Anchor rope

“ The rope is passed round the shaft and rests on the snow, so that in case of a slip we get the friction of the snow into which it cuts to help us. At a turning step on a zag the rope is put round the shaft in the reverse direction. This driving of the axe and the looping of the rope men should execute when the feet are at rest on the holds, and not, as many do, while they are taking the step. It is often very difficult for tired men to continue for hours the regular thrust of the axe and the careful anchor of the rope at each pace. ”

“ If the leader goes through, the second man avoids all the enormous difficulty of untying one of two taut ropes, of fixing it to his axe, and then anchoring it, with the whole weight of the man below dragging on him. The weight is on the one taut rope round his waist; he has only to drive in the axe with its slack rope already attached, and the fixed anchor is ready for the man below to start pulling upon, while he himself at once has his hands free to pull on the taut rope. ”

“ When the raising rope is reached, it is carried with the cable over the cathead. The bight of the rope is hauled in quickly, carried through a snatchblock, and a few turns taken on the drum of a hoisting windlass. The rope is untied from the cable as soon as possible. If there be danger of losing the rope, it should be made fast at once. The anchor is raised until within a few feet of the cathead. ”

“ The moment the man below reaches safety he should untie, without losing a second. Meanwhile, the next man to come can already have tied on to the other loose end above, and be beginning his descent. While one man above holds him the other pulls up the loosened rope from the man who has finished descending. If the rope is long enough, and the men prompt and not ‘loose stone kickers,’ two men, at sufficient intervals, can be descending at the one time, on either end of the rope; while the two ropes are managed, one for each of them, by the lowerer and by the anchor man above. ”

“ Its object is to assure the balance of a stationary climber while he is managing the rope of a moving climber, and safeguard the rest of the party in case of the fall of both. The same point of rock may have to serve for both anchor and belay, but their affixing should be quite independent. If a leader, wearing necessarily only the one rope, the active rope to his second man, wishes to secure an anchor, he must divide his anchor loop from that portion of his active rope which he is using to belay his second man by very secure friction coils round the rock. ”

“ Three ropes laid up left-handed form what is known as a cable-laid rope; four-stranded ropes are laid round a heart. Ropes are sometimes laid left-handed, but if the strands are to be laid left-handed the yarns are laid right-handed. If the parts of hemp, etc., be twisted more than is necessary to hold them together, strength is lost. Upon following the course of a yarn in a rope it will be found that, by this alternate laying, it runs nearly straight with the direction of the rope’s length. ”

“ Is covering a cable spirally (in opposition to rounding, which is close) with three-inch old rope to protect it from chafe in the hawse-hole.
KEDELS. See Kiddles.
KEDGE, or Kedger. A small anchor used to keep a ship steady and clear from her bower-anchor while she rides in harbour, particularly at the turn of the tide. The kedge-anchors are also used to warp a ship from one part of a harbour to another. They are generally furnished with an iron stock, which is easily displaced for the convenience of stowing. ”

“ The resulting tendency of the strands to untwist is counteracted, partly by a left-hand revolution of the foreturn spindles, and partly by the presence of the “hard” or surplus twist just described.
As the top truck is forced ahead by the twisting process, the rope-maker preserves a correct lay in the rope by means of greater or less leverage on the “tails”—the loose ropes shown in our picture. The stakes on which the strands rest are removed one by one to allow the top truck to pass and are then replaced to support the rope until the laying is finished and the reeling in of the rope begun. ”

“ The uses that wire ropes are now put to, and the ways and occupations they are employed in, are so various, that it is almost a necessity for a man to be engaged in their manufacture to have a thorough knowledge of the different methods of handling them. For instance, it would be just as consistent to expect a sailor, used only to eye-splicing, to go to a colliery and put a long splice into a rope, to withstand the enormous stress there applied, as it would be to expect a colliery man to go aboard ship to splice the mainbrace, or any other brace. ”

“ This “top” thus placed prevents the strands from twisting, except in the direction of the smaller end; while a man stationed immediately behind, compresses the rope by a simple piece of apparatus, and causes the twist to become hard and firm. The “top” as the rope closes behind it is slowly urged on from one end to the other—if small it is managed by a top-man, but if large it is supported on a carriage, as in the engraving. No difference exists in making a larger or smaller rope, so far as the principle is concerned. ”

“ Fig. 158.—Beginning Mat.
Mats are used on board ship to prevent chafing. In making wrought mats a piece of small cord is stretched tight horizontally at about the height of a man, and fastened at each end. Across this, hanging by their middles, nettles are placed. These are often made of “foxes”—that is, three or more rope-yarns twisted together by hand, and each rubbed down with tarred canvas or a handful of rope-yarn. ”

“ From two old tin pails remove the handles and bend the wires around so that a rope may be passed through the eyes at the ends, as shown in Fig. 26. At a hardware store purchase a pair of five-pound sash-weights, and pass the rope ends through the eyes. They should then be spliced or bound with fine line. When the ropes are reeved through the pulleys, a knot should be made in each one, so that it will chock in the top of the pulley and allow the weights to just reach and lightly rest upon the foot-pad. ”

“ In either of the continuous-wrap systems, if a portion of larger rope is used, it will produce a greater strain directly behind the large rope, owing to its traveling around the sheave quicker. In angle work there is always extra wear on the rope in the side of the groove, as only the center or one rope may be accurately lined ”

“ In this way, the ropes counteract one another in the twist, hanging like a ribbon down the shaft; and are stitched strongly together by a small cord. Such rope bands are not only very pliable for their strength, which protects the heart of the rope from breaking, but as they lap upon themselves, a simple sheave serves as a rope-barrel. They possess the additional advantage, that by so lapping, they enlarge the diameter of the axle in which they coil, and thus make a compensation mechanically against the increasing length of rope descending with its corve. ”

