trip rope

How many of you guys, {and girls, Nancy} have ever taken a ride on a trip rope ?? Hint, trip ropes are used when making loose hay.

We used to ride the trip rope all the time if my uncle or dad was out in the field when we were putting up hay,probably couldn't have those today with the safety addicts and lawyers we have!Funny we survived isn't it?

Oh yes Kieth I have taken many of rides on a trip rope. And some were not intended.

I wrapped my gloved hand around the rope once to trip the fork and the driver did not stop. I couldn't get my hand unwraped quick enough and up into the air I went. Only went up about 4 feet above the full rack of hay but then swung into the side of the barn. About the same time I got my hands free and down I went between the load of hay and the barn.

I crawled out from underneath the rack and started unloading again after a few words with the driver.

We needed to replace the cable that the counter weight rode on. No way to get up there so dad decided to ride the fork up and do it while setting on the fork. We had one of those forks that took up 10 bales off one layer.

All was fine as we went up the side of the barn till he got to the door opening and could no longer use his feet as a stablizer against the side of the barn. He started spinning round and round yelling to let him back down. Next time up we had another guy on the trip rope to stop the spinning. I was only about 12 at the time so I am glad it wasn't me that had to ride that darn fork.

When you start spinning around in the door of this barn you can see you are a ways up in the air.

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Used to swing on it and burned the heck out of my hands one day when I had too much slack in the rope. Haven't done it since.

Nope. Until I read the replies, didn't know what a trip rope was.

Did a lot of playing on the pull back ropes but not the trip rope. Dad always pulled the slings all the way up to the car in the center of the drive thru and the trip rope was out of reach from the floor.

Well, I guess I'm not the only one then !! My ride was by accident. Our barn was close to the road. Dad pulled the haul rope with a BF Avery "A" up the road. He could not see in the barn. Grandpa would wave for him to stop & then pull the trip. I was about 6 or so when I wanted to pull the trip rope. Grandpa stood by the door way to signal Dad. I wrapped the trip rope around my arm getting ready to give it a good jerk, but I didn't leave enough slack in the rope. As soon as the fork took off, so did I. Up to the track and zoom to the east end of the mow. I still do not like high places to this day !! This would have been about 1956. I still have the hay fork!

Nice Place !! Our barns are gone now.

LEH,

I never rode the trip rope but I used to have great fun swinging out over the bare floor of the barn on the haul rope, then when we'd get swung back over the hay loft, we'd let go of the rope and drop into the pile of hay.


What great fun for boys.

Tom in TN

Same here, mid 50s, my cousin taught me that. We had a silo inside the barn, so had to let go before smashing into that.

Our barn has the track and the old fork is kicking around a shed but I never learned how they work. It seems like there was two ropes and one pulled away from the barn with the horses to somehow lift and traverse the trolley? How'd they do the two functions?

We pulled the car back with the trip rope. The pull rope ran from an anchor point on the car through the pulleys on the fork and back up the car. Then through a series of pulleys to the outside where the team or the tractor could pull the haul rope at least 50'. The haul rope came down with the fork, when the fork went up it latched to the car, the car with load attached was released and the haul rope pulled the load on the track until you pulled the trip rope to release the hay where you wanted it in the mow. We had an L shaped barn with two mows & two tracks. "roping" a barn took some thinking to set it up correctly. The Meyers Company of Ohio sold lots of hay equipment and instructions on how to install it. Great Grandad had his team until 1957