С другой стороны, известный профессор металлургии Cyril Stanley Smith в своей известной статье "Methods of Making Chain Mail (14th to 18th Centuries): A Metallographic Note" (
Technology and Culture, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1959, pp. 60-67), исследовав в свое время 11 западноевропейских и 5 восточных кольчуг, написал:
All of the links were made from wire, bent to a circular form and closed by either riveting or welding. The welded links were somewhat less regular in shape than the others, usually flattish in section and often composed of two or three complete turns welded together instead of only a small overlap weld. None of the links had been made by punching or cutting circles of sheet as suggested by Burgess, for the streaks of slag or carbon segregation always run circumferentially. This is hardly surprising, for the manufacture of suitably matched punches and dies would call for a precision of workmanship beyond that of the armorer.
The welded links were not finished by forging to their final section but had been partly filed or otherwise cut, as can be judged from the intersection of the present surface with the fibre of the metal. Despite the amount of hand work involved in welding, it was evidently comparable in cost with riveting, otherwise welded links would not have been used so frequently. They would add little to either the strength or the beauty of a suit in which half the links had to be closed by riveting during assembly.
Кольцо, которое он приводит в качестве примера, от немецкой кольчуги (ок. 1525 года) с клепаными и цельными кольцами. Цельные кольца - полукруглые в сечении. Из тех кольчуг, что он исследовал, только 8 были с цельными кольцами, остальные - полностью клепаные. Из них 4 - немецких 16-го века, 1 - турецкая 15 века, 2 - турецких 17 века и 1 - персидская 18 века.
Изменено: Ildar, 26 Март 2009 - 23:22