Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/610

* KNOT-GRASS. 554 KNOTTING AND SPLICING. KNOT-GRASS. . trailing weed. See POLY- GONACE.K. KNOT-HORN. Any one of the huge assem- bla^'e of niutlis included in the family Pliycitidie. The name is derived from the fact that the males frequently liavc the last joint of the anten- nae swollen. The Phycitida? are usually sombre- colored little moths with rather narrow fore wings, and broad hind wings. Their larva? are very diverse in their habits. Siinic. like the larvie of Kphestia, infest groceries, feeding upon dried figs or in flour-mills upon Hour and grain. Others inhabit silken cases on tlic bark of trees. Still others attack living fruit. One is the cran- berry fruit-worm (Mineola vaccinii). Others web leaves together, as the rascal leaf-crumpler {Mineola indiginella) . Still others, like Dakruma coccidivora, feed upon living scale-insects. One member of this group (Erastriit scilula) preys upon the black scale of the olive and orange in Southern Kurope, and has recently been intro- duced into California for -the jjurpose of helping fruit-growers to destroy injurious scale-insects. KNOTT, JAME.S Proctok (1S:?0— ). An American lawyer and jKjlitician, born in Marion County, Ky. He was educated there, but finished his law studies after his removal in 1850 to Memphis, Mo., where eight years later he was elected to the State Legislature. He was Attor- ney-General from 1859 until 1802. when he re- turned to the i)raetice of his profession in Ken- tucky. Elected to Congress in 1806, 1808. and 1874, he was noted for liis humorous method of dealing with public questions, attracting par- ticular attention by a famous speech concerning Duluth, .Minn. From 188.3 to 1887 he was Gover- nor of Kentucky. He was a delegate to the Con- stitutional Convention of the State in 1891, and the following year took the chair of civics and economics in Centre College. Danville, Ky., where in 1894 he was appointed law professor and dean of the law faculty, from which position he re- signed in 1901. KNOTTING AND SPLICING. A knot is a loop ur c(inibination of luojis and turns joining different jjarts of a rope or i)arls of two or more ropes. A splice is a more intimate junction of parts than a knot, the Ini/ of the rojie being opened, and the ends tucked in so that the size and character of the rope at the place where the splice is made is not greatlv changed. Knots are of many kinds and have many >ises, but their employment elsewhere is insignificant compared with that on board ship, where they have ob- tained their full development. They owe their importance to the frictional resistance of the rope, which prevents the parts of the rope from slipping and thus untying the knot. Knots may be divided into two principal types, those which are tied without separating the strands of a rope and those made by opening out the strands. The first type may be divided into: (a) made with two ends of the same or of dif- ferent ropes knotted together: (b) made with the end of a ro])c passed around or knotted about some object: (c) knots made with the end of a I ope knotted about itself; (d) seizings, in which a small rope is tied around a larger one. The second type of knots is divided into: (a) knots made in the lay of the rope by separating the strands; and (b) splices, in which two parts of a rope, or the ends of a rope, or of two ropes, are joined. The simjjlest knot is the overhand (Fig. 1) ; its use is chiefiy to hold temporarily the end of a rope frcnn slipping a; of the first we get the square or /■<<7' knot (Fig. 2), the conunonest and most useful knot known. It differs from the yraiiiiii knot ( Kig. 3) in the manner of making the second overhand knot on top of the first. The square knot holds firmly, and is quite easily untied, as it does not crush down when subjeeU^d to strain. The (iranmj knot does not hold nearly so well, almost invari- ably slipping a little and frequently jiulling apart: and when it does hold the ])arts jam to- gether so tightly that it is untied with great dif- ficulty. The nh'eet or bvcket hciul (Fig. 4) is first cousin to a square knot; instead of slipping one end through the bight of the other rope is pushed across underneath its own bends. Carriek beiida (Figs. 5 and 0) are not much used, but are oc- casionally employed in bending two hawsers to- gether. The bluekwall hilch' (Fig. 8) is used to attach quicklj' a rope to a hook; the double bluek- wall (Fig. 11) is more secure if the rope is stiff or large in proportion to the hook and there- fore liable to slip. The bowliue (Fig. 12) is a very useful knot. It serves to form a loop in the end of a rope which will not slip or draw down, and yet which can be instantly untied; this latter property is due to the fact that it will not jam tightly and the parts are free to be separated the instant the strain is removed. The 7-uuui)ici hou-line (Fig. 13a) is simply a bowline so made that its loop incloses the rope on which it is made. A bou^line on a bight (Fig. l:!b) is made, as its name indi- cates, on the bight or loop of a rope. In making it the fir.-,t part, of the operation is the same as tying a bowline; but instead of carrying the bight around the parts on which the knot is made the loop is oi)encd out and slipped over its own parts. The catspaw (Fig. 9) is used to shorten up the loop of a rope for the pur|)ose of hooking a tackle to it. When neither end of a rope can be reached, and it is desirable to shorten it be- tween two points, the sheepshank (Fig. 17) is used. The figure-of-eight knot is rarely used ex- cept for ornamenUil work. The midshipmun's hitch (Fig. 181 is also rarely u.sed. The marling- spike hitch (Fig. 19) is very common, and is used in passing seizings and the like. It is an easy way to attach temporarily the ends of a rope to a heaver or marlingspike for pulling on it; the spike' or heaver may be quickly with- drawn when the pull is finished. The studdiuf/snil (pronounced stii'n's'l) tack bend (Fig. 7) is used to bend the tack to the sail and for other purpo.ses as a slipping hitch; the studdingsail halliard bend (Fig. 20) is used to bend the halliards to the studdingsail yard and to bend other ropes to spars. The fisherman's bend (Fig. 21) and the mngniis hilch (Fig. 10) have a great variety of uses. The timber-hitch (Fig. I4b) is used in hoisting timber and similar