come-along

[mm]

Is there another word for a come-along? That word sounds like slang or vernacular.

[Hatunen]

I worked as a construction engineer and that's the only thing I've ever heard it called. I'm sure there are brand names, though, but still, construction workers are an earthy lot.

On the other hand I see at

that they are referenced as "come-a-longs" but are called "power pulls", a misnomer it would seem to me, since they are hadn operated.

calls them "come along winches".

[Pat Durkin]

A come-along is a hand operated ratchet lever winch. A winch is a mechanical device used to wind a rope or cable, while a ratchet is a mechanical brake that keeps the line from unwinding. From :

I have only heard of it as a come-along, but have seen them for sale as "manual ratchet winches" with pictures, so I could understand they were the item in question.

[DerbyDad03]

Maybe it's slang, but if you DAGS come-along, that's what everyone calls it.

The only place I didn't see that term used was here:

Even calls it a come-along.

[J. Clarke]

"Winch" however "winch" is more generic.

[Jeff Wisnia]

What a straight line!

Lim time.....

A bather whose clothing was strewed, By breezes that left her quite nude. Saw a man come along, And, unless I am quite wrong, You expected this line to be lewd.

and....

A blond airline stewardess, Faye, Has achieved quite a record today. She screwed without quittin' From New York to Britain, It's clear she has come a long way.

and...

Said Marie with a look of some pain, "I've biked over quite rough terrain." "Though I enjoyed every ounce, Of each jiggle and bounce, I won't come (along) this way again!"

***************

No less an authority than the ubiquitous Harbor Freight calls them this:

And also this:

Jeff

[Barbara Bailey]

mm wrote in news: [e-mail]:

If you're talking about the winch-type thing that exerts steady, slow pressure on a cable, strap, or chain in order to move an item or object attached to the other end of the chain. strap, or cable, the other word is "winch".

But you've been involved in this group long enough to know that context is often very helpful.

[Caesar Romano]

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:11:45 -0400, mm wrote Re come-along:

I just call them a "hand winch". IMO much more descriptive of what they do, than "come-along" etc.

[PanHandler]

Reminds me of this:

Two Dutch girls are riding their old rickety bikes down the back streets of Amsterdam one late afternoon. As it turns closer towards dusk, the increasing darkness of the streets starts making the two girls a little nervous when one girl leans over to the other and says, "You know, I've never come this way before."

The other girl nods and says, "It's the cobblestones."

[DerbyDad03]

OK...

Now that we've got the name of the device figured out, how about a long line of "Best Use Of A Come-Along" stories...

It was 1973 and I was stationed at the Coast Guard base on Governor's Island, NY. While driving around Queens one night I came upon a flooded section of road, lost control of my car and slid sideways into a fire hydrant.

This 4-door Dodge was of the style that had a "half-post" between the front and rear door. I hit the hydrant right at the post, bending it in until it was pressing against the side of the driver's front seat. The front and rear doors both popped open and obviously wouldn't close. The rear door was sitting at this weird angle since it was attached to the bent post.

I drove back to the base with the doors part-way open and roped in place.

The next morning I went over to the maintenance shop for the bouy tenders that were stationed at the base. I grabbed a come-along and some chain and drove up next to a 10,000 lb bouy sinker. I hooked one end the chain to the bouy sinker's loop and the other end to the post in my car and started cranking on the come-along. The car started leaning towards me without the post even moving, so I wedged some large hunks of wood under the frame. This kept the car upright and within a few minutes the post was upright and both doors open and closed normally.

Other than the hole the hydrant punched in the rear door, you never know I hit anything.

[Steve Barker DLT]

I've also heard flatworkers call these come alongs....

s

[mm]

I love your story. Congratualations.

It reminds me of the gypsy bodymen in NY, Brooklyn at least. Prices are based on 20 years ago. The body shop would have charged me at least 500 dollars to straighten the trunk lid and the part below that so that the trunk would close and latch. All I had to do was park to see my friend in Brooklyn, and a couple guys volunteered to do it and paint it for 50, or maybe it was 75. And in about 10 minutes that had it straightened out, closing, latching and locking as good as could be. Any more improvement would have involved Bondo, which was not part of our deal. I thought I would never forget the details, but I guess they must have used a come-along attached to fire hydrant or parking meter, or maybe it was attached to part of their truck or car, because nothing else would have worked.

I naivey thought they would buy the duplicolor paint, but they just got a can of similar paint, so I stopped them. I was very happy that the trunk locked, rather than use a chain that left it open a foot!

I knew I didn't want to spend the money on an old car that I would have been charged in Baltimore, and waited till I got to Brooklyn where I figured such guys would find me, and they did, almost as soon as I parked. This might have been a weekend, and conceivably the two guys worked in a real body shop during the week. At least they seemed good enough.

