Bottle sling

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Bottle sling

Names	Bottle sling, Bottle knot, Jug sling, Jug knot, Jar knot, Moonshiner's knot, Hackamore, Hackamore knot, Bridle knot, Beggarman's knot
Category	Binding
Origin	Ancient
Related	Jury mast knot, Miller's knot, Fiador knot
Typical use	Suspending bottles and other similar objects
Caveat	Cord must be scaled to size of bottle's flare or collar
ABoK	#260, #1142, #2007, #2186, #2300, #2554

The bottle sling (or jug sling) is a knot which can be used to create a handle for a glass or ceramic container with a slippery narrow neck, as long as the neck widens slightly near the top.^[1]

While classed with binding knots, such as the reef knot and constrictor knot, the bottle sling is able to perform a function for which most other binding knots are unsuited. The bottle sling's specific form allows it to grip a cylinder, assuming it has even a slight flare or collar, and lift it along its axis when the knot is loaded by all four strands.^[1] With appropriate size cord, most wine bottles can be reliably suspended with this knot.

History

The bottle sling was described in detail by the Greek physician Heraklas in his first century monograph on surgical knots and slings. It was included under the name diplous karkhesios brokhos ("double jug-sling noose"). Clearly familiar with the knot, Heraklas provided three distinct tying methods.^[2]^[3] Knot expert Cyrus L. Day believed the bottle sling was not described again in print until Craigin's 1884 A Boy's Workshop,^[4]^[5] although Clifford Ashley noted it was illustrated in Johann Röding's 1795 Allgemeines Wörterbuch der Marine.^[1]

Usage

Mockup of a rope fiador with the doubled "hackamore knot" at the bottom

As the name suggests, the primary use for this knot is to suspend bottles, jugs, and other items with similar shapes. The space at the center of the knot is dropped over the top of a bottle or similar object. Firmly pulling on all four ends emerging from the knot tightens it against the neck of the bottle. Looping the running ends through the bight and tying them together will make a sling that grips and can be used to lift the bottle.^[6] This provides a convenient method of lowering a beverage bottle from a boat into the water to chill.

As mentioned above, the knot is believed to have been used medically in ancient Greece for applying traction in the reduction of fractures and dislocations. However it is not known to have any current medical application.^[3]

The knot is also said to have been used as an improvised emergency bridle when rope was the only material at hand. Its use is described with the central parts of the knot acting as a bit, one of the knot's outer bights passing over the top of the animal's muzzle, and the other passing under the jaw to form the noseband. The closed loop end of the knot would be placed over the animal's head and behind the ears, as a crownpiece, and the two free ends coming off under the chin used as reins. It was intended only for temporary use.^[7] However at least one author has disputed this as "nonsense" and suggests its only proper equestrian use is in a doubled form, in this context known as a hackamore knot, to secure the fiador to the bosal in some hackamore designs.^[8]

Tying

Perhaps not surprisingly—given three were already known to the ancient Greeks—there are many methods to tie the bottle sling. Swedish physiologist and knot researcher Hjalmar Öhrvall listed eight in his 1916 book Om Knutar.^[9]^[10]

One method for tying the bottle sling is similar to the loop-and-weave method used to tie the jury mast knot and the trumpet knot. The knot is begun by making a bight in a piece of rope and folding the bight back on itself to make two separated loops that are mirror images of each other. Lay one loop on top of the other so that they overlap slightly and create a cat's eye shaped hole above a triangular shaped hole between the two loops. Make a bird's beak with your index and thumb and weave them down through the loop, up through the cat's eye and down through the bottom loop, bunching the coils of rope against your fingers. Pinch the section of rope that was the bottom of the triangle and flip the coils over the pinched section. The flip may take a little practice, but the pinched section should become a short bight hanging off a circular shaped knot.

