John Brailsford, the originator of the first purpose designed nut, passed away.

It is with great sadness that I have just learned of the death of my friend John Brailsford. I met John for the first time in L'Argentière-La Bessée (France), in October 1997, after a long correspondence. Before pushing the door of his house, Le Chalet du Guide, I was very anxious to meet such a legendary climber and Mountain Guide, but also the originator of the first purpose designed nut. John welcomed me with so much kindness and really enjoyed my passion for the history of early climbing equipment. I met John again, several times, in Corsica and in England. Each time it was still a magic moment just listening to him telling me so many fascinating stories. John Brailsford still remains for me a true mine of knowledge on the Nuts’ Story. I will never forget the “Old Testament”, the nickname with which he signed the letters he sent to me. With all my warmest thoughts to John's wife, family and friends.

Stéphane

John Brailsford (Corsica)

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In 1961, a blacksmith from Sheffield, John Brailsford, then a teacher of engineering technology, created the ever first purpose designed nut, the Acorn. Three sizes (1 inch, ¾ inch and 5/8 inch) were turned on a lathe from extruded aluminium alloy. John Brailsford also tried Tufnol (a resin bonded fibre used by Rolls Royce or Hoover for making light weight, silent gears) and brass for their different properties of hardness. Since the Acorn had a machine nut sitting on its top and threaded on the same sling, this « nest of nuts » offered two options, the machine nut or the Acorn. They were probably the first nuts to be marketed in England, by the Roger Turner Mountain Shop in Nottingham.

MOAC & Acorn in John's hand

Most of the difficult cracks which were climbed by hand-jam and layback techniques needed however a wider nut. After measuring some of them, John Brailsford, always him, made models in balsa wood in the form of truncated, oblong pyramids. A Derby company, Coronet Tools, specialising in aluminium casting made six prototypes in L.M. 6 in which John Brailsford drilled two holes and created a radius to join these holes. In the sixties, the testing of ropes was based upon Maurice Dodéro’s works. Dodéro used components which related to the carabiner then in use - a 10 mm diameter standard. John Brailsford realized that, if he could increase the diameter over which the rope passed on the top of the nut, he would greatly reduce the risks of cutting the rope sling at this critical point of contact. A star was born: the MOAC! Joe Brown, Don Roscoe (of the Rock & Ice Club), John Brailsford himself and his regular partner, Doug Cook, used them and found they worked at a level of safety not enjoyed before. In 1962, the first batch of MOACs was cast in Manchester and the guide, Peter Gentil, hand-finished them. Mounted on 9 mm rope, other sizes could be obtained by filing them down to reduce their thickness. Originally, Alan Kimber, a Scots-based friend of John Brailsford, thought about calling the new nut Johnny, which also is a slang term for a condom... Ellis Brigham, owner of a chain of outdoor shops in UK who sponsored the die cast first production run, also owned a climbing equipment import company, Mountain Activities. Therefore the name MOAC was chosen for this nut, that many British and American climbers still carry them for sentimental reasons. 

Snowdon Mouldings Curver - another John Brailsford's invention.

Thanks for posting this.

Amazing wealth of information, as always! Thank you, Stéphane!

I wish the best for John’s family and friends. The community as a whole owes a lot to his inventiveness. 

Stéphane, Thank you for posting. John was one of the foremost innovators in clean climbing technology. In a way, it's a bit crazy that this huge sport we all enjoy so much still has so many of its pioneers with us. For many of us, clean climbing is all we have known. The idea of going to Eldo, or the Gunks, or Seneca and hearing the sound of hammers ringing out seems almost unbelievable. John created an amazing product (several products) that truly shaped the future of his sport. He's in very rare company in that regard.

As a bit of a tribute, here is my recreation of the pic of his hand with the Acorn and the MOAC nut.

The climbing community has lost a true living treasure with his passing but his legacy will be remembered for as long as we continue to scale the vertical.

Thank you for this story.

Acorn

MOAC

Such sad news. I was one of many to pass through the course at Bangor Normal College run by John, Dave Siv and Steve Baker a lifetime ago in 78. Changed my life for ever and so sad both John and Dave have now died.

John Wilson

https://www.outdoorgearcoach.co.uk/obituary-john-brailsford-blacksmith-teacher-innovator-bike-rider-ifmg-mountain-guide/

Stéphane,

As a near neighbour in the Vallouise and fellow member of the Alpine Club I have just drafted an obituary for John Brailsford to be published in the Alpine Journal.  I'd very much like to include the portrait which you used in the Nuts' Story for Needlesports 20 years ago.  Would you be able to provide this photo, such a good close-up, so natural? I'd be most grateful if this should be possible.

I enjoyed reading your tribute to John.  I only met him for the first time about 10 years ago, soon after we bought a house in La Batie des Vigneaux.  We have since divided our time between the Ecrins and the UK.   Any occasion on which we met became memorable, however.  He was a remarkable character.

When my husband and I return to Corsica - it's a long time now since we were there - we must look out your museum.  My husband, another John, had an independent mountaineering shop for 30+ years and would be very interested.  Plus, of course, we remember using Moacs, having started climbing in the mid '70s.  Curver axes too!

I do hope you can help.  In any case, may I include in my obituary a link to your Nuts' Story, please?

As an afterthought, if you can't provide the portrait photo which would be my first choice for this purpose, might you be able to provide the one you have used of John, I think in Corsica, wearing a red cap with threaded nuts round his neck?

I would as a matter of course accredit any photo properly and undertake not to use it for any other purpose.  

Best wishes,
Susan Hare

Susan, PM sent.

nutstorywrote:

I was at Bangor Normal in 1984 and became good friends with John and Siv. John was a great friend and excellent teacher. My husband George was also a mountaineer.  Haven’t been in contact with John for years but will miss him a lot.