Hand spoke
As handspike (Platt German: handspike or Handspoke) is referred to in the IWT an octagonal, conical tapering lever tool from hardwood .
Structure and use
With a length of about 160 cm and a diameter of 6 to 14 cm, it resembles an oversized crowbar in the figurative sense. The hand spoke is required for levering out a shear tree within a cargo hold. Also in the seafaring - here mainly on whaling ships - the hand spoke was indispensable for working on the harpooned and drawn on board whales.
Since almost no ships with shear trees have been built in inland shipping since the late 1960s , an end to the use of the hand spoke is foreseeable.
The handspake is also used in a similar form in maritime shipping , but there it is known as a spillspake . It was mainly made of ash wood and had a square profile over the lower third. The remaining length was a bit thinner, but rounded, the diameter was different, about 8 to 12 cm. The thick portion was on sailing boats in which on the back stationary capstan inserted into openings provided. Depending on the size of the capstan, six or more cappipes could be inserted all around. The sailors pressed themselves in a circle around the capstan against the capstan pegs, in this way the anchor was hoisted. Spill packs were still being used on modern ships in the 1950s, where they were used as levers or hoists for various types of work .
Mention in the literature
In word art, the handspake has been mentioned in various novels by Karl May , in RL Stevenson's Die Schatzinsel , C. S. Forester and Friedrich Gerstäcker, among others .
Remarks
- ↑ (cf. the popular book 'To America!', Chapter 16 'Life on Board')