AtDDtA1: Jacob's-Ladder

[Dave Monroe]

   "The Jacob's-Ladder now came clattering over the side ..." (AtD,
Pt. I, Ch. 2, p. 14)


Jacob's-ladder

The term Jacob's ladder, used on a ship, applies to two kinds of ladder.

The first is a flexible hanging ladder which can be lowered down the
side of a large ship. It consists of vertical ropes or chains
supporting horizontal wooden or metal rungs, and is used to allow
people to board the ship from small boats. Because the decks of most
commercial ships are far above the waterline, pilots and others who
need to come aboard at sea can only do so if a Jacob's ladder is put
out. When not being used, the ladder is stowed away (usually rolled
up) rather than left hanging.

The second kind of Jacob's ladder is found on some square rigged
ships. To climb above the lower mast to the topmast and above, sailors
must get round the top, a platform projecting from the mast. Although
on many ships the only way round was the overhanging futtock shrouds,
modern-day tall ships often provide an easier vertical ladder from the
ratlines as well. This is the Jacob's ladder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_ladder_%28nautical%29

Jacob's Ladder refers to a ladder to heaven described in the Book of
Genesis (28:11-19) which the biblical patriarch Jacob envisioned
during his flight from his brother Esau:

Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he came to the place
and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of
the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that
place to sleep. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the
earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of
God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the LORD stood
above it [or "beside him"] and said, "I am the LORD, the God of
Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I
will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall
be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west
and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your
descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves.
Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will
bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have
done that of which I have spoken to you." Then Jacob awoke from his
sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place; and I did not know
it." And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is
none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob's_Ladder_(Bible)

Crepuscular rays, in atmospheric optics, also known as sun rays or
God's rays, are rays of sunlight that appear to radiate from a single
point in the sky. These rays, which stream through gaps in clouds, are
parallel columns of sunlit air separated by darker cloud-shadowed
regions. The name comes from their frequent occurrences during
twilight, when the contrasts between light and dark are the most
obvious. Various airborne compounds scatter the sunlight and make
these rays visible. The reason we see the light so defined is because
of diffraction, reflection and scattering.

Crepuscular rays are near-parallel, but appear to diverge because of
linear perspective. They often occur when objects such as mountain
peaks or clouds partially shadow the sun's rays like a cloud cover.
Three main forms of crepuscular rays are:

--Rays of light penetrating holes in low clouds (also called "Jacob's
Ladder")....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular_rays

Cf. "declining light," "falling darkness" ...

But also, once again raeding ahead in the novel ...

A Jacob's ladder (more formally, a high voltage traveling arc) is a
device for producing a continuous train of large sparks which rise
upwards. The spark gap is formed by two wires, approximately vertical
but gradually diverging away from each other towards the top....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark_gap

http://www.physics.ubc.ca/~outreach/phys420/p420_95/hester_douglas/p8.htm

Jacob's Ladder (1990)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/


Note also, by the way ...

   "Darby swung like a regular little monkey ..."

... and recall Ya Sam's obs about Darby (vs. Pugnax) as mascotte.
Thanks as always, tovarich ...

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0701&msg=114327