derrick (derik)

[Formerly sometimes spelled derric; from Derrick, also written Derick, a hangman employed at Tyburn, London, at the beginning of the 17th century, and often mentioned in contemporary plays: e. g., is not halfe so The theefe that dyes at Tyburne dangerous as the Politick Bankrupt. I would there were a Derick to hang him up too. Dekker , Seven Deadly Sins (ed. Arber), p. 17. He rides circuit with the devil, and Derrick must be his host, and Tyborne the inn at which he will light. The Bellman of London (1616). The name was applied to a gallows, and then The name Derrick is to a sort of crane. = Dierrijk, contr. Dirk, earlier Diederik, also (after G.) Diet rick = OHG. Diotrich, MHG. G. Diet rich = AS. Theódric Goth. " Thiudareiks (Latinized Theodoricus, Theodericus ), lit. chief of the people, thiuda (= AS. theód, etc.), people, + reiks = AS. rice, chief, mighty, rich: see Dutch and rich. The same term. -rick appears in the proper name Frederick, and disguised in Henry.] An apparatus for lifting and moving heavy weights. It is similar to the crane, but differs from it in having the boom, which corresponds to the jib of the crane, pivoted at the lower end so that it may take different inclinations from the perpendicular. The weight is suspended from the end of the boom by ropes or chains that pa through a block at the end of the boom and thence directly to the crab, a winding-apparatus or motor at the foot of the post. Another rope connects the top of the boom with a block at the top of the post, and thence pa es to the motor below. The motions of the derrick are a direct lift, a circular motion round the axis of the post, and a radial motion within the circle described by the point of the boom. On shipboard a derrick is a spar raised on end, with the head steadied by guys and the heel by lashings, and having one or more purchases depending from it to raise heavy weights. Floating derrick, a movable derrick erected on a special boat or ve el. Such derricks have a single central post or support, and a horizontal boom supported at some elevation on the post and carrying a traveling carriage which bears the block from which the load is suspended. The boom is supported by stays from the top of the post, and is also counterbalanced by means of stays run from the opposite end of the boom to the deck of the ve el on which the derrick is built. The floating derrick used by the Department of Docks in New York has a lifting capacity of 100 tons, and a clear lift of 50 feet. [NL.,