Tuesday, September 06, 2011

The shutter thing

Our rental house in Normandy used to have shutters on the windows, but now it doesn't. I know that there were once shutters because these tiny metal objects were fixed into the exterior stone on either side of the windows.

The shutter thing called Jacques (I made that up).

Once opened, shutters need a mechanism to hold them against the wall of the house, otherwise they will swing freely if there's any breeze. That's what these human-shaped things do. You turn them down to release the shutter or put them in the up position (as seen in this photo) to hold the shutters in place.

I wonder if they have a name (other than Jacques).

*** UPDATE: Although I like Jean's name (see the comments), Ken found out that this is called un arrêt de volet (a shutter stop). Logique, non ?
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10 comments:

  1. Jean06 September, 2011 08:33

    Rusty ??

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  2. john-san06 September, 2011 11:20

    They're so French. You find the same ones all over France. I've taken a few pics myself from time to time.
    The French always have an eye for detail.

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  3. Mark06 September, 2011 11:42

    It appears that he's wearing a hat of some sort. I'm interested to find out if anyone(your readers) knows the age and details of this particular stop.
    Enjoy your day!
    m.

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  4. Seine Judeet (Judith)06 September, 2011 13:08

    Oh,now that is pretty darn cool.

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  5. Evelyn06 September, 2011 13:41

    I really liked those holders too! I'd never seen any like these before.

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  6. Niall & Antoinette06 September, 2011 15:49

    They are cute. We have these to keep some of our shutters open. Other windows have those folding-in shutters which don't need these. I always think they look like little medieval soldiers with tin pot hats that have chainmail extensions at the back. [but that's probably just me :-)]

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  7. Starman06 September, 2011 19:06

    If it's coming from the UK it has to have rain. Isn't that a UK law or something?

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  8. Mary0707 September, 2011 00:06

    Hi Walt,
    Thanks to your post, I've learnt French terms I didn't know ;-)
    Thus, I've discovered that the little devices I have are called "des arrêts marseillais", lol ! Look :

    http://www.pointp.fr/quincaillerie-outillage/arret-marseillais-avec-butee-avec-cheville-A1544072

    And it seems that the "arrêt de volet" you photographed is called "arrêt de volet bergère" :

    TOURNIQUET MARSEILLAIS ET ARRET TETE ... - Torbel Industrie SA
    TORBEL® INDUSTRIE F-06690 Tourrette-Levens Tél : +33 4 93 91 01 44 - Fax :
    +33 4 93 79 40 72 www.torbel.com - info@torbel.com. Valoriser votre gamme ...
    www.torbel.fr/pdf/tmc-atb_4000.pdf

    I also learnt that the "tourniquet marseillais" or "arrêt de volet marseillais" was called "gendarme" in colloquial language !!!
    http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=930695

    http://www.quincaillerie-retaise.com/rubrique,tete-bergere-ou-arret-de-volet,1235211.html

    Consequently, thanks to you, I've discovered new French terms... ;-)

    Bises

    Mary

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  9. Mary0707 September, 2011 00:27

    To Starman,

    Shutters like the ones we have over here in France are quite rare in the UK... Yet, some people have shutters similar to ours installed to fight against burglary, but it's a very recent trend...
    Cheers
    Mary

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lesley07 September, 2011 19:33

    Today I saw a set of these at Lalinde, Dordogne on the Marie window shutters. Thank you, as I was able to identify their name and call them 'Red'.

    ReplyDelete

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