Tow rope

“ The holes are then stuffed with tow steeped in resin and oil; a rope is looped round the pole, and two young men, who must be brothers or must have the same baptismal name, and must be of the same age, pull the ends of the rope backwards and forwards so as to make the pole revolve rapidly, till smoke and sparks issue from the two holes in the door-posts. The sparks are caught and blown up with tinder, and this is the new and pure fire, the appearance of which is greeted with cries of joy. ”

“ Fig. 18. Another method of joining stiff hawsers is to use the Half-hitch and whipping. This is a satisfactory method of making a joint to be used for a considerable time.
Fig. 19. The Slip knot as shown is a knot with many uses.
Fig. 20. The Bowline knot is useful for forming a loop on the end of a rope. It is used frequently by stockmen to tie a horse or cow so that they will not choke themselves. It is always secure and easily untied. Use this knot in tying a tow rope to a car. [15]
Fig. ”

“ 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 closing process on cable-laid goods is like the laying except that the twist is reversed. The work being with three complete ropes—frequently very large—a heavier top truck is necessary, and this must often be ballasted, as shown in our illustration on page 80, to keep down the vibration which would otherwise tend to lift the truck off the track. ”

“ It takes three girls to tow always; two hold the rope, and the other one runs round and round, and giggles. ”

“ This length of rope I threw over the beam of the beam-engine in the bite where it sustains the rod, and paid one end down the shaft, till both were at the bottom: in this way I could come up, by tying one rope-end to the rope-ladder, hoisting it, fastening the other end below, and climbing the ladder; and I then set to work to light the pit-mouth engine-fire to effect my descent. This done, I started the engine, and brought up the cage from the bottom, the 300 yards of wire-rope winding with a quaint deliberateness round the drum, reminding me of a camel's nonchalant leisurely obedience. ”

“ Forming and Laying of Ropes and Cables—Ropewalk Method Before taking up the strictly modern machines so largely used now in the final processes of rope-making—the forming of strands, laying of common ropes and closing of cable-laid goods—we shall describe the ropewalk method of performing these operations as it is practised today.
For making tarred goods in all but the smaller sizes the walk has certain advantages not afforded by more advanced methods. It also provides efficient equipment for turning out the largest ropes, which would otherwise require special machinery. ”

“ A rope to splice, a block to change, a wheel to oil, an old rusted anchor to disengage from the cable which brought it up, these have been our only obstructions. Sixty, seventy, eighty, a hundred, a hundred and twenty revolutions at last, my little engine tears away. The even black rope comes straight out of the blue heaving water: passes slowly round an open-hearted, good-tempered looking pulley, five feet diameter; aft past a vicious nipper, to bring all up should anything go wrong ”

“ 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. ”

“ To give motion to the rope a single wheel is used, and friction for driving the rope is supplied either by clip pulleys or by taking the rope over several wheels. The diagram shows an arrangement for a tightening arrangement. One driving wheel is used, says The Colliery Guardian, and the rope is kept constantly tight by passing it round a pulley fixed upon a tram to which a heavy weight is attached. Either one or two lines of rails are used. When a single line is adopted the rope works backward and forward, only one part being on the wagon way and the other running by the side of the way. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Large ropes are very liable when new to give considerable trouble by their disposition to kink. It is therefore often necessary to take the extra twist out of them by fastening one end high up in a conveniently grown tree, and suspending a spare waggon wheel from the other, as shown in the illustration (p. 791) . The use of tar in the manufacture of rope tends to impair its strength, but adds to its power to resist deteriorating influences. ”

“ This runs risks of twisting and is a nuisance, but in case of a fall it secures that the ropes are at once distinguishable, and it should be prearranged that the man who has fallen should always do his pulling upon this looser rope. The second man should have the end of the looser rope attached, not to his waist, but to his axe shaft. Whenever the leader crosses an obvious bridge or pauses to probe, the second man [Pg 320] should plant the axe, with the loose rope attached, at once in the snow, and hold the other, tighter rope in his two hands, ready for emergencies. ”

