wire rope information factory

Wire rope is a collection of metal strands that have been twisted and wound to form the shape of a helix with the purpose of supporting and lifting heavy loads and performing tasks that are too rigorous for standard wire. On shipping docks, rigging, and load bearing equipment, wire rope is attached to swivels, shackles, or hooks to lift a load in a controlled, even, and efficient manner.

The uses for wire rope include adding support to suspension bridges, lifting elevators, and serving as additional reinforcement for towers. The design of wire rope, with its multiple strands wrapped around a stable core, provides strength, flexibility, and ease of handling for applications that have bending stress.

Individual designs of wire rope involve different materials, wire, and strand configurations as a means for supporting and assisting in the completion of lifting or supportive applications.

The term wire rope encompasses a wide range of mechanical tools that are made to perform heavy and extreme lifting jobs. Wire rope is a complicated and complex tool with multiple moving parts capable of moving in unison. A 6 by 25 wire rope has 150 outer strands that move as one in an intricate pattern supported by a flexible core.

An essential part of the design of wire rope is the required clearance between the strands to give each stand the freedom to move and adjust when the rope bends. It is this unique feature that differentiates wire rope from solid wire and other forms of cable.

The basic element of wire rope is wire that is used to configure, shape, and form the rope. Typically, steel, stainless steel, and galvanized wires are the first choice with aluminum, nickel alloy, bronze, copper, and titanium being second possibilities. The choice of wire is dependent on the type of work the wire is going to be used to perform with strength, flexibility, and abrasion resistance being the major determining factors.

Stainless steel wire rope has all of the basic qualities of galvanized and general wire rope with the added benefits of corrosion and rust resistance; this makes it the ideal choice for harsh and stressful conditions.

Steel wire rope is classified as general purpose wire rope and comes in a wide variety of sizes, diameters, and strengths. It is the most common type of wire rope and is used for several industrial, manufacturing, and construction applications.

Before going further into the discussion of how wire rope is made, it is important to understand the numbers used to describe each type. All wire ropes have a core around which wires are wound. The various styles of cores vary according to the construction and design of the requirements of the wire rope that is being produced.

Wire rope is classified by the number of strands it has as well as the number of wires in each strand. The most common classification is a seven wire rope that has one strand in the center and six around its circumference. This type of wire rope is lightweight with a very simple construction. The majority of wire ropes are more complex and intricate with multiple intertwining strands and wires.

What must be understood about wire rope is that it has a complicated configuration. It is actually wires wrapped around wires to form bundles that are wrapped around other bundles. In the case of a seven wire wire rope, the core has bundles of wires wound around it; this can be seen in the image below.

The first step in wire rope creation is the production of wire strands where wires are wound around a single core wire. The number of wires included in the strand is dependent on the specified strength, flexibility, and size requirements of the rope. Once the strand is completed, it is straightened before being moved to wire rope construction.

Like wire ropes, strands have different patterns; patterns are the arrangements of the wires and their diameters. Though most strands have a core, there are strand patterns that have three or four wires without a core that are referred to as centerless strands. The design of each strand pattern is meant to enhance the strength of the wire rope and improve its performance.

For a multiple layer strand, the layers of wire are placed over one another in successive order. The placement of the wires on top of each other must be such that they fit smoothly and evenly.

The Warrington pattern is like the multiple layer pattern with one variation. Like the multiple layer pattern, the inner wires and the core are the same and have the same diameter. The difference is in the outer layer, which has wires of alternating sizes of large and small with larger diameter wires laying in the valleys of the inner wires.

All of the wires of a filler pattern are the same size. What makes this pattern unique is the insertion of small wires in the valleys of the inner wires to fill the gap between the inner and outer layer.

The flattened strand pattern is also known as the triangular strand, which can be triangular or oval. Three round wires form the core. The outer flattened surface has a greater sectional metallic area; this makes this pattern stronger and longer lasting.

The core of a wire rope runs through the center of the rope and can be composed of a variety of materials, which include synthetic fibers, natural fibers, a single strand, or another wire rope. The core supports the wound strands, helps maintain their position, is an effective lubricant carrier, and provides support.

Wire ropes with fiber cores are restricted to light loads and are not used in severe, harsh, or stressful conditions. Polypropylene and nylon are types of synthetic fiber cores and can be used in conditions where there is exposure to chemicals.

Cores made of wire are classified as independent wire cores. The core of a wire rope with a wire core is actually a wire rope with another wire rope serving as the core, as can be seen in the diagram below. These types of wire ropes are used where the rope will be exposed to exceptional resistance and crushing.

A strand, or wire strand core, is exactly like the rest of the strands of the wire rope with wires of the same diameter and size as the other strands.

The choice of core and creation of the strands are the simplest yet most essential parts of wire rope construction. Wire rope lays, the method used to wind the strands, is more complex and involves several choices.

Lay is a term used to describe three of the main characteristics of wire rope: direction, relationship, and linear distance. The strands can be wrapped around the core going right or left. Right or left refers to the direction of the strands wrapped around the core and the wires within the strands. The linear distance is how far a strand moves when it is making a revolution around the core.

In a regular lay, the wires and strands spiral in opposite directions. With a right hand regular lay, the wires spiral to the left and the strands to the right. In the left hand regular lay, the wires spiral to the right and the strands to the left. This type of lay is easy to handle but wears out quickly because the crown wires are in contact with the bearing surface.

In the Lang, or Albert, lay, the wires and strands spiral in the same direction with right hand lay being the most common. The wires in a Lang lay appear to run parallel to the center line of the rope. The difficulty with Lang lay wire ropes is handling since they tend to kink, twist, and crush.

Wire rope is an exceptionally strong tool that has been configured and designed to withstand the stress placed upon it through rigorous and continual use. In most applications, wire rope has to endure extreme stress and strain. It is for these reasons that coatings have been developed to protect wire rope from abrasions, corrosion, UV rays, and harmful and damaging chemicals.

Three main types of coatings are used to protect wire rope: polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene, and nylon. Of the three types, PVC is the most popular.

