Pulley blocks and snatch blocks are both pulley blocks; these lifting tools have a wheel on an axle designed to help you lift heavy items up to 30 tonne. Pulley blocks give direction to the rope while loaded; they are able to increase the line pull or lifting capacity of a hoist or winch by multiplying the number of lines. The difference between them is that a pulley block is constantly closed and you must thread the line through the axle while the snatch block is designed to open with a gate on the side so the wire rope can be fitted easily as shown in the below pictures.