What are the little balls on gothic towers?

[Avadon]

Can someone tell me what the name and the purpose of the little balls/prong like structures that you see on gothic towers are? They look to be metal and perhaps forged or cast. I notice different towers have different shapes but I'm not sure what their use is. I almost thought it was a beam inside of some sort to hold the octagonal spire together? Or perhaps it's metal ornate casing to hold the rigidity of the octagonal tower?

 

 

[Avadon]

I think they call them Pinaculo which I'm guessing is latin for pinnacle. But I think that's the whole structure. The metal ornament I don't know much about. They look like they're often tied to vertical rails which may hold the tower together?

[Steve Sells]

the ones I have seen were stone, not metal.

[Avadon]

Are they just ornate or do they serve any function?

[ThomasPowers]

well balls weather better than points.

[VaughnT]

I've seen them in all kinds of shapes, and a lot of them are complex carvings that must have taken some real time to make.

I don't think they serve a purpose other than decoration.  Those guys were master builders and I just can't see the spires needing many tie rods holding the sides in.   

[Frosty]

I believe the balls on top of towers and pinnacles comes form the days before it was proven that lightning rods work better with a sharp point. All the rest of the knobly things I see running up the sides look like gargoyles in various degrees of representation.

Of course that about depletes . . . everything I got about Gothic steeples, etc.

Frosty The Lucky.

[ThomasPowers]

Well they predate lightning rods by centuries...

[rockstar.esq]

I'm just spitballing here but I suspect they are there to create contrasting light and shadow.  If it were straight and unadorned, they might seem shorter to an observer on the ground.  The photos make them appear to be evenly spaced.  If so, they provide visible "proof" that one building is X amount higher than another.  I seem to recall an Architecture course that discussed how competitive cathedrals were.  Being just a bit taller than the neighboring cathedral was very important to the congregations.

It also occurs to me that aesthetically, the "fringe" effect they create blurs the line between the building and open sky.

A lot of ancient architecture was based on repeated patterns and ratios.   I suspect that the knobbly bits are going to be similar to patterns repeated elsewhere in the structure. 

 

[Smoggy]

As far as I'm aware they are purely ornate and reflect the decorative features on the rest of the building, If they have a face or figure applied they have a specific name which I can't remember. Some found around the roof line are water spouts for off flow and have carved faces or creatures, if so they are called gargoyles. I've only ever come across stone but later, modern gothic style structures could be made from anything.