In cases where there are severe and hazardous working conditions, polypropylene is the recommended choice since it is capable of protecting wire rope against corrosion and chemical leaching. Additionally, it is resistant to impact damage and abrasion. Polypropylene is a tough, rigid, and crystalline thermoplastic that is made from a propene monomer and is resilient as well as inexpensive.

Braided wires are electrical conductors made up of small wires that are braided together to form a round tubular braid. The braiding and configuration of braided wire makes them very sturdy such that they do not break when flexed or bent. Braided wires are widely used as conductors, are commonly made from copper due to copper"s exceptional conductivity, and can be bare or coated depending on the application.

Braided wire can be round and tubular or flat. Round tubular braids fit in most spaces where flat braided wire will not. Flat braided wire begins as round braided wire which is flattened on a capstan. They are exceptionally strong and designed for medical and aircraft applications.

Metals used to make wire rope are various grades of stainless steel, bright steel, and galvanized steel. Though the majority of wire rope manufacturers use these three metals, other metals such as copper, aluminum, bronze, and monel are also used on a limited basis.

The most important aspect of wire rope is the wire and the metal from which it is made. The strength and resilience of wire rope is highly dependent on the quality of metal used to make it, and these are essential factors to be considered when purchasing it.

Bright steel wire does not have a coating and is rotation resistant, (designed to not rotate when lifting a load). It is drawn from hot rolled rods that are put through a die to match its specific dimensional tolerances, mechanical properties, and finish. Bright wire is used as a single line in conditions that require a rope that will resist cabling.

Galvanized steel has a zinc coating for corrosion resistance and has the same strength and durability as bright steel. Environmental conditions determine the use of galvanized steel. In mildly severe and slightly harsh conditions, galvanized steel wire is an economical replacement for stainless steel.

In the manufacturing process, galvanized wire goes through the process of galvanization, a method of coating steel wire with a protective and rust resistant metal. Galvanized wire is exceptionally strong, rust resistant, and flexible enough to meet the needs of a variety of applications.

Wire rope made from copper is mostly used for electrical applications due to its exceptional electrical characteristics. The benefits of copper wire rope are its durability, flexibility, and resilience compared to standard copper wire. The strength of copper wire rope is seen in its use in applications where there are vibrations and shaking.

The wire rope lubrication process begins during its fabrication and continues during its use. Lubrication of wire rope is designed to lower the amount of friction it endures and provide corrosion protection. Continued lubrication increases the lifespan of wire rope by preventing it from drying up, rusting, and breaking.

The types of lubricants for wire rope are penetrating or coating with coatings covering and sealing the outside of the rope. Penetrating lubricants go deep into the rope and seep into the core where they evaporate to form a thick coating or film.

The application of the lubricant is dependent on the type of core. Fiber cores absorb the lubricant and serve as a reservoir that retains the lubricant for an extended period of time. With metal cores, the lubricant is applied as the wire is twisted into strands to give complete saturation and coverage of the wires.

There are several types of greases that are used as wire rope lubricating agents and are made up of oil, a thickener, and additives. The essential components are the base oil and additives, which influence the behavior of the grease. The thickener holds the base oil and additives together. The amount of base oil in a grease is between 70% and 95% with an additive of 10%.

The additive in grease enhances the positive properties of the oil and suppresses the negative properties. Common additives are oxidation and rust inhibitors as well as pressure, wear, and friction reducing agents.

Of the many choices for lubricants, vegetable oil is the easiest to use and penetrates the deepest. The design of the additives for vegetable oils gives them the necessary qualities required to penetrate deep into a wire rope. The exceptional penetration provides protection against wear and corrosion. Since vegetable oil is a fluid, it helps in washing the wire rope to remove external abrasive contaminants.

Wire rope is widely used in machines, structures, and varied lifting applications. Its type, size, and requirements are determined by how it will be used. Regardless of its use, wire rope guarantees exceptional strength and provides high quality and excellent performance.

The lifting of heavy loads for centuries involved the use of hemp rope or chains, neither of which was a guaranteed or substantial method. Early in the 18th Century, between 1824 and 1838, Wilhelm Albert, a German mining engineer, combined the twisting of hemp and strength of chains to create today‘s wire rope.

The most common use of wire rope is as a part of a crane hoist wherein it is attached to the hook of the hoist and wrapped around a grooved drum. The tensile strength and durability of wire rope makes an ideal tool for lifting and keeping loads secure. Though it is used in several industries, it is very popular for production environments wherein materials need to be lifted quickly and efficiently.

In addition to its many lifting applications, the strength and stability of wire rope is useful in other applications, especially in the aerospace industry. Pedals, levers, and connectors in the cockpit of an aircraft are connected with wire rope. The wires provide for the passage of power between systems and mechanisms; this allows control of the aircraft. Wire rope is used to control propeller pitch, cowl flaps, and the throttle. It also assists in lowering and minimizing vibrations.

Tires are reinforced with wire rope to increase their durability and strength. All automotive production environments make use of wire ropes for supplying materials, moving heaving loads, and positioning equipment. Wire rope can be found in the production of steering wheels, cables, exhausts, springs, sunroofs, doors, and seating components.

As surprising as it may seem, the place that wire rope has the greatest use is in the home, where its strength, long life, endurance, and resilience provide guaranteed protection and performance. The main reason wire ropes are so popular for home use is cost.

Inexpensive, easy to obtain, easy to install, and easy to maintain, wire ropes provide an additional method for performing home repairs and structural support. Their excellent flexibility and sturdiness combined with their invisibility has made wire rope an ideal solution to several home maintenance issues. It is used to support staircases, fences, decks, and hang plants.

The search and production of crude oil has relied on wire ropes for centuries to lift drill bits, insert shafts, and support oil rigs on land and the water. When equipment, machinery, and tools have to be lowered into the depths of the earth and sea, wire ropes are the tool that the oil industry relies on to do the job.

Many of the tasks of oil production require tools that are capable of enduring severe and harsh conditions. Wire ropes have to withstand enormous pressure, extraordinary stress, and a wide range of temperatures. The use of wire rope includes maintaining oil rig stability and moorings for offshore rigs.

Wire rope has long been a standard component for the transportation industry, from the cable cars of San Francisco to the lift chairs for ski resorts. For many years, cable cars have relied on heavy duty cables (wire ropes) to be pulled by a central motor from multiple locations. It is a method of transportation that has existed for centuries.

