Also 7 timpe, timp. [app. an abbreviation of TYMPAN. So F. tympe, timpe.]
1. The mouth of the hearth of a blast-furnace, through which the molten metal descends; formed by an arch of masonry (tymp-arch), or a block of stone or iron (tymp-stone, tymp-plate), or by two of these together.
1645–50. Boate, Irel. Nat. Hist. (1860), 113. The [melted] Iron … descendeth to the lowest part of the furnace, called the Hearth; the which being filled … they unstop the Hearth and open the Mouth thereof (or the Timp as the Arts-men call it).
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 162. Which four walls have the following names; that next the bellows, the tuarn or tuiron wall; that against it, the wind-wall or spirit-plate; that where the Metall comes out, the Timp or fire plate; that over against it, the back-wall.
1859. R. Hunt, Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (ed. 2), 195. A strong blast of air is … injected through tuyeres..., which are fixed in holes just above the level of the tymp, or block of sandstone which is adjusted at the base of the furnace.
b. attrib., as tymp arch, plate, stone, stopping.
1665. D. Dudley, Metallum Martis (1855), 32. The Founder[’s] terms,… as the Timpe stones, the Wind-wall stones,… the Boshes.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 331. Tymp-stone … Tymp-plate [both mispr. Lymp-].
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 691. [Iron blast furnace] Fig. 584. represents the hearth and boshes … a is the tymp stone, and b the tymp plate for confining the liquid metal in the hearth…. The space under the tymp plate … is rammed full, for every cast, with strong loamy earth, or even fine clay: a process called the tymp stopping.
1876. Routledge, Discov., 29. The glassy looking slags … continually flowing over the tympstone.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Tymp, a hollow iron casting, cooled interiorly by a current of water, and placed to protect the tymp-arch, or arch over the dam, in a blast furnace having a fore-hearth.
2. Coal Mining. A horizontal piece of timber for supporting the roof; also called bar, cap, or lid.
1883. in Gresley, Gloss. Terms Coal Mining.
