Military Mount Definition

[sablebrush52]

I think the key behind all the discussions is that a military mount uses a tapered mortise and tapered tenon with a 1.5-2% taper unlike a conventional mortise and tenon that has a constant diameter that can cause problems when the mortise is allowed to swell or shrink without the stem being in place.

That's not unique to army mounts. Spigots are tapered as well. But spigots have a squared off metal shank cap and a metal stem cap while army mounts have a rounded shank cap and no metal cap on the stem. Same join system, different styles.

 

[klause]

Ah! Now, this has been an interesting read, and an education.
Thanks, fellas.

 

[agnosticpipe]

Good one Warren, "Red Green" and duct tape. Loved that show, and I still hope my wife finds me handy. :roll:

 

[pitchfork]

Spigots are tapered as well. But spigots have a squared off metal shank cap and a metal stem cap while army mounts have a rounded shank cap and no metal cap on the stem. Same join system, different styles.

Jesse, what do you think of this Weingott spigot? It looks fairly rounded on the shank end. But that raises a question for you and the other spigot aficionados. Having never owned one myself, I'm wondering if the silver/metal on the shank also lines the mortise inside the shank? I'm not sure which is the case with the Weingott -- maybe it's just wood under the silver shank cap.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WEINGOTT-1888-SILVER-SMOKING-PIPE-/221574145412?ssPageName=STRK%3AMESINDXX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=LyHQ9Jz%252FKqtgE6pXfAcI8HgInNM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

 

[sablebrush52]

Heh, every definition has its variants. I guess that would be an army spigot? The metal covering the shank does wrap around the interior. So it's a metal against metal join.

 

[pitchfork]

The metal covering the shank does wrap around the interior. So it's a metal against metal join.

OK, thanks. Wasn't sure about that.

 

[warren]

Trench warfare certainly predates WWI by many, many years. Marlborough's armies and earlier were sapping and trenching. WWI was the most brutal and long lasting.
I think spigot, military, etc. are words that have morphed through usage over the years. If there is metal protecting, or even simply decorating, the shank I tend to class that as military if the joint is friction.

 

[pitchfork]

Trench warfare certainly predates WWI by many, many years. Marlborough's armies and earlier were sapping and trenching. WWI was the most brutal and long lasting.

True. But the brass/metal cartridge wasn't much used until c.1850 -- is that right? That would at least narrow down the dates for the "original" military mount (assuming it originated in a trench somewhere) to between around 1850 and the 1880s.
By the way, does anyone have a firm date for when briar pipes were first put into large-scale production? Is that 1850s also? Along with that, does anyone know when vulcanite stems were first introduced?

 

[warren]

I believe that's reasonably close regarding the advent of the metal cartridge. General usage coming somewhat later.
I guess all we really can surmise with any reliability is that somewhere, sometime a shank split and the piper salvaged it with a sleeve of some sort, clearly not duct tape, and was able to settle back and enjoy at least one more smoke from his damaged, but beloved pipe.

 

[misterlowercase]

I'll set back and eat my popcorn now.

You were right puffdoggie,

this has turned out to be a really great thread with many good points all around.

:clap:

By the way, does anyone have a firm date for when briar pipes were first put into large-scale production? Is that 1850s also? Along with that, does anyone know when vulcanite stems were first introduced?

Yep, I think it's generally accepted that the late 1850's is when briar pipes showed up.
As for vulcanite, here's what B.W.E. Alford sez:

"The original briars had been fitted with horn mouthpieces but in 1878 a vulcanite mouthpiece was invented by an English firm, though the process was taken over and improved upon by a German firm which virtually secured a monopoly of its manufacture."

It appears that vulcanite itself was invented in 1843:

http://www.plastiquarian.com/index.php?id=41

:
Interesting to note that sometimes what appears to be a friction mount if seen unassembled, may actually be a screw tenon,

like these golden oldies:

http://www.pipecluboflondon.com/PCoL_CC_Briars1850-1900.html
:
It seems the Italians and French refer to this style as "floc" or "flock"...

A few interesting, but tiny, catalog pages here:

http://www.pijpenkabinet.nl/Pijpenkabinet/H-E%20meerschuim.html
Here's an early army-mount briar pipe with amber stem of US manufacture:

From reading this thread, I now believe any association of this design with military use is purely apocryphal.
The question would then be,

when was the term first used and why did they frame it the way they did?

Surely, it's a bulletproof design - simple and hardwearing - but unlikely to have origins from the battlefield.
The 1912 BBB catalog uses the term Army Mount (p. 85), so it must have been in circulation for some time before that date?

 

[misterlowercase]

edit:
A few interesting, but tiny, catalog pages here:

http://www.pijpenkabinet.nl/Pipeclub/SS-E%20catalogi.html

 

[warren]

I suspect the military connection was because of it's popularity with the military. A two piece pipe would have been very convenient for soldiers, particularly grunts, as it could be carried in the pocket or kit bag. Unlike officers who were allowed large amounts of baggage, the common soldier carried all he owned on his person. The more compact the pipe, the sturdier. Before battle, or at least before forming up, personal things were left in the charge of one soldier who was not going to be exposed in the fighting. An invalid, cook or some such.
A pipe that was easy to break down and then reassemble would certainly be handy. It seems logical. Townsmen and country folk smoked at home. Soldiers, tinkers and others moved around with all of their possessions.

 

[misterlowercase]

Pardon this slight swerve, but I just discovered a literary theft,

the sentence above about vulcanite attributed to B.W.E. Alford wasn't actually his!
One of my favorite books is Sublime Tobacco by Compton Mackenzie.
I have a hardcover first edition from Chatto & Windus,

but also a cheap paperback reprint I keep by the crapper to read at my leisure LOL
This evening I picked it up and by an odd chance of bibliomancy I landed on a page which contained this very same sentence which was still fresh in my mind --- Alford had swiped it wholesale and without any attribution whatsoever!
Here's what Mackenzie wrote:

"The alarmists were uttering warnings about the danger of cancer from smoking clay-pipes. The original briers from St Claude had been equipped with horn stems locally made, but in 1878 an English firm invented the vulcanite mouthpiece. The invention was taken over by the Germans, who perfected vulcanite and secured almost a monopoly of its manufacture. Shortly before the First World War a factory for making vulcanite mouthpieces was established in St Claude, and when the supplies from Germany were cut off they expanded and made not only mouthpieces but also ebonite parts necessary for electrical apparatus."

m ss ng
theiiif​

 

[misterlowercase]

I suspect the military connection was because of it's popularity with the military.

That's a great point Warren,

if it was mostly soldiers that were buying these then it would seem maybe a sort of shorthand for the style got started and just caught on.
Most of the sport pipes were usually "normal",

like the famous Dunhill 305 "riding" pipe.

 

[misterlowercase]

Another swerve.
On a post about literary theft, I performed it myself
Impulsively adding that poem in the end.

Unattributed.
I had to correct this misstep.
It is a minimalist masterpiece by George Swede.
The original is like this:

M SS NG
theiiif!​

This poem is available booklike,

here:

http://www.georgeswede.com/embryo--eye-poems.html
:idea:

 

[leacha]

Here is link to the Peterson 1896 catalog.
1896 Peterson Catalog
Besides showing military mounts it also says the stems are available in amber or vulcanite. So vulcanite was in large scale pipe manufacturing at least as early as 1896.