In Europe, funiculars use cables that hang from a support to move cars up and down a mountain with cables moving in opposite directions. The word funicular is from the French word funiculaire, meaning railway by cable. The terms wire rope and cable are used interchangeably when discussed by professionals. The first part of funicular, or funiculaire, is from the Latin word "funis," meaning rope.

The major use for wire ropes in the food and beverage industries is as a means for lifting and moving heavy loads. Wine barrels and containers full of ingredients are lifted and placed through use of cranes and wire ropes. They are also part of conveyor systems that move products from one station to another.

From the beginnings of amusement rides up to the present, wire ropes have been an essential part of attraction construction and safety. They pull cars on roller coasters, hold cabins that swing, and move carriages through haunted houses. The main concern of amusement parks is safety. The strength, stability, and guaranteed performance of wire ropes ensures that people who attend amusement parks will have a good time and stay safe.

The rigging used to complete the stunts in modern movies depends on wire rope for safety. Much like in amusement rides, wire ropes protect performers from injury and harm as they hang above a scene or carry out an impossible move.

The live theater industry uses wire ropes to raise and lower curtains, support overhead rigging, and hold backdrops and scenery pieces. During a production, rapid and efficient movement is a necessity that is facilitated by the use of wire ropes.

Wire rope is a tool that we tend to envision as indestructible, unable to succumb to any form of damage. Though it is exceptionally sturdy and strong as well as capable of enduring constant use, it is just as susceptible to breakdown as any other tool.

To avoid serious harm and damage, wire ropes should be scheduled for regular inspections. There are situations that can damage or break a wire rope; these should be understood prior to the problem arising.

Guide rollers have the potential to damage and cause abrasions on wire rope if they become rough and uneven. Of the various elements of a crane and lift, guide rollers have the greatest contact with the mechanism‘s wire rope. Regular inspection of guide rollers will ensure they are not damaging the rope or causing abrasions.

Bending is normally a regular part of wire rope usage; this occurs repetitively as the rope passes through a sheave. As a wire rope traverses the sheave, it is continually bent and develops cracks or breaks. The cracking and breaking are exacerbated by movement on and off the groove of the drum. Normally, the breakage happens on the surface and is visible. Once it appears, it accelerates to the core of the rope.

A bird cage is caused by a sudden release of tension and a rebound of the rope. This type of break requires that the rope be replaced since the place of the break will not return to its normal condition.

Wire ropes are multi-layered; this makes them flexible and torque balanced. The layering inside and outside creates flexibility and wear resistance. Relative motion between the wires causes wear over time, which leads to internal breakage. The detection of these breaks can be indicated by an electromagnetic inspection that calculates the diameter of the rope.

Kinked wire rope is caused by pulling a loop on a slack line during installation or operation; this causes a distortion in the strands and wires. This is a serious condition that necessitates rope replacement.

Corrosion damage is the most difficult cause of wire rope damage to identify, which makes it the most dangerous. The main reason for corrosion is poor lubrication that can be seen in the pitted surface of the rope.

The types of damage and problems listed here are only a small portion of the problems that can be caused if a wire rope is not regularly lubricated and inspected. Various regulatory agencies require that wire ropes be inspected weekly or monthly and provide a list of factors to examine.

As with any type of heavy duty equipment, wire rope is required to adhere to a set of regulations or standards that monitor and control its use for safety and quality reasons. The two organizations that provide guidelines for wire rope use are the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

All wire rope manufacturers and users closely follow the standards and guidelines established by OSHA and ASME. In the majority of cases, they will identify the specific standards they are following in regard to their products.

OSHA‘s regulations regarding wire rope fall under sections 1910, 1915, and 1926, with the majority of the stipulations listed in 1926 under material handling, storage, use, and disposal.

"Running rope in service shall be visually inspected daily, unless a qualified person determines it should be performed more frequently. The visual inspection shall consist of observation of all rope that can reasonably be expected to be in use during the day‘s operations. The inspector should focus on discovering gross damage that may be an immediate hazard."

"The inspection frequency shall be based on such factors as rope life on the particular installation or similar installations, severity of environment, percentage of capacity lifts, frequency rates of operation, and exposure to shock loads. Inspections need not be at equal calendar intervals and should be more frequent as the rope approaches the end of its useful life. Close visual inspection of the entire rope length shall be made to evaluate inspection and removal criteria."

ASTM A1023 covers the requirements for steel wire ropes with specifications for various grades and constructions from ¼ in. (6 mm) to 31/2 in. (89 mm) manufactured from uncoated or metallic coated wire. Included are cord products from 1/32 in. (0.8 mm) to 3/8 in. (10 mm) made from metallic coated wire.

United States Federal Spec RR W 410 covers wire ropes and wire seizing strands but does not include all types, classes, constructions, and sizes of wire rope and strands that are available. The purpose of Spec RR W 410 is to cover more common types, classes, constructions, and sizes suitable for federal government use.

Wire rope and wire seizing strand covered by United States Federal Spec RR W 410 are intended for use in general hauling, hoisting, lifting, transporting, well drilling, in passenger and freight elevators, and for marine mooring, towing, trawling, and similar work, none of which are for use with aircraft.

API 9A lists the minimum standards required for use of wire rope for the petroleum and natural gas industries. The types of applications include tubing lines, rod hanger lines, sand lines, cable-tool drilling and clean out lines, cable tool casing lines, rotary drilling lines, winch lines, horse head pumping unit lines, torpedo lines, mast-raising lines, guideline tensioner lines, riser tensioner lines, and mooring and anchor lines. Well serving wire ropes such as lifting slings and well measuring are also included in API 9A.

Wire rope is a collection of metal strands that have been twisted and wound to form the shape of a helix with the purpose of supporting and lifting heavy loads and performing tasks that are too rigorous for standard wire.

Individual designs of wire rope involve different materials, wire, and strand configurations as a means for supporting and assisting in the completion of a lifting or supportive task.

Wire rope is a complex mechanical device that has many moving parts all working in tandem to help support and move an object or load. In the lifting and rigging industries, wire rope is attached to a crane or hoist and fitted with swivels, shackles or hooks to attach to a load and move it in a controlled matter. It can also be used to lift and lower elevators, or as a means of support for suspension bridges or towers.

