snatch block

English

Snatch Block and tackles

Noun

snatch block (plural snatch blocks)

1. (nautical) A kind of block with an opening in one side to receive the bight of a rope.
2. A block equipped with a hook that hooks a cable so that it can be doubled back on itself in order to double the load carrying ability of the cable.
   • 1964, United States Department of the Army, Cableways, Tramways and Suspension Bridges, page 117:

     On a tramway installation, drag the haul rope through each intermediate tower, placing it in the snatch block as the tower is passed to lighten the load.

   • 1990 December, Joe Skorupa, “Wilderness Winching”, in Popular Mechanics, volume 167, number 12, page 84:

     To effectively double the pulling power of a winch, you can use a snatch block.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “snatch block”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)