# Tip-top table > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tip-top_table > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tip-top_table.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip-top_table > Source revision: 1345471305 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Folding table}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|Folded late 18th century English loo table with Japanese motifs. A '''Tip-top table''' is a folding table with the tabletop hinged so it can be placed into a vertical position when not used to save space. It is also called '''tilt-top table''', '''tip table''',{{Cite Merriam-Webster|tip-top table}} '''snap table'''{{sfn|Gloag|2013a}}{{Cite Merriam-Webster|snap table}} some variations are known as ''tea table'', '''loo table'''. These multi-purpose tables were historically used for playing games, drinking tea or spirits, reading and writing, and sewing.{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=1}} The tables were popular among both elite and middle-class households{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=21}} in Britain and the US in the 18th and 19th centuries. They became collector's items (''pie-crust tea tables'') early in the 20th century.{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=3}} == Construction == thumb|upright|left|Tabletop with scalloped edges The tables were assembled from three main components: legs (typically three), pillar, and top. The latter came in three main varieties: "plain" with smooth edges, "dished" with molded edges protruding either up to prevent sliding of items off the table (''in-turned molding'') or down for purely decorative purposes (''descending molding''), and ornate with carved and molded ([scalloped](/source/scalloped) using combinations of [cyma curve](/source/cyma_curve)s and flat segments) edges.{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=8}} The pillars were [turned](/source/turning) and usually have either a [balluster](/source/balluster) or plain cylinder/conical shape sometimes with carved decorations at the bottom in the shape of compressed balls, inverted cups, etc.{{sfn|Fayen|2002|pp=8-9}} The legs formed a [tripod](/source/tripod) and came in a large variety from [cabriolet](/source/cabriole_leg) with articulated shoulders to smooth curves sloping towards the floor.{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=9}} The table measurements varied:{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=19}} {| class="wikitable" |+ Ranges of sizes, in inches |- ! Measurements !! Minimum !! Low typical !! High typical !! Maximum |- | Height || 25 || 27 || 29 || 30 |- | Diameter || 18 || 28 || 36 || 40 |- | Tripod width || 20 || 26 || 29 || 30 |} A range of smaller tabletops, called "candlestands" (and, despite the name, most likely multi-purpose), was also popular, with top diameters between 18 and 22 inches and tripod widths between 20 and 22 inches. {{sfn|Fayen|2002|pp=13,19}} thumb|upright|Birdcage mechanism thumb|upright|Snap mechanism The tables frequently utilized a box ("birdcage") at the top of the pillar, so that the tabletop can be rotated relatively to the tripod.{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=1}} This flexibility allowed for more compact storage: a folded table can be either pushed against a wall with two legs, or oriented with one leg going into a corner.{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=91}} == In the USA == The tip-top tables appeared "suddenly" in the [British North American colonies](/source/British_North_American_colonies) around 1740 and enjoyed a still-unexplained rapid spread.{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=1}} Manufacturing of tip-top tables in the United States was almost immediately characterized by a wide-scale division of labor: the craftsmen actively traded the table parts and manufacturing services ([carving](/source/carving), [turning](/source/turning)).{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=x}} == Loo table == The loo table, with three or four legs,{{sfn|Gloag|2013b}} is a table model from the 18th and 19th centuries originally designed for the card game [loo](/source/Loo_(card_game)), which was also known as lanterloo. Gloag{{explain|date=July 2024}} points to the term being applied to both the tilting and also to non-folding round [gaming table](/source/gaming_table)s.{{sfn|Gloag|2013b}} == In culture == The design of the tip-top table has multiple disadvantages. Many tables were neither sturdy, nor stable, with easily breakable mechanisms. The accounts of cabinetmakers have many records of fixing the tilting mechanism; the contemporary satirical pictures compared the instability of the table to that of the fashionable society.{{sfn|Fayen|2002|pp=107-108}} Still, the very fragility of the tip-top tables underlined the refinement of the [parlor](/source/parlor).{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=107}} Getting a tilt-top involved a significant expense;{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=88}} the purchase indicated the desire to participate in the [genteel](/source/genteel) theatricality of the entertainment.{{sfn|Fayen|2002|p=107}} A loo-table stands in the hall at Midnight Place in the children's fiction book ''Midnight is a Place'' by [Joan Aiken](/source/Joan_Aiken).{{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}} ==References== {{Reflist}} ==Sources== * {{cite thesis |last1=Fayen |first1=Sarah Neale |title=Tilt-top tables: commodities in eighteenth-century America |date=Spring 2002 |publisher=University of Delaware |degree=Master of Arts |url=https://udspace.udel.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/cb6e214c-77e2-42dc-9978-3485fd52b79b/content}} * {{cite journal |last1=Sack |first1=Albert |title=Regionalism in Early American Tea Tables |journal=Antiques |date=January 1987 |volume=131 |issue=1 |pages=248–263}} * {{cite book | last=Gloag | first=J. | title=A Short Dictionary Of Furniture | publisher=Read Books Limited | year=2013a | isbn=978-1-4474-9772-1 | chapter=Snap Table | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_z19CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT558 | access-date=2023-11-11}} * {{cite book | last=Gloag | first=J. | title=A Short Dictionary Of Furniture | publisher=Read Books Limited | year=2013b | isbn=978-1-4474-9772-1 | chapter=Loo Table | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_z19CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT380 | access-date=2023-11-11}} * {{cite book | last=Miller | first=J. | title=Furniture: World Styles from Classical to Contemporary | publisher=DK Publishing | year=2005 | isbn=978-0-7566-7288-1 | chapter=Tilt-Top Tables | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OyRxlOvE95IC&pg=PA115 | access-date=2023-11-12}} * {{cite journal |last1=LeFever |first1=George |title=Tables for Tea |journal=Early American Life |date=October 2007 |url=http://www.gregorylefever.com/pdfs/Tea%20Tables2.pdf}} Category:Tables (furniture) Category:History of furniture Category:19th century in England Category:English furniture --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tip-top table](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip-top_table) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip-top_table?action=history)). 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