Wire rope is a preferred lifting device for many reasons. Its unique design consists of multiple steel wires that form individual strands laid in a helical pattern around a core. This structure provides strength, flexibility, and the ability to handle bending stresses. Different configurations of the material, wire, and strand structure will provide different benefits for the specific lifting application, including:Strength

However, selecting the proper wire rope for your lifting application requires some careful thought. Our goal is to help you understand the components of a wire rope, the construction of wire rope, and the different types of wire rope and what they might be used for. This will allow you to select the best performing and longest-lasting wire rope for the job at hand.

A wire rope is, in reality, a very complicated machine. A typical 6 x 25 rope has 150 wires in its outer strands, all of which move independently and together in a very complicated pattern around the core as the rope bends. Clearances between wires and strands are balanced when a rope is designed so that proper bearing clearances will exist to permit internal movement and adjustment of wires and strands when the rope has to bend. These clearances will vary as bending occurs, but are of the same range as the clearances found in automobile engine bearings.

Understanding and accepting the “machine idea” gives a rope user a greater respect for rope, and enables them to obtain better performance and longer useful life from rope applications. Anyone who uses a rope can use it more efficiently and effectively when they fully understand the machine concept.

Wires are the smallest component of wire rope and they make up the individual strands in the rope. Wires can be made from a variety of metal materials including steel, iron, stainless steel, monel, and bronze. The wires can be manufactured in a variety of grades that relate to the strength, resistance to wear, fatigue resistance, corrosion resistance, and curve of the wire rope.

Strands of wire rope consist of two or more wires arranged and twisted in a specific arrangement. The individual strands are then laid in a helical pattern around the core of the rope.

The core of a wire rope runs through the center of the rope and supports the strands and helps to maintain their relative position under loading and bending stresses. Cores can be made from a number of different materials including natural or synthetic fibers and steel.

Lubrication is applied during the manufacturing process and penetrates all the way to the core. Wire rope lubrication has two primary benefits:Reduces friction as the individual wires and strands move over each other

The number of layers of wires, the number of wires per layer, and the size of the wires per layer all affect the strand pattern type. Wire rope can be constructed using one of the following patterns, or can be constructed using two or more of the patterns below.Single Layer – The most common example is a 7 wire strand with a single-wire center and six wires of the same diameter around it.

Filler Wire – Two layers of uniform-size wire around a center with the inner layer having half the number of wires as the outer layer. Small filler wires, equal to the number in the inner layer, are laid in valleys of the inner wire.

Seale – Two layers of wires around a center with the same number of wires in each layer. All wires in each layer are the same diameter. The large outer wires rest in the valleys between the smaller inner wires.

Warrington – Two layers of wires around a center with one diameter of wire in the inner layer, and two diameters of wire alternating large and small in the outer later. The larger outer-layer wires rest in the valleys, and the smaller ones on the crowns of the inner layer.

On a preformed wire rope, the strands and wires are formed during the manufacturing process to the helical shape that they will take in a finished wire rope.

Preformed rope can be advantageous in certain applications where it needs to spool more uniformly on a drum, needs greater flexibility, or requires more fatigue-resistance when bending.

Direction and type of lay refer to the way the wires are laid to form a strand (either right or left) and how the strands are laid around the core (regular lay, lang lay, or alternate lay).Regular Lay – The wires line up with the axis of the rope. The direction of the wire lay in the strand is opposite to the direction of the strand lay. Regular lay ropes are more resistant to crushing forces, are more naturally rotation-resistant, and also spool better in a drum than lang lay ropes.

Lang Lay– The wires form an angle with the axis of the rope. The wire lay and strand lay around the core in the same direction. Lang Lay ropes have a greater fatigue-resistance and are more resistant to abrasion.

A steel core can be an independent wire rope or an individual strand. Steel cores are best suited for applications where a fiber core may not provide adequate support, or in an operating environment where temperatures could exceed 180° F.

The classifications of wire rope provide the total number of strands, as well as a nominal or exact number of wires in each strand. These are general classifications and may or may not reflect the actual construction of the strands. However, all wire ropes of the same size and wire grade in each classification will have the SAME strength and weight ratings and usually the same pricing.

Besides the general classifications of wire rope, there are other types of wire rope that are special construction and designed for special lifting applications.

Some types of wire rope, especially lang lay wire rope, are more susceptible to rotation when under load. Rotation resistant wire rope is designed to resist twisting, spinning, or rotating and can be used in a single line or multi-part system.

Special care must be taken when handling, unreeling, and installing rotation resistant wire rope. Improper handling or spooling can introduce twist into the rope which can cause uncontrolled rotation.

Compacted strand wire rope is manufactured using strands that have been compacted, reducing the outer diameter of the entire strand, by means of passing through a die or rollers. This process occurs prior to closing of the rope.

This process flattens the surface of the outer wires in the strand, but also increases the density of the strand. This results in a smoother outer surface and increases the strength compared to comparable round wire rope (comparing same diameter and classification), while also helping to extend the surface life due to increased wear resistance.

A swaged wire rope differs from a compacted strand wire rope, in that a swaged wire rope’s diameter is compacted, or reduced, by a rotary swager machine after the wire rope has been closed. A swaged wire rope can be manufactured using round or compacted strands.

The advantages of a swaged wire rope are that they are more resistant to wear, have better crushing resistance, and high strength compared to a round strand wire rope of equal diameter and classification. However, a swaged wire rope may have less bending fatigue resistance.

A plastic coating can be applied to the exterior surface of a wire rope to provide protection against abrasion, wear, and other environmental factors that may cause corrosion. However, because you can’t see the individual strands and wires underneath the plastic coating, they can be difficult to inspect.

Plastic filled wire ropes are impregnated with a matrix of plastic where the internal spaces between the strands and wires are filled. Plastic filling helps to improve bending fatigue by reducing the wear internally and externally. Plastic filled wire ropes are used for demanding lifting applications.

This type of wire rope uses an Independent Wire Rope Core (IWRC) that is either filled with plastic or coated in plastic to reduce internal wear and increase bending fatigue life.

