A pulley is a wheel with a groove and raised edges used to lift or lower heavy loads. Types include rope, wire, belt, and cable sheaves. Compound pulleys are common, and rope sheaves are used on boats and wells. Wire sheaves are used in cranes, belt pulleys use a belt instead of ropes or wires, and cable pulleys are for heavier items like cable cars.
A pulley is a wheel with a groove in the middle and raised edges. It is also known as a sheave pulley and is part of a system used to lift or lower heavy loads. Some types include rope sheaves, wire sheaves, wire rope sheaves, belt sheaves, and cable sheaves.
Rope sheaves were the first type invented and work by pulling on the rope to lift the load. A length of rope is guided over the groove and between the raised edges of the pulley. The rope can then be tied at one end to the object to be lifted or it can be driven through another pulley to create a compound pulley.
Compound pulleys are often used because the object has to travel a greater distance or is too heavy to lift with a single pulley. Some common uses for rope sheaves are on boats or ships for lifting goods or traps and are called blocks or blocks and tackles. Rope pulleys have also traditionally been used to pull buckets of water from wells.
Wire pulley sheave systems consist of several wire ropes. Many thin lengths of wire are wrapped around a larger wire to add strength. They are also known as wire rope sheaves and are typically tied with about six other lengths of coiled wire to create a large, strong wire rope.
This type of pulley system is often used in industrial machinery, such as cranes. It is used in cranes due to the significant amount of force applied to the rope. Some cranes are required to lift objects weighing several tons, so to ensure that the sheave can bear the weight, sheaves of wrapped wire are used.
Belt pulleys are part of a belt and pulley system. They consist of two or more sheaves working together and use a belt instead of ropes or wires. The pulleys are usually of different diameters to be able to move the belt faster with less effort. Belt pulleys are built like a chain drive but are smooth instead of having sprockets.
Cable pulleys are similar to belt pulleys, but are typically used for much heavier items. Cable pulleys also usually have spokes in the center instead of smooth grooves. The most common use for cable pulleys is for cable cars. Sheaves are attached to each end of the cable car route and the cable is threaded through the middle. As the cable car travels along the wire, the pulley feeds the wire and pushes the car forward.
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