I want a clothes line like my Granny had.

She used a natural rope clothes line, but what made it special was a gizmo at one end. Every month or so the weight of clothes stretched out the line and made it sag. She would walk to the end, where it was attached to this device that was attached to the pole. The gizmo had a crank lever; a few pulls would tighten the line back, and lock in place. Thought it was called a ratchet, but Google is not showing anything but wrenches. It was small and made a clicky-clack sound. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

I came from a big family. We didn't have a dryer. Everything went out on the line.
I don't remember anything that ratcheted but tensioners have always been around.

Clothes line tensioner

 

You could make this work: https://www.amazon.com/Carolina-Nort...126628182&th=1

It's rated for 250 lbs which may not be enough if you heavily load a long line.

For heavy duty use, you could adapt a rope come along like this one: https://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

This might be what he's referring to:
Mini Winch Clothesline Tightener | Clotheslines.com

Or this:
Standard Metal Ratcheting Mini Winch Clothesline Cable Tightener 4pk for sale online | eBay

 

A come along (also called a wire rope hand ratchet puller) could do the job. However, if the tension in the come along (after the come along was operated with clothes on the line) was not released after the clothes were removed allowing the line to return to its natural length, the line will eventually break.

 

We used a basic clothesline strung between trees at the old farmhouse when I was a kid.
My in-laws always used a clothesline, they're in more urban area where the clothesline runs from a 2nd floor porch and thus isn't accessible from the ground- that uses a loop of line going through 2 pulleys connected to posts- they also use clothesline spreaders between every 2-3 items so the lower chord of the loop doesn't sag under the weight.


I've got 3 suggestions to make a better clothesline.
First, I highly suggest using a loop & 2 pulley setup so you can stand still and load / unload the clothesline without dragging the clothes bin through the yard.

Second, I also suggest the 'clothesline spreaders' so that top & bottom chords of the loop BOTH carry the weight of the clothes- however instead of the special pulley spreaders, I just use plastic shower curtain rings (actually not rings, but the "C" shaped connectors).

Third, I found a very simple way to tension the clothesline- use a counterweight:
So, one side of the loop is connected to the corner of the house, the other looks like this

That right side steel hook connects to a horizontal wire cable which goes through a pulley then vertical to a 5-gallon bucket filled with concrete / gravel as a counterweight. When empty clothesline has minimal tension, BUT apply weight that pulls the clothesline lower, there is 40-100 lbs of resistance from trying to lift the bucket.

 

The clothesline, with any significant amount of clothing on it, should be allowed to sag a little. Trying to stretch the line perfectly horizontal puts tremendous stress on the line and also the fastenings at each end, theoretically infinite tension for a perfectly horizontally held line.

Whereas a 12 inch sag means much reduced tension, generally well under the breaking strength of the line.

With a counterweight bucket I doubt that more than 50 pounds in the bucket will be needed.

 

Gentlemen, there are several ways to tension a clothesline as has been shown. But that is not what the OP has asked.
He asked if there was rachet type with a crank handle. I believe the only ones like what he described are in my post #4.

 

None of these is what I recall. This device screwed onto the post (or was bolted on). One end of the line went into it. There was a lever or crank-arm. When the line began to sag, a few pulls on the lever took away the slack, and locked in place. Closest I've seen to it was one of them gizmos used to pull a jeep out of a ditch.... one end hooks around the bumper and the other end goes around a tree...in the middle of the lines is the device you pull the crank on til the jeep is free. That make the same sound as the clothes line device.

It has been over 50 years, so maybe its no longer made.

 

???

 

That's a winch. And yes, it could be bolted to side of a house, tree or pole.