The herringbone pattern is an arrangement of rectangles used for floor tilings and road pavement, so named for a fancied resemblance to the
bones of a fish such as a
herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
.
The blocks can be
rectangle
In Euclidean plane geometry, a rectangle is a quadrilateral with four right angles. It can also be defined as: an equiangular quadrilateral, since equiangular means that all of its angles are equal (360°/4 = 90°); or a parallelogram containi ...
s or
parallelogram
In Euclidean geometry, a parallelogram is a simple (non- self-intersecting) quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides. The opposite or facing sides of a parallelogram are of equal length and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are of equa ...
s. The block edge length ratios are usually 2:1, and sometimes 3:1, but need not be even ratios.
The herringbone pattern has a
symmetry
Symmetry (from grc, συμμετρία "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, "symmetry" has a more precise definit ...
of
wallpaper group pgg, as long as the blocks are not of different color (i.e., considering the borders alone).
Herringbone patterns can be found in
wallpaper
Wallpaper is a material used in interior decoration to decorate the interior walls of domestic and public buildings. It is usually sold in rolls and is applied onto a wall using wallpaper paste. Wallpapers can come plain as "lining paper" (so t ...
,
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
s,
seating
Seating may refer to:
General plans:
* Seating plan
In theaters or stadiums:
* Bleacher seating
* Chanin's seating plan
* Club seating
* Continental seating
* Festival seating
* General seating
* Home theater seating
* Movable seating
* Res ...
, cloth and clothing (
herringbone cloth),
shoe tread,
security printing
Security printing is the field of the printing industry that deals with the printing of items such as banknotes, cheques, passports, tamper-evident labels, security tapes, product authentication, stock certificates, postage stamps and identity ...
,
herringbone gear
A herringbone gear, a specific type of double helical gear, is a special type of gear that is a side-to-side (not face-to-face) combination of two Gear#Helical, helical gears of opposite Helix#Handedness, hands. From the top, each helical Groove ...
s,
jewellery
Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...
,
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
, and elsewhere.
Examples
Related tilings
As a
geometric tessellation
A tessellation or tiling is the covering of a surface, often a plane (mathematics), plane, using one or more geometric shapes, called ''tiles'', with no overlaps and no gaps. In mathematics, tessellation can be generalized to high-dimensional ...
, the herringbone pattern is topologically identical to the regular
hexagonal tiling. This can be seen if the rectangular blocks are distorted slightly.
In
parquetry
Parquet (; French for "a small compartment") is a geometric mosaic of wood pieces used for decorative effect in flooring.
Parquet patterns are often entirely geometrical and angular—squares, triangles, lozenges—but may contain curves. T ...
, more casually known as flooring, herringbone patterns can be accomplished in wood, brick, and tile. Subtle alternating colors may be used to create a distinctive floor pattern, or the materials used may be the same, causing the floor to look uniform from a distance. Laying a herringbone floor is very challenging, since the multitude of small rows must be made to line up smoothly, which can be difficult in a room which is not perfectly flat. Small mistakes in a herringbone floor can be rather glaring because of the way the pattern lines up, so care must be taken.
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...
also utilizes herringbone, often as an accent pattern on the sides of buildings and other structures. A floor or outdoor walkway made from stone or brick may be made entirely from herringbone, or herringbone stripes may be integrated into other patterns. Just like with flooring, the rows must be carefully aligned to maintain the integrity of the pattern.
See also
*
Herringbone cloth
*
Herringbone gear
A herringbone gear, a specific type of double helical gear, is a special type of gear that is a side-to-side (not face-to-face) combination of two Gear#Helical, helical gears of opposite Helix#Handedness, hands. From the top, each helical Groove ...
References
* (Page 476, Tilings by polygons, #19 of 56 polygonal
isohedral
In geometry, a tessellation of dimension (a plane tiling) or higher, or a polytope of dimension (a polyhedron) or higher, is isohedral or face-transitive if all its faces are the same. More specifically, all faces must be not merely congruent ...
types by quadrangles)
External links
*{{Commonscatinline, Herringbone patterns
Pavements
Patterns