Knots, Hitches, and Splices 



1415 



Fig. 45. — Coiling a rope 



should be kept dry, and if wet it should be laid in the sun until all damp- 

 ness is gone before it is coiled. 



(2) Coiling and uncoiling. Because of the way in which rope is twisted 

 in its manufacture, it must always be coiled and un- 

 coiled in certain definite ways to avoid trouble from 

 kinks. The usual method is to coil the rope around 

 " with the sun," or with the hands of the clock, as 

 shown by the arrow in Fig. 45. In this case, in un- 

 coiling turn the coil over and draw the end A up 

 from the inverted coil; or the end last 

 laid down may be drawn off the top of 

 the coil if desired. If end A is drawn up 

 through the center of the coil as shown 

 in the cut, the rope will twist and kink. 



When uncoiling a new bale of rope 

 from the factory, however, it is nec- 

 essary to reverse these directions. The 



end A will always be found inside of the bale near one end of it. Place the 

 bale with this end down and draw the rope end A up through the center of 

 the bale. In this case this procedure will prevent kinking, as bales are 

 laid up in the factory in a direction " against the sun" instead of with it. 



The same remarks apply to binder twine ; if the end is not drawn out as 

 directed on the tag on each ball, the twine will soon kink, catch, and break. 



(3) The proper method of undoing snarls. In order to disentangle a 

 snarl, begin by loosening it, drawing out one end as far as possible as shown 

 at A in Fig. 46, and then opening the center of the snarl so as to form a hole 

 of considerable size around the rope A. The whole 

 bundle of tangled rope is then seized and forced 

 through the hole thus made, putting the outside part 

 of the bundle through first as shown by 

 the arrows in Fig. 46, a process much A 

 like kneading bread. This will add a 

 little straight rope to the end A, and if patiently 

 continued the process will surely unravel the worst 

 possible tangle. 



THEORY OF KNOTS 



Principles of a knot. — " The principle of a knot 

 is that no two parts which would move in the same 

 direction if the rope were to slip, should lay along 

 side of and touching each other." * 



Another principle that should be added to the above is that a knot or 

 a hitch must be so devised that the tight part of the rope must bear on 



* From " The Mechanical Engineer's Pocket-Book " by William Kent, 1908, p. 34s. 



v<SSSSSSS^ 



Fig. 46. — Undoing 

 a snarl 



