An anchor plate or wall washer is a large plate or washer

Washer (hardware)

A washer is a thin plate with a hole that is normally used to distribute the load of a threaded fastener, such as a screw or nut. Other uses are as a spacer, spring , wear pad, preload indicating device, locking device, and to reduce vibration...

 connected to a tie rod

Tie rod

A tie rod is a slender structural unit used as a tie and capable of carrying tensile loads only.- Subtypes and examples of applications :* In airplane structures, tie rods are sometimes used in the fuselage or wings....

 or bolt

Screw

A screw, or bolt, is a type of fastener characterized by a helical ridge, known as an external thread or just thread, wrapped around a cylinder. Some screw threads are designed to mate with a complementary thread, known as an internal thread, often in the form of a nut or an object that has the...

. Anchor plates are used on exterior walls of masonry

Masonry

Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...

 buildings, for structural reinforcement. Being visible, many anchor plates are made in a style that is decorative.

One popular style is the star anchor—an anchor plate cast or wrought in the shape of a five-pointed star. Other names and styles of anchor plate include earthquake washer, triangular washer, S-iron, and T-head. In the United Kingdom, pattress plate is the term for circular restraints, tie bar being an alternate term for rectangular restraints.

Anchor plates are made of cast iron

Cast iron

Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...

, sometimes wrought iron

Wrought iron

thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...

 or steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

, and are often used on brick or other masonry-based buildings. They are easy to find in cities with substantial legacies of 18th- and 19th-century brick construction, such as New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Philadelphia, St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, and Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

, and in older earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

 prone cities such as San Francisco. The tie-rod-and-plate assembly braces the masonry wall against lateral bowing.

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