Page 174 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

164 History and Science of Knots

have led to a great increase in the numbers of books and magazines catering
for them. This causes a problem when investigating the history of techniques,
including knots. It is rare for climbers or cavers describing the knots they use
to say whether they developed the knots themselves or copied from someone
else. It is impracticable to try to trace back all publications to find the first
mention of a knot because few general or club libraries stock any substantial
fraction of all the publications covering these activities. In the following pages
I give a specific reference when I know the origin of the knot, otherwise I give
usually a couple of references to technical manuals. It is rarely possible to say
whether any new knot was developed by a climber, or copied from some source
in some other occupation. I first discuss minor modifications of knots already
well known in climbing or caving circles before the introduction of nylon, and
go on to discuss more novel knots.
Securing the Ends of Knots
The frequently fluctuating loads imposed on most knots used in climbing,
caving and the like, together with frequent contact with an often jagged rock
face, often cause the running ends of the knots to work back through the knot,
perhaps right out, if not prevented. This tendency was noted even in the days
of manila rope, but was much more marked with nylon. Several accidents have
been attributed to this kind of failure of a knot.
Preventing the running end from emerging by using a stopper knot such as
an Overhand Knot has been used only very rarely; in very slippery conditions it
may not prevent the end working out of the knot. It is much more satisfactory,
and common, to secure the running end to its standing part. Securing the
running end of a Bowline with one or more Half Hitches has already been noted
(Fig. 6); this was common practice in the early days, but sometimes neglected
between the Wars. Occasionally an Overhand Knot was used instead of a
Half Hitch; an early manual [28] has each end of a Fishermans Knot secured
with Overhands. With the introduction of nylon, some manuals recommend
the securing of the ends of all knots tied in life-support ropes, no matter how
secure the knot itself or how stable its application. The most popular security
knot is probably the Overhand Knot shown in Fig. 22; but the Grapevine
Knot (Double Overhand) is also used a lot. An interesting application is the
Secured Reef Knot [12, p. 76] [29, p. 22] (Fig. 23). This bend is said to be very
easy to untie even after prolonged heavy loads, and of course it would not slip
or capsize in the way of an unsecured Reef Knot used as a bend.
Instead of securing the running end to its standing part as above, some
people tuck it back through the knot, sometimes following this with the usual
security Overhand. Perhaps the commonest such knot is the Tucked Bowline
(Fig. 24) or Tucked Double Bowline [21, p. 38], believed to have been developed
by American climbers in Yosemite Valley. The Tucked Figure Eight Loop [29,