Remember, wire rope is a complex piece of mechanical machinery. There are a number of different specifications and properties that can affect the performance and service life of wire rope. Consider the following when specifying the best type of wire rope for your lifting application:Strength

When you select a piece of rope that is resistant to one property, you will most likely have a trade-off that affects another property. For example, a fiber core rope will be more flexible, but may have less crushing resistance. A rope with larger diameter wires will be more abrasion resistant, but will offer less fatigue resistance.

At Mazzella Companies, we offer all different kinds of wire rope from all of the leading manufacturers. We sell the highest-quality domestic and non-domestic rigging products because product quality and operating safety go hand-in-hand. We have one of the largest and most complete inventories of both domestic and non-domestic rigging and lifting products to suit your lifting needs.

If you’re looking for a standard or custom specified wire rope for your lifting project, contact a Lifting Specialist at a Mazzella Companies location near you.

We stock well over 2,000,000 feet of wire rope in our various locations … ready for immediate delivery! We provide wire rope assemblies, and manufacture bridge cables, crane cables, steel mill cables, and thousands of OEM assemblies.

Wire rope manufacturers produce their products in order to provide a high load capacity, versatile alternative to weaker ropes like manila rope or hemp rope. Wire rope products are used for a wide variety of motion transmission applications, among them: lifting, baling, tie down, hoisting, hauling, towing, mooring, anchoring, rigging, cargo control, guidance and counterbalance. They can also be used as railing, fencing and guardrailing.

Wire rope is a must-have for many heavy duty industrial applications. From mining to forestry to marine and beyond, there’s wire rope for almost every job. Some of the many industries in which wire rope is popular include: construction, agriculture, marine, industrial manufacturing, fitness, sports and recreation (plastic coated cables for outdoor playground equipment and sports equipment), electronics, theater (black powder coated cables for stage rigging), mining, gas and oil, transportation, security, healthcare and consumer goods.

Wire rope as we know it was invented just under 200 years ago, between 1831 and 1834. At that time, the goal was to create a rope strong enough to support work in the mines of the Harz Mountains. Invented by Wilhelm Albert, a German mining engineer, this wire rope consisted on four three-stranded wires. It was much stronger than older rope varieties, such as manila rope, hemp rope and metal chain rope.

While studying at Freiburg School of Mines, a man named L.D.B. Gordon visited the mines in the Harz Mountains, where he met Albert. After he left, Gordon wrote to his friend Robert Stirling Newall, urging him to create a machine for manufacturing wire ropes. Newall, of Dundee, Scotland, did just that, designing a wire rope machine that made wire ropes with four strands, consisting of four wires each. After Gordon returned to Dundee, he and Newall, along with Charles Liddell, formed R.S. Newall and Company. In 1840, Newall received a patent for “certain improvements in wire rope and the machinery for making such rope.”

In 1841, an American manufacturer named John A. Roebling began producing wire rope for suspension bridges. Soon after, another set of Americans, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, started incorporating wire rope into coal mining and railroad projects, forming Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company (LC&N Co.). In 1848, wire rope from their wire rope factory in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania provided the lift cables needed to complete the Ashley Planes Project. This project sought to improve the performance and appearance of the freight railroad that ran through Ashley, Pennsylvania, by adding lift cables. This increased tourism and increased the railroad’s coal capacity. Before, cars took almost four hours to return; after, they took less than 20 minutes.

Wire rope likewise changed the landscape (again) in Germany, in 1874, when an engineering firm called Adolf Bleichert & Co. used wire rope to build Bi-cable aerial tramways. These allowed them to mine the Ruhr Valley. Several years later, they also used wire rope to build tramways for the German Imperial Army and the Wehrmacht. These tramways were wildly successful, opening up roads in Germany and all over Europe and the USA.

Since the 1800s, manufacturers and engineers have found ways to improve wire rope, through stronger materials and material treatments, such as galvanization, and different rope configurations. Today, wire rope makes possible many heavy industrial processes. It has become a necessity of the modern world.

Strands are made by tightly twisting or braiding individual wire together. One strand could have anywhere between two and several dozen wire filaments depending on the necessary strength, flexibility, and weight capacity.

One of the most dynamic elements of wire cables is the inner core. The strands are wrapped around the core, and it can be made of different metals, fibers, or even impregnated fiber materials. For heavy applications, cores are often made of a different strand of wire called an independent wire rope core (IWRC). An IWRC has a considerable amount of flexibility and it is still very strong. In fact, at least 7.5% of the strength increase in a wire rope can be attributed to an IWRC.

While they sometimes use other metals, like aluminum, nickel, copper, titanium, and even bronze for some applications, manufacturers primarily produce wire rope from steel. This is because steel is very strong and stretchable. Among the most common types they use are: galvanized wire, bright wire, stainless steel and cold drawn steel.

Of the wire rope steels, cold drawn carbon steel wire is most popular, although stainless steel wire rope is sometimes employed as well. Stainless steel rope is most popular for its anti-corrosive properties. Bright wire rope, a type of ungalvanized steel wire rope, is also popular. For added strength and durability, galvanized steel wire rope/galvanized steel cables are a very popular choice. Galvanized aircraft cable, for example, is always a must in aerospace.

When choosing or designing a custom wire rope for your application, suppliers consider factors such as: the environment in which the rope will function, required rust resistance, required flexibility, temperature resistance, required breaking strength and wire rope diameter. To accommodate your needs, manufacturers can do special things like: make your rope rotation resistant, color code your rope, or add a corrosion resistant coating. For instance, sometimes they specially treat and coat a cable with plastic or some other compound for added protection. This is particularly important to prevent fraying if the wire rope is often in motion on a pulley.

Manufacturers and distributors identify the differences in wire cable by listing the number of strands and the amount of wires per strand so that anyone that orders understand the strength of the cable. Sometimes they are also categorized by their length or pitch. Common examples of this include: 6 x 19, 6 x 25, 19 x 7, 7 x 19, 7 x 7, 6 x 26 and 6 x 36.

More complex wire rope identification codes connote information like core type, weight limit and more. Any additional hardware like connectors, fasteners, pulleys and fittings are usually listed in the same area to show varying strengths and degrees of fray prevention.

