It consists of interlocking overhand knots, and can jam under moderate strain.

[1] In October 1978, an article in The Times presented it as a newly invented knot credited to Dr. Edward Hunter.

[2] He had used it for years to tie broken shoelaces before discovering its originality through a friend in the 1970s.

[5] Smith had devised the knot in 1943 while working on the San Francisco waterfront and had called it simply a "rigger's bend".

[1][3] Although not documented in the original 1944 print of The Ashley Book of Knots, it was later added in 1979 as entry #1425A.