4 ms·
chairs/gondolas detach from the primary rope that carries them up/down the slope. So while the primary rope is moving the same fast speed, the chair isn't attac
by snowytrees 5y ago
chairs/gondolas detach from the primary rope that carries them up/down the slope. So while the primary rope is moving the same fast speed, the chair isn't attached to that rope anymore. This is what allows detachable lifts to go so much faster than fixed (non-detachable lifts), the speed of them isn't dependent on people being able to board. If a ski resort wants to speed up their fixed grip chairs without spending the money on a detachable, they will use a loading carpet to move up the max speed of loading people (see: https://liftblog.com/2016/01/02/the-loading-carpet-solution/ https://liftblog.com/2016/01/02/the-loading-carpet-solution/)
- scoot 5y agoDespite what the OPs video suggests, there are no ropes used, rather steel cables. A rope's mechanical properties wouldn't be beneficial for a ski lift.
- anamexis 5y agoNo, rope is correct. Wire rope, more precisely. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_rope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_rope
- Waterluvian 5y agoSo is “rope” just any cord or any material that’s been braided or wound from many smaller cords?
- johnwalkr 5y agoThe terms are largely interchangeable but “wire rope” is the engineering term for cable used to transmit forces. Depending on who you ask it may only strictly refer to wire rope made from multiple bundles of strands.
- scoot 5y agoYou're correct - a wire rope is a cable, but a synthetic rope is not. But "rope" generally refers to synthetic rope, not wire rope, so a rope is not a cable.
- johnwalkr 5y agoIt doesn’t matter much but for a ski lift, the engineering term always used is “wire rope”.
- marvin 5y agoMight also be a language matter on OP's part? For instance, I know that Europeans often use the term "windmill" for wind turbine, and get corrected that they're using the wrong engineering term. But for many European languages, the word "wind turbine" would be translated to "windmill", even going as far as labelling parts with the word. Never worked with wind turbines, but been curious about this for years since the language is so systematic. A documentary I recently watched had a Danish wind turbine marked as "Mølle 1" or something like that, translating to "Mill 1". I'd be surprised if Norwegians didn't use the word "kabel" (cable) to refer to the thing that carries ski lifts.
- Akronymus 5y agoWind turbine makes me think of turbines used to generate wind, rather than turbines powered by wind.
- anamexis 5y agoUnless you’re talking about ski lifts, where rope refers to wire ropes.
- scoot 5y agoExcept that it doesn't, hence "cable car" (in International English).
- 5y ago
- fnord77 5y agoso we should call those things in San Francisco "Rope Cars"?
- anamexis 5y agoInterestingly, the steel cables used by the cable cars are actually wrapped around a sisal rope.
- stevenjgarner 5y agoThe jargon is contextual. In telecommunications the "wire rope" is called "strand".
- nerdponx 5y agoI always knew these as "detachable" chairlifts, and I guess at some point as a kid I figured out that the chair must actually detach from the rope, based on the name. I probably never would have even thought about it, if it wasn't for the name!