What is it? #687B
- Thread starterderekleffew
- Start date
Yup. Opera clamp.
If so, then what did/does one do with such a clamp?
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It hangs/mounts to the top pipe on which a drop/cyc is hanging. If the drop/cyc has a bottom pipe, the clamps (spaced evenly along the top pipe) can pickup the bottom pipe allowing the drop to use half the height to get out of sightlines. Very useful in houses with less then adequate grid height. Care must be taken to not gather too much fabric when you clamp the bottom pipe, else the clamp can pinch and tear the drop.
So a piece of hardware to aid in westcoast ing? Or, actually, trip ping a drop?
The picture that MPowers posted is of a batten clamp or "drop holder".
But I'm not convinced either is what STEVETERRY's picture is. How would one get it onto the 1.75” OD (pipe?), except to slide it from one end?
Last edited:
JChenault
Well-Known Member
Well
I thought it dates from a time when the top of your painted drop was a 1x3 batten ( or a pair of them sandwiching the drop). To attach this to the pipe you would clamp the 1x3 between the big jaw af the hardware device.
So it is a piece of hardware to aid in hanging a drop which is attached to a wooden batten.
That said, I am not totally happy with my answer, and I agree that mounting these on a pipe batten would be somewhat problematic. but somehow all of my old stagecraft books have been replaced with texts on lighting and software ( except for my third edition of Parker and Smith Circa 1974. - and it does not have an image of it. If I could just find my second edition... sometimes this board makes me feel really old )
I thought it dates from a time when the top of your painted drop was a 1x3 batten ( or a pair of them sandwiching the drop). To attach this to the pipe you would clamp the 1x3 between the big jaw af the hardware device.
So it is a piece of hardware to aid in hanging a drop which is attached to a wooden batten.
That said, I am not totally happy with my answer, and I agree that mounting these on a pipe batten would be somewhat problematic. but somehow all of my old stagecraft books have been replaced with texts on lighting and software ( except for my third edition of Parker and Smith Circa 1974. - and it does not have an image of it. If I could just find my second edition... sometimes this board makes me feel really old )
MPowers
Well-Known Member
The picture I posted is exactly what you have described. It allowed drops to be hung in a hemp house without a pipe batten on free ends the lift lines, only the clamps at the ends of the ropes. As the batten was indeed a 1x3 sandwich attached to the drop, the drop was rolled up as it flew in and another drop could be attached in seconds, a complete drop to drop "quick change". When shows toured by RR car, long and skinny was the size and type of package used.
I could be wrong but I think the device the OP pictured is the same thing for use in a CW house with pipe battens. They would be installed permanently on the pipe and when a drop was to be hung, 4 hands, 4 minutes and it's up (or down). Steve please correct me if I'm wrong.
I could be wrong but I think the device the OP pictured is the same thing for use in a CW house with pipe battens. They would be installed permanently on the pipe and when a drop was to be hung, 4 hands, 4 minutes and it's up (or down). Steve please correct me if I'm wrong.
STEVETERRY
Well-Known Member
STEVETERRY
Well-Known Member
That is correct. The 1.75" round hole suggests 1-1/4" sch 40 pipe, which was used in various theatre applications before 1-1/2" took over.
ST
Interesting, I wonder if that has anything to do with this new facility:
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/stage-management-facility-operations/28428-new-school.html
Tex, in posts #64 and #67 has a hanging position with 1-1/4" pipe instead of 1-1/2" and mega-claws don't work with it.
I wonder if somewhere along the line a designer picked up an older standard.
STEVETERRY
Well-Known Member
kensmithld
Member
Steve--the real question is where do you find these? I am working in a 'new' theatre with a grid height of 55', a proscenium height of 30'. Somebody forgot to do their math and now stuck with tripping 10 soft goods. I would love to get my hands on a couple dozen of these.
Ken Smith
Ken Smith
Drop Holder / Stage Curtains & Storage Hampers / Curtain Track, Curtain Hardware & Stage Fabric / Home - Mutual Hardware
Here's hoping you have deep pockets!
This variant Royal Opera House Collections Online may be easier to self-fabricate.
techieman33
Well-Known Member
kensmithld
Member
You'd think it was marine hardware...I guess there's always bulldog clips instead.
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