Technical Design Solutions for Theatre

Jon Lagerquist

Comparison of Rope-Braking Devices

 

When lowering flown scenery in to final trim, theatre technicians frequently need to apply braking devices to hand lines in order to achieve a safe rate of movement and to assure that movement can be stopped precisely at trim. Most technicians are familiar with the practice of “taking a wrap” around a fixed pipe, and most understand intuitively that the braking effect can be increased by increasing the number of wraps taken. But, as this article indicates, taking wraps is neither the only nor perhaps the most desirable braking device. The figures and table that follow illustrate five alternative braking devices and present the results of a series of tests performed to compare the effectiveness ...