"mo" wrote in message
.. .
"spamlet" wrote in


Hmm, not sure how to do this but:

pI
/ I
I____________________d I
I \ I
I \ I
I \Ic
I I



Put one loop in the 'c' end of the pull up line for you, and one for
the missus, a bit further down, so you each have a convenient 'down'
position for loading the line, which you can reach without the washing
dangling on the floor. As you load the line the 'd' pulley will
travel along 'frictionlessly', minimising wear on the line.


Thanks for the reply. I understand what you are saying now. I think my
old neighbour had that system. His P pulley was atatched right a the top
of his house so his washing line went really high up into the air.

I think for my purposes the alternative is that my D pulley is fixed to
the wall and I allow some slack in the line which means my wahsing line
almost become a U shape and I put the wahsing onto it that way.

With your 'd' pulley fixed to the wall it still works, but when I tried it
that way I was surprised at how much harder it was to raise the washing, and
then you have to wind up all the slack onto the cleat (Actually I had a
similar problem with window blinds, where the slack went right down to the
floor and was a pain to wind on to the cleat. The 'solution' there was to
use 2 cleats and wind round the outside of both.)


With your system when the line is down the line is almost diaganal to
the ground right?

Only if that is the way you arrange it to be: as I said, I would put a loop
in a convenient part of the pull up line so that you just lowered to that
loop and hooked it on the cleat with the washing line at a convenient hight
for you to hang the washing without dangling it on the ground.

So the fixed side always stays same height but its
possible to take the side with 2 pulleys right onto the floor?

If you made the pull up line long enough, but unless you are into skipping
or limbo dancing, I don't see any reason to. The less 'spare' line you have
to wind up each time you hoist the washing, the better, I'd say.


So when you want to raise the entire line you pull down the line which
is connected to P.

Yes but it's connected through P to d, not fixed *to* P

Our nomenclature is getting a bit fuzzy he the pull up line runs
*around* the pulley wheel of P. The eye of Pulley P itself is attached to
the wall (With a nice sturdy 'vine eye'). It is *connected* to the eye on
pulley d at one end and can be fixed at various points to the cleat c
depending on how high and low you want the washing line limits.

Do you attach that to cleat C as well.

Yes: you set a couple of handy loops to tie off at your preferred low and
high points.


In which case
there would never be a reason to mess about with the line on Pulley D as
it would be set to one fixed length?

Yes: That being the point of the exercise: much less winding, and more
leverage from 2 pulleys than you get from 1. (And with the modern coated
line you don't have to worry too much about it breaking, so you have more
left over for tying up the roses.)


I have left a bit of your text below your diagram which I am not sure I
understand. With the line on pulley D can you move the line across so
you can stand in one place and load the line? Not sure I can see how if
its effectivley tied/fixed at both ends. I supposed you would need
another pulley at the other end and more washing line?

To do that you would need a pulley at the post and at c, and d would have to
be a double pulley, with one wheel for each half of the loop, because you
are effectively replacing 1 line with a parallel loop. And you might find
it a bit fiddly tying the loop ends in a way that didn't get stuck in the
pulleys somewhere.

Unless you are intending to hang your washing over a river or road, I think
it is easier to walk up and down the line. However, you will no doubt have
seen street scenes where the washing is pulled back and forth across the
street between the houses, by such means. And after all, if you want to see
what complex things you can achieve with pulleys, take a look at a sailing
boat!

Who'd have thought there could be so much to say about fixing a washing
line!

S