Fig. 203.—Riveted Flat Rope Socket.
Fig. 204.—Cramped Flat Rope Socket.
For crane ropes or colliery winding ropes, steel sockets are sometimes cast solid, some with closed eyes for the D shackle, as in Figs. 198 and 199, and others with open ends with holes for a slotted pin, as in Figs. 200 to 202, the two latter being side views of alternative shapes. The form shown by Figs. 198 and 199 is the more difficult to fit, as it is obvious that the rope must first be pushed through the socket and brought out at one side of the eye before the bulb can be formed, when it has to be either pulled or hammered back until it is quite tight in the socket. After the bulb of these solid sockets has been pulled or driven into place, it is usual to drive a round tapered copper plug into the core of the bulb, to solidify it and increase its grip with the socket. Sometimes molten white metal is poured in to fill up the interstices between the rope and the socket. The hole at the small end of these sockets is made only a very little larger than the diameter of the rope, so that it is impossible for the bulb to pull through if properly made.
Fig. 205.—Socket Cramp.
Flat wire ropes, which are not much used now, also have to be socketed, as they cannot be spliced. There are various methods of fixing flat rope sockets, varying with the strain and the conditions under which they work. The most usual method is to bend the wire ends back equally on both sides to make the bulb fit the inside of the socket, and to secure with a liberal supply of rivets (see Fig. 203). For stronger work, the rope-end, after being cut off square, is bent round the shackle pin, and the socket made to grip both the rope and its end, the whole being firmly secured by means of strong iron clamps and bolts (see Figs. 204 and 205). In order to drive the rivets through the compressed rope after the socket is tightened, it is necessary to make the way easy for them by driving in tapered spikes of the shape shown by Figs. 206 and 207. These require a hole in the end to take the end of a stout marlinespike, for the purpose of withdrawing them from the hole. They must be made of mild steel.
Figs. 206 and 207.—Riveting Spikes.
Fig. 208.—Rivet.