Why the chain link quantity of each piece of anchor chain is odd number?
Anchor chains are used to connect the marine anchor to ship, it is very important for mooring ship. There are two grades of anchor chain used widely, grade 2 and grade 3. Although anchor chains look like a whole piece, in fact, it is composed of many shoots. Due to years of usage tradition, usually the length of each shoot of anchor chain is 27.5 meters, and the chain link quantity of each shoot of anchor chain is odd number. Do you know why? Please check the following:
Overview
Why the chain link quantity of each piece of anchor chain is odd number?
The chain link quantity of each piece of anchor chain used to mooring the vessel must be an odd number, in order to ensure that the Kent shackles between two pieces of anchor chain are on the same plane.
What is Kent Shackle? It is a kind of connecting shackle between two pieces of anchor chains. Another type of connecting shackle is called a D-type connecting shackle, but because Kent shackle is more commonly used, we use Kent shackle as a reference to explain why the number of anchor chain links must be odd number. The Kent shackle, due to its easy disassembly, can make the installation and maintenance of anchor chains more convenient. However, it is much thicker than other anchor chain links, as shown in the physical picture of the Kent shackle below:
The anchor chain is in direct contact with the chain wheel of the anchor winch. The chain wheel of the anchor winch is divided into vertical groove and horizontal groove. The width of the vertical groove of the chain wheel is close to the diameter of anchor chain common link, as shown in the following picture:
