Fig. 199.—Solid Socket with Closed End.
In bending back the wires, care must be taken to ensure their being bent equally all round the rope and not merely at the top and bottom or on one side only. The object is to form on the end of the rope a bulb which will completely fill the cavity inside the socket. To do this, the operator should work with the closed socket beside him and take the measurement of the inside of the socket at both ends with a pair of inside callipers, and the size of the bulb as it progresses with outside callipers, comparing the two. The socket may have been made rather large inside, in which case it will be necessary to put on two or more layers of serving to bring the bulb to the required size. The rope should then appear as in Fig. 196. The eye of the socket must now be made red-hot. Cool down all but the extreme back of the eye A (Fig. 192) by the application of water, and open the socket out sufficiently to allow of the bulb being pushed into place. Let the end of the bulb come just to the shoulder A (Fig. 193) of the socket; then hammer the socket on the anvil, or screw it up in the vice, until it is as close as it will go. Cool it down and drive in the rivets, clinching them well, with a big strong head on each side, for which purpose the holes must be well countersunk. The rivets should be made of good riveting iron or of mild steel. A properly filled socket should show, when finished, a ⅛-in. opening between the jaws down its full length on both sides (see Figs 193 and 194), which would prove that the socket was properly gripping the bulb.
Fig. 200.—Plan of Solid Socket with Open End.
Fig. 201.—Elevation of a Solid Socket with Open End.
Fig. 202.—Another Elevation of a Solid Socket with Open End.
When fitting a hooped socket, first pop-mark the parts, then remove the hoops and thread them on to the rope, the smallest first and the others in order; they are thus easily returned to their proper places. As soon as the hoops are replaced, the socket should be taken out of the vice and held end down on a block or anvil while the hoops are driven tightly home with a set-hammer (Fig. 197) and sledge.
To give a better finish, and to prevent the hoops from working back or wet from entering, they are sometimes caulked on the tapered side A (Fig. 194) with a caulking set.