Cable wire rope is a heavy-duty wire rope. To give it its high strength, manufacturers construct it using several individual filaments that are twisted in strands and helically wrapped around the core. A very common example of cable wire rope is steel cable.

Spiral rope is made up an assemblage of wires with round or curved strands. The assemblage features at least one outer layer cord pointed in the opposite direction of the wire. The big advantage of spiral ropes is the fact that they block moisture, water and pollutants from entering the interior of the rope.

Similarly, stranded rope steel wire is made up of an assemblage of spirally wound strands. Unlike spiral rope, though, its wire patterns have crisscrossing layers. These layers create an exceptionally strong rope. Stranded rope may have one of three core material types: wire rope, wire strand or fiber.

Wire rope chain, like all chains, is made up of a series of links. Because it is not solid, wire rope chain is quite flexible. At the same time, it is prone to mechanical failure.

Wire rope slings are made from improved plow wire steel, a strong steel wire that offers superior return loop slings and better security. The plow wire steel also shields rope at its connection points, which extends its working life. Wire rope slings, in general, provide their applications with increased safety, capacity and performance. Wire rope sling is a rope category that encompasses a wide range of sub-products, such as permaloc rope sling, permaloc bridle slings and endless slings. These and other wire rope slings may be accompanied by a wide variety of sling terminations, such as thimbles, chokers and hooks.

Wire rope offers its user many advantages. First, design of even distribution of weight among strands makes it ideal for lifting extremely heavy loads. Second, wire rope is extremely durable and, when matched properly to the application, can withstand great stress and elements like corrosion and abrasion. In addition, it is very versatile. Its many iterations and the ways in which the rope can treated means that users can get rope custom fit for virtually any application.

Depending on the type of wire rope with which you are working and your application, you may want to invest in different accessories. Among these accessories are: wire rope clips, steel carabiners, fittings, fasteners and connections.

To ensure that your wire rope quality remains high, you must regularly inspect them for wear and degradation. The right wire rope should be selected for a particular use. Watch out for performance-impacting damage like: rust, fraying and kinks. To make sure that they stay in tip-top shape, you should also clean and lubricate them as needed. Check for this need as a part of your regular inspection.

Rope care is about more than inspection. It’s also about making an effort to use and store them properly every time you use them. For example, never exceed your rope’s rated load and breaking strength. Doing so will not only cause the weakening of your cable, but it may even cause immediate breakage. In addition, always store your wire rope cable in a dry and warm area, away from those elements that could cause premature rusting or other damage. Finally, always carefully wind your wire rope when you’re done with it, so as to avoid kinks. If you follow all these tips and treat your wire rope assemblies well, they will reward you with a long and productive service life.

Always make sure that you purchase wire rope that matches your industry and regional standards. Some of the most widely referenced standards organizations for wire rope include: ISO, ASTM International and OSHA. Talk over your specifications and application with your wire rope supplier to figure out what’s best for you.

If you’re in the market for a wire rope or a wire rope assembly, the best way to know you’re getting something that will both perform well and be safe if by working with a vetted professional. Find one among the list we’ve provided on this page. Check out their profiles to get an idea of the services and products they offer. Pick out three or four to whom you’d like to speak, and reach out. Talk to them about your specifications, standard requirements and budget. Ask about lead times and delivery options. Once you’ve spoken with all of them, compare and contrast their answers. You’ll know you’ve found the one when you talk to a wire rope company that is willing to go above and beyond for your satisfaction.

Wirerope Works, Inc. manufactures Bethlehem Wire Rope®, the trade name under which we produce, sell and service our wire rope and strand products. The name "Bethlehem Wire Rope" represents the most complete facility and experienced personnel in North America. Our 46-acre manufacturing complex in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with over 620,000 square feet under roof, is the single largest wire rope manufacturing facility in North America. Wirerope Works, Inc. manufactures its own wire, wire rope, structural strand, and all fabricated products such as pendants and other assemblies on the same premises.

Bethlehem brand wire rope and strand products have long been recognized worldwide for superior quality. Used for both lifting and stabilizing, Bethlehem Wire Rope products are used in a wide variety of applications ranging from crane and elevator hoist ropes to bridge suspension and anchoring offshore platforms. Wirerope Works, Inc. serves many industries including construction, logging, marine, mining, oil and gas, and steel.

Wire rope strength in the United States is typically shown in tons of 2,000 lbs. The wire rope strength is shown as minimum breaking force (MBF). This is a calculated strength that has been accepted by the wire rope industry. When tested on a tensile machine, a new rope will break at a value equal to- or higher than – the minimum breaking force shown for that rope. The published values apply to new, unused rope. A rope should never operate at – or near- the minimum breaking force. The minimum breaking force of the rope must be divided by the design factor required for the application to determine the maximum load allowed on the rope. During its useful life, a rope loses strength gradually due to natural causes such as surface wear and metal fatigue.

Fatigue resistance involves fatigue of the wire used to make up a rope. To have high fatigue resistance, wires must be capable of bending repeatedly under stress – for example, as a loaded rope passes over a sheave during operation. Increased fatigues resistance is achieved in a rope design by using a large number of wires. It involves both the wire properties and rope construction. In general, a rope made of many wires will have greater fatigue resistance than a same – size rope made of fewer, larger wires because smaller wires have a greater ability to bend as a rope passes over a sheave or around drums. To overcome the effects of fatigue, ropes must never bend over sheaves or drums with a diameter so small as to bend wires excessively. Standard for specific applications contain requirements for minimum sheave and drum sizes. Every rope is subject to metal fatigue from bending stress while in operation, and therefore the rope’s strength gradually diminishes as the rope is used.

Crushing is the effect of external pressure on a rope, which damages it by distorting the cross-section shape of the rope, its strands or core -or all three. Crushing resistance therefore is a rope’s ability to withstand or resist external forces, and is a term generally used to express comparison between ropes. When a rope is damaged by crushing, the wires, strands and core are prevented from moving and adjusting normally during operation. In general, IWRC ropes are more crush

resistant than fiber core ropes. Regular lay ropes are more crush resistant than lang lay ropes. 6-strand ropes have greater crush resistance than 8-strand ropes or 19-strand ropes. Compacted strand ropes are more resistant than standard round-strand ropes.

