Year: 1885

page_text: I, ALEXANDER KELLAR, of the Dumfries Engine Works, Bute Docks, Cardiff, in
the County of Glamorgan, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
My invention relates to an improved method of connecting the ends of wire or
other ropes.
Over each rope end I pass a conical thimble or ferrule, small end first. I then
drive a conical plug into the centre of the rope, which has the effect of separating
the strands. The intervening spaces so produced are filled up by inserting plugs.
This double plugging produces a practically solid mass.
In the case of wire ropes with a solid core, the central plugs above mentioned
are made hollow and split. The plug is then passed over the core, and the act
of driving it into the ferrule causes it to grip the core, as well as to separate the
strands.
The surfaces of the ferrules and plugs are preferably roughened, to increase
their "bite."
The wide, ie, adjoining ends of the ferrules are extended so as to produce
surfaces suitable for being threaded, and these are connected union-wise, in any
convenient way, as by means of a right and left handed screw engaging with both
ferrules.
I do not confine myself to any particular metal in the production of my
invention.

page_text: "
I, ALEXANDER KELLAR, of The Dumfries Engine Works, Bute Docks, Cardiff, in
the County of Glamorgan, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-.
My invention relates to an improved method of coupling the ends of wire ropes,
as well as those made of other materials, such as hemp or leather, and aims at
producing a convenient, flexible, and efficient coupling, convenient in point of
being easily made, flexible in respect of its being able to pass freely round a small
pulley with as little jerk as possible, and efficient in respect of its taking too firm
a grip of the material of the rope for there to be any risk of the latter being torn
away from the coupling by the strain to which it is subjected.
My invention consists in the use of a conical ferrule to be passed over the rope
end, to which it is firmly attached by the insertion of cone wedges of suitable
.shapes. Suitable connecting devices are used to couple the two ferrules.
In order that my invention, and the means by which it is to be carried into
practical effect, may be thoroughly understood, I will proceed to describe the same
in detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying figures which are to be taken
as part of this specification and read therewith, and in which like parts are marked
throughout with the same reference letters. The drawings illustrate the application
of my invention to wire ropes.
Fig. 1 is a sectional longitudinal elevation.
Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation, taken in front of the inner wedge
of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a sectional plan of the eye and conical ferrule of Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation; Fig. 5, an elevation; Figs. 6 and 7, end elevations;
Fig. 8, an elevation; Figs. 9 and 10, 11 and 12, end elevations, illustrating variant
constructions of cone wedges.
Figs. 13 and 14 are, respectively, transverse section and sectional elevation,
illustrating the use of a series of cone wedges.
Figs. 15, 16, and 17 are respectively, longitudinal elévation, end elevation, and plan,
of the conical ferrule and connecting eye illustrated in detail in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.
Figs. 18, 19, and 20, are, respectively, end elevation, longitudinal elevation, and
sectional plan illustrating a variant form of conical ferrule and method of shackling
two-ferrules together.
A is the end of a wire rope to be coupled to another rope, or some point of
attachment. It is passed into the bore of a conical ferrule, B, at the small end
of the latter, for about three quarters of the length of the ferrule, and up to a
binding ring; a, and the strands are opened and separated into not less than two
portions, an outer ring of strands, b, and a central core, b¹. The diameter of the
outer ring of strands is now longer than that of the rope outside the small end of
the ferrule, inasmuch as the strands now lie against the inner face of the conical
ferrule B.
I then pass a hollow conical wedge or plug, 63, over the end of the central core, b¹,
and drive it in tight. The bore of the wedge, 63, is rather larger than the diameter
of the core, 61, and besides this, it has a longitudinal split, 63, formed in it. The
taper of the outer face of the wedge is the same as that of the inner face of the
ferrule. As the former is driven into the latter, the strands, b, are wedged tightly

page_text: against the ferrule, and held there along the whole periphery of the wedge, while
the closure of the split, 63, continues until the central core is gripped as tightly as
the strands, b, are.
If it is considered desirable or necessary, small wedges may be driven in between
the several strands, b, to fill up any spaces left between them by their expansion
from the axial centre of the rope-end.
Figs. 4 to 10 shew that I do not confine myself to any particular shape of split.
If the rope be a thick one, more than one conical wedge may be used, as
illustrated in Figs. 13 and 14. According to the method of applying my invention
illustrated in these two figures, all the strands are separated to produce three rings
of strands b. Two conical wedges, b³, and one solid plug, b', are then driven in,
thereby wedging the various strands between the respective adjacent surfaces of the
plug, the conical wedges, and the conical ferrule.
The adjacent surfaces of the plugs, wedges, and ferrules above described may be
roughened to increase their bite. This roughening may be extended into the
formation of grooves 6º, upon the conical wedges to fit the various sections of wire
used in the manufacture of ropes.
The spaces, annular or otherwise, produced in the end of the rope by the
separation of the strands, will be, according to my invention, produced, as far as
necessary, in applying it to ropes of hemp, or leather, by analogous methods.
I do not confine myself to any particular method of properly connecting, for the
purpose of my invention, two conical ferrules. I may avail myself of any method
which is suitable The one illustrated in the figures is, I find, a satisfactory one.. ;
The outer end of the ferrule is increased in diameter to receive the block c of an
eye C as in Figs. 1, 3, 15, 16, and 17. This block is shewn in Fig. 1 as closing
against the ends of the strands. The ferrule carries two extensions or tabs, c¹,
which embrace the block and to which they are connected by a screw pin c².
According to the method illustrated in Figs. 18 to 20, the eye and block are
replaced by a link D, embraced by two extensions, d, of the ferrule. A screw
pin, c, passes through both link and extensions. A second link, D¹, which may
be that of the corresponding ferrule is shown in part.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. The combination of a conical ferrule the small end of which is of the same
diameter as the rope-end over which it is passed, and to which it is to be connected,
with a bored conical wedge driven axially into the rope end embraced by the
ferrule, and receiving in its bore, the central strands or core of the rope and
wedging the outer ones between itself and the ferrule, substantially as described
with reference to the accompanying drawings.
2. The combination of a conical ferrule the small end of which is of the same
diameter as the rope-end over which it is passed, and to which it is to be connected,
with bored conical wedges and plugs driven into the rope-end and wedging its
several strands within the ferrule and against it, substantially as described with
reference to the accompanying figures.
3. The combination of two conical ferrules in which two rope-ends are, respec-
tively, wedged by means of conical wedges, or plugs, or both, driven axially
thereinto, with a flexible connection of the two ferrules, substantially as described
with reference to the accompanying figures.
Dobed this 1 1 L
1000
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicant.