A gyn is an improvised three legged lifting device used on sailing ships. It provides more stability than a derrick or sheers, and requires no rigging for support. Without additional support, however, it can only be used for lifting things directly up and down. Gyns may also be used to support either end of a ropeway. [1]
Two legs, called cheeks, are bound together as in the sheerlegs, with the third spar, called the prypole and is fixed under the cheek lashing to form the apex of the tripod. Alternately, a tripod lashing may be used to form the tripod, with the heel of the center spar pointing in the opposite direction of the cheeks to ensure a solid apex when raised. Only four tackles are required; three as 'splay tackles' to prevent the legs of the tripod from spreading, with the fourth tackle as lifting purchase. A timber hitch, six figure-of-eight turns, and a finishing clove hitch lash the cheeks into a crutch but not too tight because the cheeks need some room to spread their heels. The cheeks of the gyn are now ready to spread and to be erected. The cheek splay tackle is hauled tight and then the two adjacent prypole splay tackles can be rigged and hauled as apex of the gyn is raised. At the sides, the gyn is unstable and it is crucial that the cargo is not swung out of the base triangle; consequently the gyn is only for lifting cargo vertically. [2]
British Army artillery gunners used apparatus such as 'Bell's gyn' designed by John Bell (artillerist) or the 'Gibraltar gyn' for lifting artillery pieces. [3]
Gyns have also been used on land as part of the equipment to help assist water being pumped out of water wells in the Sinai Peninsula. [4]
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the water, on ice (iceboat) or on land over a chosen course, which is often part of a larger plan of navigation.
A lashing is an arrangement of rope, wire, or webbing with linking device used to secure and fasten two or more items together in a somewhat rigid manner. Lashings are most commonly applied to timber poles, and are commonly associated with cargo, containerisation, the Scouting movement, and sailors.
The trucker's hitch is a compound knot commonly used for securing loads on trucks or trailers. This general arrangement, using loops and turns in the rope itself to form a crude block and tackle, has long been used to tension lines and is known by multiple names. Knot author Geoffrey Budworth claims the knot can be traced back to the days when carters and hawkers used horse-drawn conveyances to move their wares from place to place.
Seamanship is the art, knowledge and competence of operating a ship, boat or other craft on water. The Oxford Dictionary states that seamanship is "The skill, techniques, or practice of handling a ship or boat at sea."
A block and tackle or only tackle is a system of two or more pulleys with a rope or cable threaded between them, usually used to lift heavy loads.
Pioneering is the art of using ropes and wooden spars joined by lashings and knots to create a structure. Pioneering can be used for constructing small items such as camp gadgets up to larger structures such as bridges and towers. These may be recreational, decorative, or functional.
"Two, six, heave" is a phrase used to coordinate seamen's pulling.
A yard is a spar on a mast from which sails are set. It may be constructed of timber or steel or from more modern materials like aluminium or carbon fibre. Although some types of fore and aft rigs have yards, the term is usually used to describe the horizontal spars used on square rigged sails. In addition, for some decades after square sails were generally dispensed with, some yards were retained for deploying wireless (radio) aerials and signal flags.
A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and a boom hinged at its base to provide articulation, as in a stiffleg derrick. The most basic type of derrick is controlled by three or four lines connected to the top of the mast, which allow it both to move laterally and cant up and down. To lift a load, a separate line runs up and over the mast with a hook on its free end, as with a crane.
The "barrel hitch" and "barrel sling", named for their use in hoisting cargo aboard ships, are two simple yet effective ways to suspend an object. The barrel sling lays the barrel on its side, while the barrel hitch keeps it vertical. They work by forming a "sling" around the object, which supports it from either side and underneath.
The spritsail is a four-sided, fore-and-aft sail that is supported at its highest points by the mast and a diagonally running spar known as the sprit. The foot of the sail can be stretched by a boom or held loose-footed just by its sheets. A spritsail has four corners: the throat, peak, clew, and tack. The Spritsail can also be used to describe a rig that uses a spritsail.
Scuttlebutt in slang usage means rumor or gossip, deriving from the nautical term for the cask used to serve water.
A gin pole is a supported pole that uses a pulley or block and tackle on its upper end to lift loads. The lower end is braced or set in a shallow hole and positioned so the upper end lies above the object to be lifted. The pole is secured with three or more guy-wires. These are manipulated to move the load laterally, with up and down controlled by the pulley or block. In tower construction, a gin pole can also be “jumped” up the completed sections of a tower to lift the higher sections into place.
A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. In the United States, the term is also used to refer to the combination of a truck and a semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer.
Shear legs, also known as sheers, shears, or sheer legs, are a form of two-legged lifting device. Shear legs may be permanent, formed of a solid A-frame and supports, as commonly seen on land and the floating sheerleg, or temporary, as aboard a vessel lacking a fixed crane or derrick.
A jibboom is a spar used to extend the length of a bowsprit on sailing ships. It can itself be extended further by a flying jib-boom. The heel end of the flying jib-boom is attached to the jib-boom, and the heel of the jib-boom to the bowsprit. The point of the flying jib-boom is generally the fore-most extent of a ship. The jib- and flying jib- booms carry the tacks of the jib and flying jib sails, respectively, and the stay for the fore topgallant mast and the royal stay.
Rigging is both a noun, the equipment, and verb, the action of designing and installing the equipment, in the preparation to move objects. A team of riggers design and install the lifting or rolling equipment needed to raise, roll, slide or lift objects such as with a crane, hoist or block and tackle.
This is a list of nautical terms starting with the letters M to Z.