“ Men and horses collect the last remnant of their strength. Every moment one fancies they must break down. The towing-rope, a three-inch cable, is as taut as a bow-string, and the iron bolt round which the rope is wound is burning hot with the friction. The captain stands by with a sharp ax in his hand. ”

“ Over the shafts there are windlasses, with stout ropes, and hooks attached to the ends for winding up buckets of dirt, and also as the only means of descent. Looping the rope over one foot by the hook, straightening your leg, holding on to the rope well above your head, the other leg hanging, you dangle down into darkness, bumping against the sides of the shaft, until the ground below suddenly seems to rise up and hit you, and you find yourself in a heap on the bottom. ”

“ The best results have been secured by using a take-up sheave for not more than eight ropes. But in any case the evil of differential driving still exists.
In truth, the only drive in which perfect conditions can exist, according to present practice, is one using but a single rope.
It is evident that when the load comes on the ropes, the entire number of ropes in use are only able to ultimately reach the same tension from the elasticity of the ropes themselves, as slipping in the grooves rarely occurs. ”

“ The rope winds around a drum on the shaft supporting the wheel, and then passes through a pulley directly over the place where we were to descend. The rope is fully two inches in diameter, and was said to be capable of bearing ten times the weight that can ever be placed upon it in ordinary use. It is examined every morning, and at least once a week it is tested with a load of at least four times that which it ordinarily carries. When it shows any sign of wear it is renewed; and judging from all we could see, the managers take every precaution against accidents. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If the strand be drawn more swiftly through, while the machine is revolving with a given velocity, the intensity or closeness of the twist is diminished, if less swiftly then the twist is increased. Such are some of the beautiful results of machinery.
To twist the strands into a rope is called “laying” a rope. In the laying walk a revolving wheel placed near the end is provided with hooks, whereon the three strands to form the rope are fixed. These hooks are made to rotate by the action of the wheel, its prime mover being horse or steam-power. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Stoppers for ordinary running ropes are made by splicing a piece of rope to a bolt or to a hook and thimble, unlaying 3 or 4 ft., tapering it by cutting away some of the yarns, and marling it down securely, with a good whipping also on the end. It is used by taking a half-hitch round the rope which is to be hauled upon, dogging the end up in the lay and holding it by hand. The rope can come through it when hauled, but cannot go back. ”

“ 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. ”

“ He hurried over to a little clump of trees and came back with a short section of a round limb.
“This will be a roller for the rope to pass over, just like a pulley,” he announced. Then he proceeded to put his plan in operation. Lying down on his face, he held the log in position, the rope passing over it. ”

“ For aerial ropeways they are extensively employed, and are of high value in bridge building, the suspension bridge being sustained by them. The strength of the steel wire used for ropes varies from seventy to over one hundred tons per square inch of sectional area, the weight of a hemp rope being about three times that of a wire rope of equal strength. ”

“ Like all human devices, however, the guide rope, along with its advantages, has its inconveniences. Its rubbing along the uneven surfaces of the ground—over fields and meadows, hills and valleys, roads and houses, hedges and telegraph wires—gives violent shocks to the balloon. Or it may happen that the guide rope, rapidly unravelling the snarl in which it has twisted itself, catches hold of some asperity of the surface or winds itself around the trunk or branches of a tree. ”

“ The rim of the pulley is V-shaped, and the bottom of the groove is dovetailed to receive a lining of wood, rubber or leather, on which the rope rests. The lining increases the friction and reduces the loss caused by slipping of [Pg 146] the rope. Leather is the best lining and lasts about three years. Either old belt leather, well saturated with oil, or new leather, boiled in fish oil, can be taken. ”

“ It might be well also to adopt the plan of the few feet of loose end wound round the waist, to make a foot noose with, if the circumstances and position allow.
When the double rope is worn, the rear man should always carry the spare rope. If the double ropes are then, as is quite possible, twisted and jammed in the snow groove, he has yet a third chance of making free and quick connection with his leader; and unless, as I have said, both men can begin instantly to use their full strength upon distinct ropes, there is small chance that one man can get another out of an undercut crevasse. ”

“ 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. ”