Puretic power block

The Puretic power block is a special kind of mechanised winch used to haul nets on fishing vessels, a large aluminium pulley with a hard rubber coated sheave that lets fewer men do the back-breaking work of hauling a purse seine net. It was invented by a Croatian fisherman, Mario Puratić, working as a tuna and sardine fisherman from San Pedro, California, and patented in 1953; the first design was a simple winch with a V-shaped roller suspended from a davit, and American purse seiners trialled it in 1954. Modern blocks are hydraulically driven and remotely controlled from the bridge. By 1960 most northern seine vessels used it, and the Food and Agriculture Organization said no single invention had contributed more to purse seine net hauling.