Wire rope lubrication
AssigneeUTILX Corporation
InventorsGlen J. Bertini, Gerald S. Solomon, Glenn S. Jessen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wire rope 10 includes a plurality of strands 12. The strands are formed from individual wires or filaments 14. The strands are wound about a central axis. A conduit 16 also extends along said central axis. The conduit 16 has walls that are permeable to a lubricating compound. The lubricating compound is injected into the channel 18 defined by the conduit. The lubricating material migrates through the conduit wall and radially outwardly therefrom to provide lubrication to the individual strands and filaments comprising the wire rope.
Claims15
A wire rope comprising:
- (a) a plurality of load-bearing stands wrapped about a central axis, and
- (b) a first conduit disposed within said load bearing strands, the first conduit adapted to permit a performance enhancing compound to flow therethrough, the first conduit being continuous and permeable tubular in shape and to said compound to permit a predetermined portion of the compound to diffuse outwardly through the first conduit into contact with the strands.
A method of enhancing the performance of a wire rope comprising a plurality of strands wound about an axis, said wire rope having at least one axially extending channel incorporated therein, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) injecting a performance enhancing compound into the axially extending channel in the wire rope, and
- (b) allowing said compound to diffuse radially outwardly from said channel to lubricate the individual strands and filaments of the wire rope.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.