Need some help with ID'ing a find from the shoreline this morning.

[Magyar]

The center disc twirls rapidly when flicked with one's fingers.

Maybe from a ship?....maybe used for wind direction?

Also, it might be positioned incorrectly in the pic..maybe could be turned on side and then disc would twirl from left to right/or right to left.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Thank you for looking

Magz

 

[UWLocator]

Hi Magyar,

It is a type of rope tensioner or lock. The easiest way I can think of to describe its use is to compare it to a tent line tensioner. With it held in the position shown in the photo, the rope is put through from back to front along the top of the disk, then from front to back along the bottom of the disk. Then the rope is looped around a stake and brought back up to the tensioner. It is then run from back to front along the bottom of the disk, and from front to back along the top of the disk. As tension is applied, the disk jams the rope against the cable to hold it in place, more tension on the rope causes more pressure against the cables. It was sometimes used in place of a deadeye when tension was needed in a hurry because the rope could be looped around any convenient fixed object.

Riggers often kept a few in their bag for those emergencies. Of course, these days we have cam locks to use in place of those.

HH,
Rip

 

[Magyar]

n/t

 

[UWLocator]

Glad I could help. Granddad was a Navy rigger. I used to drive him crazy asking questions about the things in his rigging bag.

HH,
Rip