A grappling hook is a composite hook attached to a rope, designed to be thrown or projected a distance, where its hooks will engage with the target. Grappling hooks were originally used in naval warfare to catch the rigging of an enemy ship so that it could be drawn in and boarded. Later, grappling hooks were also used in rescue work or to assist in scaling walls. Coils of rope used for long-line fishing A rope (IPA: ) is a length of fibers, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. ... Naval warfare is combat in and on seas and oceans. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The most common design consists of a central shaft with a hole at the base of the shaft, called an "eye" to attach the rope, and three equally spaced hooks at the end of the shaft, so arranged that at least one is likely to catch on some protuberance of the target. Some modern designs feature folding hooks to resist unwanted attachment. Most grappling hooks are thrown by hand, but some used in rescue work are propelled by compressed air or a rocket. Compressed air is used to refer to: Pneumatics, the use of pressurized gases to do work, as used in the Air car Breathing gas, often used in scuba diving, also to inflate buoyancy devices Compressed air can also be used for cooling using a vortex tube. ... A Redstone rocket, part of the Mercury program The traditional definition of a rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving fluid from within a rocket engine. ...

Grappling hooks in fiction

In certain games and movies, an overelaborated fictional version appears, often referred to as a grappling gun. This usually consists of a launcher (sometimes resembling a gun), a small electric motor, and a rope cartridge with hook. The motor enables the hero to pull himself up (by wheeling the rope back to the launcher, while the hook is caught onto a solid anchor) or to drag objects and people. Coils of rope used for long-line fishing A rope (IPA: ) is a length of fibers, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. ... It has been suggested that Firearm brass and Casing (ammunition) be merged into this article or section. ... Look up Hook in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A stocked ships anchor. ...

The grappling hook became popular as a video game mechanism after the release of the Quake CTF (Capture the Flag) modification on October 2, 1996. This addition to Quake allowed players to fire "the grapple" at any surface. Once embedded in that surface, the grappling hook pulled players to that location. This mechanism allowed players to reach areas of the game level that would otherwise be inaccessible. The huge popularity of this "mod" resulted in the inclusion of both CTF modes and grappling hooks in many future games. Capture the flag is a traditional outdoor game often played by children where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other teams flag, located at the teams base, and bring it back to their own base. ... Zombies attacking the player. ...

In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the grappling hook is a versatile new addition to the hero Link's arsenal of weaponry. Simply a rope with a tridentate metal claw at the end, it is primarily used to latch onto horizontal posts jutting out of cliffsides or walls in order to swing across large gaps. When latched onto these posts, the player can also climb the rope and stand on top of the post, offering a rugged method of ascending walls. While on a boat out at sea, the grappling hook becomes a crane used to haul treasure up from the ocean depths. In battle, the grappling hook can usefully snatch up key and restorative items held by one's enemies. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (or Zeruda no Densetsu: Kaze no Takuto in Japan) is the ninth game in the well-known The Legend of Zelda series of video games. ... Link ) is the fictional protagonist of Nintendos The Legend of Zelda video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto. ... Trident, Burmese, 18th century A massive sculpture of Lord Shiva holding a trident (Trishula). ... A tower crane with a pivoted main boom Cranes on the Sheksna River, Cherepovets, Russia A worker telecommanding a crane from the ground A crane is a tower or derrick equipped with cables and pulleys that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to shift them horizontally. ...

In Bionic Commando, a grappling hook replaced the ability to jump from standard platform games. This led to an unusual but highly popular gameplay style. Bionic Commando (Top Secret: Hitlers Revival , in the Japanese version, TOP SECRET in the Japanese arcade version) is the name of several video games, the first being an arcade game released by Capcom in 1987. ...

Moreover, a fictional variant of the grappling hook called the Hookshot makes appearances in several The Legend of Zelda series games. This device is usually held in one hand, comprised of a coiled chain with a hook at its end, which most often takes the appearance of a tapered wedge. The chain can expand and retract, and when the hook latches onto various materials such as wood it either pulls the user towards the object or vice versa, depending on anchorage and differences in weight. This is an article that details the major and recurring fictional weaponry and items that protagonist Link uses across the various The Legend of Zelda series video game series. ... A Legend of Zelda series logo The Legend of Zelda series (often shortened to Zelda, TLoZ, or LoZ), by Nintendo, is a series of video games created by celebrated game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. ...

Since it is very hard to engineer any of these devices into a small and compact package, such grappling hooks are used mainly by fictional superheroes in comics (The Watchmen), video games and films. Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Comics (or, less commonly, sequential art) is a form of visual art consisting of images which are commonly combined with text, often in the form of speech balloons or image captions. ... See also Alan Moores comic book series, The Watchmen. ... Film may refer to: photographic film a motion picture in academics, the study of motion pictures as an art form a thin skin or membrane, or any covering or coating, whether transparent or opaque a thin layer of liquid, either on a solid or liquid surface or free-standing Film...

Grappling hooks in fact

Battelle, of Columbus, Ohio makes a real, pneumatically powered grappling gun. It does not have a winch motor, but it does launch a titanium hook towing a Kevlar line. Known as the Tactical Air Initiated Launch (TAIL) system, it is used by the navy in Vessel Boarding Search and Seizure operations. http://www.battelle.org/news/06/02-14-06tail.stm

See also

• Grapple tool
• Rope
• Harpoon
• Batman (the most famous user of grappling hook)
• Spider-Man (his web shooters are similar to the grappling hook in usage, though they are based on a different mechanism).
• Tractor beam (plot device in science fiction - may be used in a similar way as grappling hooks)
• Hookshot