Overlapping the loops
Path the bight takes through the cat's eye
Flipping the knot
Final configuration

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ashley, Clifford W. (1944), The Ashley Book of Knots, New York: Doubleday, p. 208
↑ Day, Cyrus L. (1967), Quipus and Witches' Knots, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, pp. 87–88, 119–124
↑ 3.0 3.1 Hage, J. Joris (April 2008), "Heraklas on Knots: Sixteen Surgical Nooses and Knots from the First Century A.D.", World Journal of Surgery 32 (4): 652, doi:10.1007/s00268-007-9359-x, PMID 18224483, retrieved 2009-07-15
↑ Day(1967), p. 88
↑ Craigin, Harry (1884). A Boy's Workshop. Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard. pp. 212–213.
↑ Budworth, Geoffrey (1997), The Complete Book of Knots, London: Octopus, pp. 80–81
↑ Riley, Howard W. (January 1912). "Knots, Hitches, and Splices". The Cornell Reading-Courses. Rural Engineering Series No. 1 (Ithaca, NY: New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University) 1 (8): 1449. Retrieved 2011-11-08. As collected in Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, 136th Session, 1913, Vol. 19, No. 29, Part 5.
↑ Grant, Bruce (2004) [1972], Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding, Atglen, Pennsylvania: Cornell Maritime Press, p. 144
↑ van de Griend, Pieter (May 2008), "Hjalmar Öhrwall on Knots (1): Life and Works", Knot News (International Guild of Knot Tyers - Pacific Branch) (67), ISSN 1554-1843
↑ Öhrvall, Hjalmar (1916). Om Knutar (2nd ed.). Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag. pp. 96–104.

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Knots

Overview

Colours

Bends	Adjustable bend Albright special Alpine butterfly bend Ashley's bend Basket weave knot Beer knot Blood knot Carrick bend Double fisherman's knot Fisherman's knot Flemish bend Grief knot Harness bend Heaving line bend Hunter's bend Nail knot One-sided overhand bend Racking bend Sheet bend Shoelace knot Shroud knot Simple Simon under Single carrick bend Surgeon's knot Surgeon's loop Triple fisherman's knot True lover's knot Water knot Zeppelin bend Zeppelin loop

Binding knots	Boa knot Bottle sling Constrictor knot Corned beef knot Granny knot Ground-line hitch Jamming knot Miller's knot Packer's knot Reef knot Strangle knot Thief knot Transom knot

Climbing knots	Alpine butterfly knot Autoblock Bachmann knot Beer knot Bowline on a bight Directional figure eight Double anchorman knot Double bowline Farmer's loop Figure-eight knot Figure-eight loop Figure-of-nine loop Friction hitch Klemheist knot Munter hitch Overhand loop Prusik Trident loop Yosemite bowline

Coils	Alpine coil Butterfly coil

Decorative knots	Carrick mat Chinese button knot Celtic button knot Knife lanyard knot Diamond knot Fiador knot Friendship knot Matthew Walker knot Turk's head knot Wall and crown knot

Fishing knots	Angler's loop Arbor knot Bimini twist Blood knot Fisherman's knot Half blood knot Improved clinch knot Knotless knot Nail knot Palomar knot Snell knot Trilene knot Triple fisherman's knot Turle knot Uni knot

Hitches	Adjustable grip hitch Anchor bend Axle hitch Bachmann knot Bale sling hitch Barrel hitch Becket hitch Blackwall hitch Blake's hitch Boom hitch Buntline hitch Cat's paw Clove hitch Cow hitch Double overhand noose Falconer's knot Farrimond friction hitch Friction hitch Garda hitch Gripping Sailor's hitch Ground-line hitch Half hitch Halter hitch Highpoint hitch Highwayman's hitch Hitching tie Icicle hitch Improved clinch knot Killick hitch Knute hitch Lobster buoy hitch Marlinespike hitch Munter hitch Ossel hitch Pile hitch Snuggle hitch Timber hitch

Loop knots	Angler's loop Artillery loop Bale sling hitch Bowline Bumper knot Cowboy bowline Diamond knot Double bowline Dropper loop Eskimo bowline Fiador knot Fireman's chair knot Halter hitch Handcuff knot Honda knot Jury mast knot Overhand loop Portuguese bowline Rigid double splayed loop in the bight Slippery eight loop Span loop Spanish bowline Tom fool's knot Trident loop Triple bowline Triple crown knot Water bowline Yosemite bowline Zeppelin loop

Running knots	Hangman's knot Running bowline Running highwayman's hitch Slip knot Tarbuck knot

Shanks	Catshank Dogshank Sheepshank

Stopper knots	Ashley's stopper knot Double overhand knot Monkey's fist Stevedore knot

Whipping knots	Common whipping Overhand knot with draw-loop Portuguese whipping Sailmaker's whipping West Country whipping

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