When a load is placed on a rope, torque is created within the rope as wires and strands try to straighten out. This is normal and the rope is designed to operate with this load-induced torque. However, this torque can cause both single part and multiple part hoisting systems to rotate. Load induced torque can be reduced by specially designed ropes. In standard 6 and 8- strand ropes, the torques produced by the outer strands and the IWRC are in the same direction and add together. In rotation-resistant ropes, the lay of the outer strands is in the opposite direction to the lay of the inner strands, thus the torques produced are in opposite directions and the torques subtract from each other.

They say you should never visit the sausage factory, and that may be true, but the wilfully ignorant are not to be trusted, and steel wire rope is certainly a special type of sausage. It was a visit that put me through the emotional spectrum, from disinterested to bemused, to bewildered, and finally awed at the sheer scale of the operation. It’s a little bit like when you find out where babies come from: Horrifying and weird to begin with, but before long you find yourself utterly fascinated…

Flexible steel wire rope has been one of the mainstays of heavy industry for more than a hundred years. Whether you want to lash down scaff planks, carry out lifting and cranage, use draglines for surface mining, or even pull down a massive statue of Saddam Hussein, wire rope has thousands of applications.

The Wirerope Works factory in Williamsport, Pennsylvania has a long history of producing this essential component of progress in the 20th century, and although cheaper imports from China and India continue to flood the market, the caretakers of the Bethlehem Wire Rope brand are still proud to produce a product of the highest quality on local labour and quality materials.

Based in Lycoming County in Pennsylvania, Wirerope Works (WRW) began its life as the Morrison Patent Wire Rope Company in 1886. The original mill was built upstream on the banks of the Susquehanna River to service the softwood logging industry, however regular flooding led to the relocation and inevitable expansion of the factory in the town of Williamsport.

The design and manufacture of steel wire rope was no longer in its infancy at that stage. The first practical use of steel rope in 1834 was credited to a German mining official named Wilhelm August Julius Albert, who worked at the Clausthal silver mines in Saxony.

Up until that point, all mining haulage was done with hemp fibre rope or chains. In the humid, damp conditions of an underground mine, moisture would cause the ropes to perish from rot, the gradual deterioration reducing their load bearing capacity, so they required frequent replacement.

That first incarnation of modern steel wire rope was extremely effective for heavy haulage, and much more reliable than rope or chain. Albert Rope, as it came to be known, was a simple construction of three 3.5mm gauge wrought-iron wires, hand-wound into strands, with three or four of those strands wound into a single rope. However, Albert rope lacked the flexibility of rope or chain, meaning it couldn’t be drawn through a pulley sheave, and its use stopped in the 1850s.

But the idea for wire rope had already caught on in England, where thinner wires were woven around a fibre core, with six of those strands woven around a central fibre core, resulting in a more flexible product. This design, as well as a mechanical system for its construction (called a strander), was patented by Robert Newall, who brought the new technology to America, and the boom-time economy of the California Gold Rush.

However, it was in Pennsylvania where a German-born engineer and surveyor named John Roebling began to develop ropes which were entirely constructed of wire. Roebling used a 6/19 construction (6 strands; 19 wires per strand). A strand built of 19 wires of the same gauge resulted in a hexagonal profile, and desiring a round shape Roebling conceived of using three different gauges of wire to achieve that result. The effect of this was to reduce the space inside the rope, tightly packing the wires together, which gave the rope greater stability under load.

With massive demand for coal haulage in Pennsylvania, as well as cable car applications for public transportation, and most importantly civil engineering projects to service, Roebling set up a wire rope factory in 1849 in Trenton, New Jersey. But he wasn’t the first to invest in a factory like that: Other people had the same idea, and wire rope mills were starting to pop up around the United States. In only 14 years wire rope had gone from a hand-made experiment in a German silver mine, to a globally recognised tool of industry with high demand for scaled-up production.

If Roebling had any hubris about cashing in on this amazing new invention, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a little dampened when his arm and shoulder were horrifically mangled in an accident with one of his stranding machines. But it would seem that Roebling’s interest in wire rope was not strictly for profit, however, as he had for some time harboured a bit of an obsession with sketching suspension bridges. He was a big fan of the expansionist philosophy of Manifest Destiny, and had been very keen on establishing a utopian settlement called Germania (now the town of Saxonburg), where people like him trying to escape the brutal oppression of post-Prussian War Europe could be free to make sauerkraut and smoked pork products, unmolested by the authorities.

But Roebling recovered from his injuries, his factory continued to produce wire rope, and he designed and built a number of suspension bridges using his own product right up until he began design work for the Brooklyn Bridge. Unfortunately, Roebling managed to get his foot crushed by a ferry while standing on a dock trying to work out where the bridge should go. He died of tetanus 24 days later, but his son Washington went on to complete the Brooklyn Bridge project, while his son Charles would invent an 80 tonne wire rope machine.

By 1886, the year the Brooklyn Bridge was opened, a venture like setting up a wire rope factory in Pennsylvania was not at all a bad way to invest $100,000 (probably about $US3 million today), and that is precisely what three businessmen from Williamsport did.

Morrison Patent was changed to the Williamsport Wire Rope Company in 1888, manufacturing steel and galvanised wire rope “from one-eighth of an inch to two and one-half inches in diameter, and any length up to two miles in one continuous piece”, according to an 1892 history of Lycoming County.

The lumber boom in Lycoming peaked in 1891, and the neighbouring Indiana County saw a coal-mining boom start in 1900, so the industrial economy was perfect for the growth of the Williamsport rope mill. A new wire mill was built in 1916, and the current rope mill was built in 1928, which was pretty poor timing considering the Great Depression would start the next year.

By 2004, the Williamsport site had been bought and sold a number of times, changing company names like a serial divorcee, acquiring assets from other defunct companies such as Roebling Wire Rope (the company started by John Roebling in 1849) but always keeping the Bethlehem Wire Rope brand, which became synonymous with top quality steel cable, and is still proudly emblazoned on their rope spools to this day.

In 2002 Williamsport Wirerope Works bought out the bankrupt Paulsen Wire Rope, a rope mill located in nearby Sunbury, and continued to produce under the Paulsen name. But by 2003 the company was also in financial strife, and the management were looking for another buyer who could bail out the company and keep the 600,000 square foot Bethlehem factory running.

