Great word. It's the free end of the rope in a tackle (or "block and tackle"). There are two "blocks", each with several pulleys around which passes the rope, one end of which is fastened to one of the blocks. By pulling on the free end (the "fall", or tackle-fall), one endeavours to bring the blocks closer together. The force applied to the fall is multiplied by the number of plies of rope between the blocks, and this multiplication is the purpose of the whole assembly: with a ten-ply tackle one person can lift (say) half a ton. It works because to bring the two blocks together by (say) a foot, one must pull the fall (say) ten feet (for a ten-ply tackle). Work equals force times distance, as we all know, so the force required is ten times less. Words concerned with tackles appear a lot in O'Brian, for instance in the episode in which A+M are attempting to escape from a Parisian gaol.
"... even so the monoglots imposed a dreadful burden on Dr. Maturin, who, though he knew a few nautical terms, such as starboard and larboard, in English, had no notion of how to say 'Come up the tackle-fall in Spanish or any other language." --Patrick O'Brian, Blue at the Mizzen, 256
Great word. It's the free end of the rope in a tackle (or "block and tackle"). There are two "blocks", each with several pulleys around which passes the rope, one end of which is fastened to one of the blocks. By pulling on the free end (the "fall", or tackle-fall), one endeavours to bring the blocks closer together. The force applied to the fall is multiplied by the number of plies of rope between the blocks, and this multiplication is the purpose of the whole assembly: with a ten-ply tackle one person can lift (say) half a ton.
It works because to bring the two blocks together by (say) a foot, one must pull the fall (say) ten feet (for a ten-ply tackle). Work equals force times distance, as we all know, so the force required is ten times less.
Words concerned with tackles appear a lot in O'Brian, for instance in the episode in which A+M are attempting to escape from a Parisian gaol.
"... even so the monoglots imposed a dreadful burden on Dr. Maturin, who, though he knew a few nautical terms, such as starboard and larboard, in English, had no notion of how to say 'Come up the tackle-fall in Spanish or any other language."
--Patrick O'Brian, Blue at the Mizzen, 256