What is "lofting"

Loft \Loft\, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Lofted; p. pr. & vb. n. Lofting.] To raise aloft; to send into the air; esp. (Golf), to strike (the ball) so that it will go over an obstacle.

Etymology 1 n. 1 (context obsolete English) An upper part; ceiling. 2 (context mining English) Lagging or longitudinal timber resting on caps to support the roof of a working. Etymology 2

vb. (present participle of loft English)

Lofting is a drafting technique (sometimes using mathematical tables) whereby curved lines are generated, to be used in plans for streamlined objects such as aircraft and boats. The lines may be drawn on wood and the wood then cut for advanced woodworking. The technique can be as simple as bending a flexible object, such as a long strip of thin wood or thin plastic, so that it passes over three non-linear points and scribing the resultant curved line, or plotting the line using computers or mathematical tables.

Lofting is particularly useful in boat building, when it is used to draw and cut pieces for hulls and keels, which are usually curved, often in three dimensions. Loftsmen at the mould lofts of shipyards were responsible for taking the dimensions, and details from drawings and plans and translating this information into templates, battens, ordinates, cutting sketches, profiles, margins and other data.Since the early 1970s computer-aided design (CAD) became normal for the shipbuilding design and lofting process.

Lofting was also commonly used in aircraft design before the widespread adoption of computer-generated shaping programs.

Lofting (by a bowler) in bowling is throwing a bowling ball more than a short distance down the lane. This is usually done with the bounce pass technique, but can also be done with a straight ball. Lofting is looked down upon by the bowling community and bowling alley employees because of the damage to the ball and lanes. Many bowling alleys that use wood for their lanes will either have signs that tell the bowlers not to loft, or an employee will tell the bowlers not to do so. Lofting the ball before the arrows in some bowling alleys is not against the rules. Some professional bowlers do loft a considerable amount under certain lane conditions. Crankers and other high-rev players may be forced to loft under dry conditions in order to delay the ball's reaction and prevent it from overhooking. Lofting over the gutter is known as "popping the cap" and is done when a bowler hooks the whole lane.

In the sport of candlepin bowling, "lofting" a ball beyond a line situated ten feet (3.05 m) down the lane from the main foul line is called a lob, and is considered a ball foul, resulting in no counted pinfall from a ball delivered in such a manner, as the ball must first touch the lanebed on the bowler's side of the lob line to be considered a legal delivery.