AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANufacture of WIRE ROPES AND CABLES
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Smith Hallidie, Merchant, of the City and
County of San Francisco, State of California, United States of America, for
an Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANufacture of WIRE ROPES
AND CABLES."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Andrew Smith Hallidie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd December 1880.
ANDREW SMITH HALLIDIE, Merchant, of the City and County of San Francisco,
State of California, United States of America. "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPES AND CABLES."
My Invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of wire ropes
and cables, and the machinery connected therewith, and it consists mainly in
increasing the durability of the rope or cable by the employment of wires which
are flattened, or are in a flattened form, or of a form having a flattened surface
exposed to wear, and in laying the same into strands or ropes, either separately or
in combination with cylindrical wires, by means of suitable machinery, as will be
more fully described in the accompanying Drawings, in which,―
Fig. 1 is a view of a vertical wire rope making machine.
Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the head of the wire rope machine showing the
wire rolls and strand.
Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the head of a wire rope machine showing the
arrangement of the rolls and the driving gear of the same.
Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are strands of ropes with different form of wires shown in
section.
Figs. 7, 8, and 9 represent sections of wires befor and after rolling.
Fig. 10 is a view of a strand of rope showing the flattened wires as they appear
when laid up.
Fig. 11 is a sectional view of a strand formed of cylindrical wires with the
spaces or interstices occupied by the complimentary wires.
Wire ropes are usually made from metallic wires that have been drawn and
finished in the wire mill by drawing through cylindrical holes in drawing plates
Prins al

page_text: or dies, and afterwards laid up or formed into strands or ropes by the machinery
usually employed for that purpose.
My present Invention relates to improvements in the shape or form of the wires
to be employed, in the modes of laying or forming the same into strands, or ropes,
or both, and in the mechanism employed therein. Cylindrical wires laid into
strands or ropes present points of contact with the surfaces over which they run, or
against which they rub; these points of contact in time become abraded and
flattened, and the rapidity in depth of the abrasion or flattening decreases as the
amount of surface of the abraded portion increases.
is
In many cases, notably where crucible steel wire is employed in wire the
ropes,
flattening by abrasion hardens the wire and renders it brittle, destroying its
usefulness at a very early period, and in all cases the strength of the rope
impaired by the abrasion of the exposed parts of the cylindrical wires used in the
ropes.
In order to increase the life and durability of wire ropes, and to diminish the
evils resulting from the flattening and abrasion of the wires, I employ wires
already flattened, or of a flattened form, or of, a form having a flattened surface
exposed to wear, and lay the same into strands or ropes, either separately or in
combination with cylindrical wires. For this purpose I make the wires into
proper form either by drawing through dies or plates or by rolling before putting
the wires into the rope making machine; or I attach to the rope making machine
suitable rolls or dies, which form the wire into the desired shape during the process
of laying up and the revolving of the machine. If the wires are made into form
before winding on the bobbins of the rope making machine they should be soft
enough to allow twist to be thrown into them, so that the flattened part of the
wire will always be on the outside of the strand or rope.
When the wires are flattened in the machine during the process of manufacturing
into rope, the flattening or shaping being done after the wires leave the bobbins,
and near to the laying plate, the flattening forms a spiral around the wire
conformable to the lay or twist given to the strand or rope, and will always present
the flat face of the wire to the surface of the strand or rope..
I do not confine myself to any peculiar or particular shape of the wires so long
as they are flattened enough for the purpose intended, nor do I confine myself to
the use of flattened wires alone in the manufacture of wire ropes, but I use such
flattened or changed form of wires sometimes in combination with the cylindrical
wires now in use.
When the amount of rolling necessary to give the wires the desired shape is more
than can be done by simply pulling the wires through the rolls (or if rolls are not
used, then through the dies or plates) by means of the drawing off gear of the rope
machine, it is necessary to drive the rolls (more than one set can be employed if
necessary) as in ordinary rolling, and this I do by transmitting the necessary
motion to the rolls by the revolution of the rope machine (when a revolving rope
machine is used) and by suitable mechanism attached thereto. When the machine
holding the wires to be formed into a strand or rope is stationary and does not
revolve I drive my rolls in the ordinary way. In forming a wire rope in the usual
way with cylindrical wires there is a considerable space left between the spirally
laid wires; these spaces I fill with complimentary wires which fill the interstice and
make a solid compact body of wires which form the strand of a rope.
In an ordinary vertical wire rope making machine shown in Fig. 1 a, a, a, a, are
bobbins containing the wires b, b, b, b, which pass through the rolls c, c, c, c,
where they are flattened or shaped, and thence pass through the laying plate, and
are formed into the strand d, the wires themselves are untwisted and the bobbins
present the same face while revolving. Instead of rolls, as shown in the Drawing,
drawing dies or plates can be employed if desired, but the effect will be essentially
the same.
Fig. 2 shows a somewhat enlarged view of the parts, and Figs. 3 and 3ª shows
the rolls c and the means of driving them. This consists of the gear E secured to

page_text: the end of one of the roll shafts and actuated by the screw thread F, which is cut
in the inner face of the stationary ring or rim which surrounds the revolving head
at such a distance from the center that the gear wheels E will just mesh with it.
When the head is rotated this screw causes the gear wheels and the rolls to turn,
and the wire will thus be drawn through the rolls with a rapidity proportioned to
the speed of the head, and it will thus supply the flattened or prepared wire as fast
as it is needed to form the rope.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure
by Letters Patent is,-
1st. In wire ropes or cables, the wires having flattened faces on the outside of
the strands of such ropes, and of forms similar to those represented and substantially
as and for the purpose described.
2nd. A wire strand, wire rope, or wire cable formed by laying or twisting
together wires square, rectangular, or segmental in sections, substantially as herein
described.
3rd. In a wire rope, cable, or strand the wires of other than cylindrical form
spirally laid to cover wire strands, wire ropes, and wire cables, and to protect the
same from abrasion, substantially as described.
4th. The improvement in wire strand, rope, or cable, consisting in the supple-
mental wires laid parallel to and between the cylindrical wires thereof, and
conforming in section to the outer interstices or spaces thereof and complimentary
thereto, substantially as and for the purpose described.
5th. The rolls or drawing dies or plates c attached to a wire rope making machine,
substantially as and for the purpose described.
6th. One or more sets of rolls in combination with and attached to a revolving
wire rope making machine, substantially as and for the purpose described.
7th. A wire rope machine having attached thereto one or more sets of rolls, roll
housing, and gearing to actuate or drive the rolls and compress and shape the wires,
substantially as described.
8th. The combination of a wire rope machine with the rolls c, the wire b, worm
wheel E, and worm or screw F, substantially as and for the purpose described.
9th. The worm or screw F surrounding the head of a wire rope machine, and
adapted to drive the rolls or dies c by means of the gear wheels E, said screw being
stationary or movable so as to regulate the speed of the rolls, substantially as
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Smith Hallidie, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand aircht hundred and sighin
0 Witnesses,
S. H. NOURSE.
C. E. M. SANDERSON.
ANDREW SMITH HALLIDIE. (LS.)