The US wire rope manufacturing industry had changed dramatically over the course of 100 years. From an exciting new industry that would allow explosive growth in the productivity of coal mining through the development of dragline surface mining operations in the early 20th century, as well as enabling some of the biggest civil engineering projects ever seen since the Pyramids of Giza, the US stable of 27 wire rope companies had been consolidated down to just three names: Bridon, WireCo, and Bethlehem.

Bridon is another Pennsylvania company, based 100 kilometres away in Wilkes-Barre. Unlike Williamsport which remained a local manufacturer, Bridon expanded rapidly, acquiring other wire rope companies and branching out across the world, developing into a massive, multinational conglomerate, as did WireCo Worldgroup.

With two global entities for domestic competition, Bethlehem also faced increasing pressure from low-cost offshore wire rope producers in countries like China, Korea and India.

Present executive vice-president Lamar J Richards remembers circumstances were looking grim for the Bethlehem brand and for the local employees, with a bid for takeover by Pennsylvania, USA and world market rival WireCo Worldgroup in late 2003.

“Instructions from the ownership at the time were, because we were about to be bought by a competitor we really weren’t going to be making wire, so we had to get rid of all the raw material, the rod, our starting point for the wire,” he said.

But I didn’t know any of those things when I found myself standing, probably in the same spot as Mr Saltsgiver did when starting his tour, right there in the foyer of the single largest wire rope manufacturing facility in North America on a muggy Thursday morning. I had arrived at the factory with a junket of assorted journalists, exhausted from touring a gamut of other factories and fighting off a particularly vicious head cold, quite oblivious to the fact that our tour bus had, having dropped us off, already left with my camera bag still on board. Perhaps one could have forgiven me for being a little out of sorts at first. But not for long…

Walking into the front offices of Wirerope Works on Maynard Street, it’s clear there’s pride in the product here. Foot-long samples of rope in varying configurations and gauges lie on polished timber plinths in the foyer, cleaned of oil with sharp edges ground smooth for safe handling by visitors.

On the walls hang photographs of major construction projects which were supplied with Bethlehem brand wire rope: Madison Square Gardens, the restringing of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Niagara Falls tightrope.

Lamar J. Richards, the executive vice president of Wirerope Works, explains to us some of the history of the plant (see Australian Mining February 2016), but one of the most touching stories he tells us is about how the present owner, Tom Saltsgiver, came to buy the company and keep it alive for the sake of the local economy in Williamsport.

As it turned out, the newly renamed Wirerope Works became profitable after 18 months of capital support. Shortly after that, the housing bubble burst.

After this brief history lesson we are handed hardhats and earplugs and instructed that it will be very difficult to hear anything inside the factory. They weren’t wrong. Although the tour from that stage onward was sparse on information, I found myself going from a sense of bewilderment at the extreme conditions of the workplace to being strangely entranced with the manufacturing process.

One of the first things shown to us is the floor. The factory is tiled with timber bricks, grain pointing upward and creating a very unique effect where the timber had been polished by decades of wear. The timber floors are a result of Williamsport’s logging history, when wooden blocks were cheap and readily available in bulk. To this day when any flooring needs repairs or replacement, Wirerope Works still uses the original material. To walk on it is remarkably different from concrete, and where I can compare the two it is noticeably easier underfoot. Bear in mind the factory is 620,000 square feet, so a lot of what essentially was scrap lumber had been put to good use.

First we are shown the raw material: 4mm steel wire in loose looking coils about 6 foot across, lifted by forklifts and taken through to a hydrochloric acid bath which will strip off any contaminants. Having been battling a common cold for a few days, I didn’t need to be told the fizzing pool before me was acid. Plumes of vapour were pouring off the bath, and before I could think of doing anything about it the congestion in my head loosened and poured down the back of my throat, and I suddenly I could breathe more clearly and easily than I had done for days! I realised it was the corrosive vapour that had cleared my head, and it might soon start to work on the tissues of my sinus. I tried to hold my breath while our host laughed and tried to explain, incoherently over the roar of the factory, the process of treating the raw material.

We all back away from the deadly head-cold cure and are led to the furnace, where 12 of the washed coils are set up to feed wire through an oven blazing at 1000 degrees Celcius, only 360 degrees shy of melting point. I realise wearing my jacket, despite the cool Pennsylvania humidity, was not the smartest thing in the world to do and we walk past the contained inferno, pouring with sweat.

It’s becoming amply clear to me that this is an extremely dangerous workplace, and we continue to the other side of the furnace where the cherry glowing wires are fed down into a simmering oil bath for quenching.

We file past, only a couple of feet from the long vat of hellbroth with no rails or guards and I think to myself, ‘this must be the single most dangerous thing I have ever stood near’. Having been a labourer and rigger for most of my adult life, I have certainly worked in some unsafe conditions, from high rise buildings with no fall arrest equipment to a uranium mine with no proper PPE, but even those experiences didn’t seem to come close to standing next to this long vat of near-boiling oil. What would happen if one of us stumbled, reaching out for grip and finding only oil that could burn off a limb in seconds, or worse, what if one could fall in altogether! I reassured myself a victim of clumsiness would pass out almost instantly from the shock of the burn. Small comfort as we tried to stay as far away from the vat as possible, with a few feet of leeway for space.

Once cool enough, the wire passes through hydrochloric acid to wash off all traces of contaminant, and I hold my breath as we walk the length of the pool, our host taking deep breaths as if it were fresh spring air and not lung melting fumes, laughing as he watches the visitors squirm… Does he know something I don’t? I sure hope so.

A coating of zinc phosphate, another rinse, and another final coating prepares the wire for extrusion, which has two key functions. The most obvious is for achieving the correct gauge of wire required for twisting into the various rope products, but extrusion also means the steel wire is stretched to align the structure of the steel to align in a single direction, which strengthens and increases the breaking strain of each wire.

However, the most important part of all of this is the stranding process, and here is where my reactions turn from shock to awe. As a rigger using steel wire rope on a daily basis for slinging, I had often wondered how the rope was produced, and here it was before my eyes: The factory