Fig. 111.—Davenport Brothers’ Knot.
Fig. 112.—Bellringer’s Knot.
Fig. 112 is the “bellringer’s knot,” but really it is a hitch and not a knot. Church bells have a large wheel on the axle on which they are hung, round which the bell-rope passes; this is done to obtain sufficient leverage to raise the bell mouth upwards when it is rung. This requires a long rope, a good portion of which lies on the belfry floor when the bell is down. When the ringing is over this slack is hitched up out of the way in the manner shown. The loop A is made near the end of the rope, laid against the standing part, and a hitch taken over it at about the height of a man’s head. The hitch should be kept quite close to the standing part, and it will hold the loop quite securely; at the same time a slight pull at the end releases the whole thing at once. The part B where the rope is grasped when the bell is checked as it comes over is called the sally or tufting. It is made by opening the strands and inserting short pieces of worsted, which are afterwards trimmed until they are all of one length.
CHAPTER VII.
ROPE SPLICING.
Splicing is a method of joining ropes by interweaving together their strands. When ropes are to run through blocks they cannot be joined by knotting, as the knot would prevent their passing through the block. In this case they are always united by splicing. In driving ropes also knots are out of the question.
Fig. 113.—Beginning Short Splice.