The different shapes or cuts of slate were marketed by American slate companies under specific trade names. The slate shapes available in 1857 from the Eagle Slate Company in Vermont were named and illustrated in a contemporary advertisement. Shape names such as American Cottage, diamond and plain remained current for several decades appearing in other publications such as Stafford’s Slater’s Manual and a book on slate roofing by Auld and Conger of Cleveland, Ohio.
The slate cuts were apparently made by the slater himself with hand tools or a special machine (also used for punching or holing slate sold by the slate roofing companies).В В No Canadian trade literature naming cuts has come to light.
Ornamental scales in the Gothic Revival
The first expressions of the Gothic Revival in Canada, manifested in Gothic details grafted onto churches and houses of traditional forms, gave no particular play to the roof. Nevertheless the pointed or Gothic style raised the roof from its Neoclassic decline and re-established it as a visible part of architectural design.