Chapter 10 Glossary: Ropes And Knots

Front 1

Bend

Back 1

A knot used to join two ropes together.

Front 2

Bight

Back 2

A U shape created by bending a rope with the two sides parallel.

Front 3

Block creel construction

Back 3

Rope constructed without knots or splices in the yarns, ply yarns, strands or braids, or rope. (NFPA 1983)

Front 4

Braided rope

Back 4

Rope constructed by intertwining strands in the same way that hair is braided.

Front 5

Carabiner

Back 5

An auxiliary equipment system item; load-bearing connector with a self-closing gate used to join other components of life safety rope. (NFPA 1983)

Front 6

Depressions

Back 6

Indentations felt on a kernmantle rope that indicate damage to the interior (kern) of the rope.

Front 7

Dynamic rope

Back 7

A rope generally made from synthetic materials that is designed to be elastic and stretch when loaded. Dynamic rope is often used by mountain climbers.

Front 8

Harness

Back 8

A piece of equipment worn by a rescuer that can be attached to a life safety rope.

Front 9

Hitch

Back 9

A knot that attaches to or wraps around an object so that when the object is removed, the knot will fall apart. (NFPA 1670, Standard on Operations and Training for Technical Search and Rescue Incidents )

Front 10

Kernmantle rope

Back 10

Rope made of two parts—the kern (interior component) and the mantle (the outside sheath).

Front 11

Knot

Back 11

A fastening made by tying together lengths of rope or webbing in a prescribed way. (NFPA 1670)

Front 12

Ladder halyards

Back 12

Rope used on extension ladders to raise a fly section.

Front 13

Life safety rope

Back 13

Rope dedicated solely for the purpose of supporting people during rescue, fire fighting, other emergency operations, or during training evolutions. (NFPA 1983)

Front 14

Loop

Back 14

A piece of rope formed into a circle.

Front 15

One-person rope

Back 15

A rope rated to carry the weight of a single person (300 pounds, or 136 kilograms).

Front 16

Personal escape rope

Back 16

An emergency-use rope designed to carry the weight of only one person and to be used only once.

Front 17

Rope bag

Back 17

A bag used to protect and store rope so that the rope can be easily and rapidly deployed withoutkinking.

Front 18

Rope record

Back 18

A record for each piece of rope that includes a history of when the rope was placed in service, when it was inspected, when and how it was used, and which types of loads were placed on it.

Front 19

Round turn

Back 19

A piece of rope looped to form a complete circle with the two ends parallel.

Front 20

Running end

Back 20

The part of a rope used for lifting or hoisting.

Front 21

Safety knot

Back 21

A knot used to secure the leftover working end of the rope. Also known as an overhand knot or keeper knot.

Front 22

Shock load

Back 22

An instantaneous load that places a rope under extreme tension, such as when a falling load is suddenly stopped as the rope becomes taut.

Front 23

Standing part

Back 23

The part of a rope between the working end and the running end.

Front 24

Static rope

Back 24

A rope generally made out of synthetic material that stretches very little under load.

Front 25

Twisted rope

Back 25

Rope constructed of fibers twisted into strands, which are then twisted together.

Front 26

Two-person rope

Back 26

A rope rated to carry the weight of two people (600 pounds, or 273 kilograms).

Front 27

Utility rope

Back 27

Rope used for securing objects, for hoisting equipment, or for securing a scene to prevent bystanders from being injured. Utility rope must never be used in life-safety operations.

Front 28

Working end

Back 28

The part of the rope used for forming a knot.