Materials
In centuries past, a ship's rigging was typically fashioned from rope. In the 19th century this was commonly referred to as Manilla, a reference to the origin of much good quality rope. On modern vessels, running rigging is likely to be made from synthetic fibers, while the standing rigging is most often fashioned from stainless steel "wire rope". Since the 1990s, several new synthetic fibers have become common, particularly on racing and other high-performance sailing boats. These fibers include Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE) (also known as Spectra or Dynema), Vectran, and Technora.
Read more about this topic: Running Rigging
Famous quotes containing the word materials:
“Realism to be effective must be a matter of selection. ... genius chooses its materials with a view to their beauty and effectiveness; mere talent copies what it thinks is nature, only to find it has been deceived by the external grossness of things.”
—Julia Marlowe (1866–1950)
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Herein is the explanation of the analogies, which exist in all the arts. They are the re-appearance of one mind, working in many materials to many temporary ends. Raphael paints wisdom, Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, Shakspeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it. Painting was called “silent poetry,” and poetry “speaking painting.” The laws of each art are convertible into the laws of every other.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)