My own best story is today's, and the reason I wanted to know if there was a more standard word was that I didn't want to be accused of dropping big words my friends have no way of knowing, if there is a more standard word that come-along. (After your answers, I don't think there is, but I am now free to say winch, or hand winch (my own composite term) if they really don't know what a come-along is. (Come-along is much more clear and specific than winch, for people who know the word.)

Anyhow, for the third time in 16 years, my convertile top has shrunk and won't latch. It might have latchedon a 90 degree day, which we had in September, but that would have meant not being able to put the top down for the last month, many beautiful days.

So I've been putting it down most of the time for the last month, but occasionally it's too cold for that to be comfortable, and I have to have it 4 inches above the windshield with the cold air blowing in. And it's going to rain more soon, which means the rain blowing in if I drive then. And the colder it gets the harder it will be to latch, probalby.

So today, as I did 16 and 15 falls ago, I went to a particular shopping center parking lot, where they have three 6" posts, about 4 feet tall, that are there to keep cars from backing into the fire hydrant, wrapped the cable around the post, and put the other hook on the part of the of the top mechanism that is right behind the rear side window, and cranked until I could latch one side. Then I moved the car to the other side and did the other side.

The first time I did this 16 years ago, it took about 15 minutes each side. I think I went on a Sunday when many stores are closed and few police are around. The next time, 15 years ago, it took me 5 minutes each time.

This time, I was slowed because I broke my arm 7 weeks ago, and it hurts like hell to do certain things. But I went on a Monday at 3:45, didn't rush at all, loads of people around, it took 15 minutes for each side**, and nobody minded. **It took a little longer because this car has an inner cloth roof, which is velcroed and plastic body plugged (riveted?) to the metal piece behind the side window. And it was probably 4 minutes on each side to pull out both plugs and remove and later put the whole thing back. I left my arm brace on in case a cop came by, I thought I could get more sympathy. It really was harder to do things with the weak, painful, to let out extra cable, to release the tension when I was done.

It looks like nothing can stretch. The vinyl top does't appear to be stretching. I think maybe the whole car bent when I did this. Because the only thing holding the front of a convertible to the back is the floor, and whatever unibody and reinforcing there is in the floor.

I know that once I had one of those cargo carriers behind the little trailer hitch and I put 16 pieces of damp sod on the back and the car bent so much I couldn't close the doors. Maybe if I'd closed the doors first and climbed over the door to get in it would have worked, but seemed prudent by then to put half of the sod in the back seat.

[DerbyDad03]

quoted text -

While your story about fixing the convertible top is interesting, the part about the damaged trunk doesn't count because you are not sure if a come-along was used in the original repair.

Perhaps you could go back to Brooklyn, look around for one of those 55 gallon drums with the fires burning inside and ask some of the older patrons if they ever did body work when they were younger and had more teeth. I doubt you'd be able to tell by any paint stained hands 'cuz duplicolor paint pretty much sucks and would have worn off not only their hands, but your car also.

I know the area pretty well, so if you want, I could come-along.

[SteveB]

I have seen devices known as chain hoists, but because of their chain having to engage in mated channels, they were usually used in a vertical application only. But we did use them in a horizontal application in the oilfield in a pinch because they were stonger than come alongs. You just had to have someone watch the chain feeding into the device, and to watch their fingers, too.

Steve

[mm]

Two of the three come-alongs that Jeff points out are sold at Harbor Freight, have in their ads, "For dead loads only; not for lifting." I don't quite know why but that makes them the opposite of the chain hoist you describe.

[limeylew]

I remember hearing the term 'jack-off' machine when I worked in the machine shop.

Lewis.

*****

[Stormin Mormon]

Cable hoist, I've heard.

[RLM]

I believe what SteveB is talking about are some times called "come alongs" but are higher rated and use chain. I have owned these two for over forty years. They have been used and abused but use a brake mechicism to lock the ratchet and can be lifted or lowered in fine incriments as used to align bolt holes on heavy objects. Save loosing a finger. I don't care what you want to call them. They work vertical or horizontal but as stated "care" must be used horizontally.

[Hatunen]

As someone else pointed out, "winch" is a little too general; it includes those electrically driven winches on the front of Land Rovers, for instance. A pipefitter can't go to the tool checkout and requisiton a "winch"; it doesn't tell the attendant what he really wants. He will get just what he wants if he writes "come-a-long" on the requistion form.

The whole point of using the term "come-a-long" in the field is to avoid long discussions of context. "A ratchet driven non-rotating hand operated winch" is just too much. No one in the field in an occupation using come-a-longs needs andy context to understand the term.

[Hatunen]

Come-a-longs aren't always used in vertical hoisting operations. A lot of them are simply used at some crazy angle to pull a pipe into alignment for welding, for isntance. I've probably seen as many come-a-longs used horizonatlly as vertically.