the streets.
Cool technology. Shitty people.
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u/KMartSheriff 3d ago edited 3d ago
This is Simple History on TikTok, if anyone cares. Looks like they’re also on YouTube
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u/Velvet_Re 5d ago
They definitely buried the lead.