mechanism · 01 · oak block · hemp · c. 1890
a wheel hung from a hook, and through the wheel a rope. the wheel does no work of its own; it simply asks the rope to change its mind without losing the load. one direction becomes another and the weight, for a moment, forgets which way is down.
it lives in the stairwell of the warehouse, kept in working order by a custom no one has named. on still days you can hear the sheave complain by a single degree, as if the building had shifted a footstep while no one was watching. the rope smells of dust and old tar.
field-note · pull steadily. a sudden tug makes the block argue with the beam.