“ The principle of rope making is very readily shown by holding the ends of a piece of twine or whipcord, about a foot long, in the hands and twisting it so as to increase the lay. If the twine [Pg 13] be now slackened by bringing the hands nearer to one another, a loop will first form in the middle of the twine, and it will continue to twist itself up into a compact cord which will not unlay, as the tension to which the strands have been subjected causes friction between them, which holds them together. ”

“ The double strop is used for large blocks; it gives more support to the shell than the single strop and admits of smaller rope being used. Wire rope is much used for block-strops; the fitting is similar. Metal blocks are also used in fixed positions; durability is their chief recommendation. Great care should be taken that they do not chafe the ropes which pass by them as well as those which reeve through.
Selvagee Strop.—Twine, rope-yarn or rope is warped round two or more pegs placed at the desired distance apart, till it assumes the requisite size and strength ”

“ The worst of screwing by endless ropes this way is that the pile very probably may be pulled over towards the source of power as it comes from one direction, therefore, support is required on the side of the pile to prevent this tendency. The circumference of the ropes used varied from 41⁄2 to 6 inches, but I have used a 10 inch rope. Small ropes are generally relatively stronger than large ones. Stretch a rope well before using, as it yields, especially hemp ropes. The distance between the point at which the power is applied, and the ground should be as little as possible. ”

“ Rope is usually three-stranded and the strands turn from left to right or "with the sun," while cable is left-handed or twisted "against the sun" (E, Fig. 1) . Certain ropes, such as "bolt-rope" and most cables, are laid around a "core" (F, Fig. 2) or central strand and in many cases are four-stranded (Fig. 2) .
The strength of a rope depends largely upon the strength and length of the fibres from which it is made, but the amount each yarn and strand is twisted, as well as the method used in bleaching or preparing the fibres, has much to do with the strength of the finished line. ”

“ One type of tackle will give great mechanical advantage, but requires an excessive amount of rope or requires frequent overhauling to complete the job, while another type, [9] using the same equipment, will not give such great mechanical advantage but does not require overhauling so often during the progress of the load.
Rope is coming more and more into favor for the transmission of power—replacing gears and heavy leather belts. It is important that the proper sized sheave wheel be used with a rope of given diameter in order to secure the longest service from the transmission. ”

“ Of course, if the boat's owner is inclined to spend more money, wooden blocks will make the rigging neater and run easier. Travellers are used to fasten sheet ropes to the boat, and may be made in two ways, either out of iron or rope. The iron traveller in this case is an iron rod carrying a ring to which the block is attached, bent down at the ends, which are threaded and fastened with nuts through the stern. The rope traveller is a strong cotton rope, the ends fastened on each side of the boat, and the rope passing through a ring on the lower side of the block. ”

“ To a sailor the rope is nothing and everything at once. Give a seaman even a piece of string and he will amuse himself all evening making lashings and knots. A piece of rope calls up in his mind the stout lines which hold the masts steady and the yards true in the gale, the comfortable cable which moors the ship at the end of the dreary voyage, and a thousand things between.
To the Westerner a rope is a different thing. It is not so much a useful material as a weapon. ”

“ Even the core is figured in the number of days it will add to the rope’s life under varying conditions. The wide difference in ropes consists not only in the materials employed, which have much to do with their resistance to divers strains and the manner of their use, but in skillful selection of sizes in the wire and arrangement in the strands of which they are composed ”

“ Both ends are treated alike; when the pointing is completed a loop a few inches in length will protrude from the end of the rope, which is very useful for reeving it. A hauling line or reeving line should only be rove through the becket as a fair lead. Grafting is very similar to pointing, and frequently done the whole length of a rope, as a side-rope. Pieces of white line more than double the length of the rope, sufficient in number to encircle it, are made up in hanks called foxes; the centre of each is made fast by twine and the weaving process continued as in pointing. ”

“ When the machine is in operation the whole lower portion, from the tube down, revolves, either to the right or left as the goods require, and thus puts the twist into the rope. This twist being opposite, always, to that of the strands, the natural tendency of the latter as they are laid together would be to loosen up. To regulate this, each flyer is made to revolve on its own axis—in a direction opposite to the general direction of the machine. Each reel revolves also on its axis to feed out the strand—the effect of the changing load being met as before by a friction attachment. ”

“ Before commencing work the loose ends or strands of a rope should be "whipped" or "seized" to prevent the rope from unravelling; and although an expert can readily tie almost any knot, make a splice, or in fact do pretty nearly anything with a loose-ended rope, yet it is a wise plan to invariably whip the end of every rope, cable, or hawser to be handled, while a marline-spike, fid, or pointed stick will also prove of great help in working rope. ”

“ C, with the driver 28 inches and the driven sheave 58 inches, will give the latter a speed of 96 16/29 revolutions per minute. So it will be readily seen what effect a large or a small rope would have.
Fig. 88.
There are some who claim that slack ropes will transmit more power owing to more wrap on the sheaves, while others claim that tight ropes are better. If a drive with all the ropes slack gave trouble by the ropes slipping, the first remedy tried would be tightening the ropes. ”

“ To wind marline, spun-yarn, twine, &c., about a rope, so that every turn is secured by a kind of knot, and remains fixed, in case the rest should be cut through by friction. It is commonly used to fasten slips of canvas, called parsling, upon the surface of a rope, to prevent its being galled, or to attach the foot of a sail to its bolt-rope, &c., with marling hitches, instead of sewing it. ”