Wire rope
Manufactured using an industrial machine known as a strander, the wires are fed through a series of barrels and spun into their final composite orientation.
In stricter senses, the term wire rope refers to a diameter larger than 9.5 mm (3⁄8 in), with smaller gauges designated cable or cords.
Historically, wire rope evolved from wrought iron chains, which had a record of mechanical failure.
While friction between the individual wires and strands causes wear over the life of the rope, it also helps to compensate for minor failures in the short run.
Wire ropes are used dynamically for lifting and hoisting in cranes and elevators, and for transmission of mechanical power.
Wire rope is also used to transmit force in mechanisms, such as a Bowden cable or the control surfaces of an airplane connected to levers and pedals in the cockpit.
[3][4][5] It was quickly accepted because it proved superior strength from ropes made of hemp or of metal chains, such as had been used before.
[7] In America wire rope was manufactured by John A. Roebling, starting in 1841[8] and forming the basis for his success in suspension bridge building.
Ever with an ear to technology developments in mining and railroading, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, principal owners[9] of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N Co.) — as they had with the first blast furnaces in the Lehigh Valley — built a Wire Rope factory in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania,[8][10] in 1848, which provided lift cables for the Ashley Planes project, then the back track planes of the Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad, improving its attractiveness as a premier tourism destination, and vastly improving the throughput of the coal capacity since return of cars dropped from nearly four hours to less than 20 minutes.
The era was early in railroad development and steam engines lacked sufficient tractive effort to climb steep slopes, so inclined plane railways were common.
This pushed development of cable hoists rapidly in the United States as surface deposits in the Anthracite Coal Region north and south dove deeper every year, and even the rich deposits in the Panther Creek Valley required LC&N Co. to drive their first shafts into lower slopes beginning Lansford and its Schuylkill County twin-town Coaldale.
The German engineering firm of Adolf Bleichert & Co. was founded in 1874 and began to build bicable aerial tramways for mining in the Ruhr Valley.
Adolf Bleichert & Co. went on to build hundreds of aerial tramways around the world: from Alaska to Argentina, Australia and Spitsbergen.
In the latter part of the 19th century, wire rope systems were used as a means of transmitting mechanical power[11] including for the new cable cars.
Wire rope systems cost one-tenth as much and had lower friction losses than line shafts.
They have the advantage that their construction prevents the penetration of dirt and water to a greater extent and it also protects them from loss of lubricant.
In addition, they have one further very important advantage as the ends of a broken outer wire cannot leave the rope if it has the proper dimensions.
Lifting installations for passenger transportation require that a combination of several methods should be used to prevent a car from plunging downwards.
Ropeways and mine hoistings must be permanently supervised by a responsible manager and the rope must be inspected by a magnetic method capable of detecting inner wire breaks.
The flat bearing seat and extended prongs of the body are designed to protect the rope and are always placed against the live end.
The remaining strands are bent around, until the end of the wire meets the "V" where the unwrapping finished, to form the eye.
The end loop of the wire rope enters a tapered opening in the socket, wrapped around a separate component called the wedge.
Poured sockets are used to make a high strength, permanent termination; they are created by inserting the wire rope into the narrow end of a conical cavity which is oriented in-line with the intended direction of strain.
