The cutting of wire rope uncier tension was simulated by cutting 20 

 inch-long pieces of 1/2 inch wire tensioned to 14,000 lbs. (The energy 

 stored in this length of wire rope was insufficient to cause any whipping 

 of the rope during cutting.) The only difference in cutting the wire 

 rope tension was half as many (approximately 15) pump strokes were re- 

 quired as for the untensioned 1/2 inch dia. wire rope. 



The hydraulic wire rope cutter has several desirable features. It 

 may be operated remotely if the cable to be cut is under tension, it is 

 compact, and the single hydraulic hose is easy to handle. The cutting 

 performance of the hydraulic cutter was very good. The design of the 

 cutter facilitates chip removal, and the cutter only jammed once in the 

 entire test program. This occurred when a single wire of a one-inch 

 diameter wire rope unlayed while it was being cut three inches from the 

 end and prevented the return of the cutter blade to the retracted posi- 

 tion. The wire was removed in the water with a pair of pliers. 



The hydraulic wire rope cutter is essentially a cutting head at- 

 tached to a large diameter single acting hydraulic cylinder (ram). Like 

 the rams mentioned in the previous section, the cutter should be stored 

 in the extended position. The cutter parts behind the cutting head and 

 in front of the piston are exposed to salt water and should be coated 

 with a non-seizing rust preventative compound. No maintenance was re- 

 quired on the wire rope cutter except for some internal cleaning after 

 two months of intermittent submerged operation. The cutting capability 

 was not affected. 



The bar stock cutter in Figure 21 was included in the test program. 

 This cutter is built to cut mild steel bar to 5/8 inch diameter and hard 

 steel bar to 1/2 inch diameter. The purpose in testing this tool was to 

 determine its underwater performance when used with the diver-powered 

 pump. The testing consisted of a limited number of cuts on different 

 materials. It was necessary for one diver to hold the bar stock cutter 

 while another diver operated the pump. The results of these tests are 

 shown in Table VI. 



Table VI. 



5ar Stock Cutter Data 



Material Cut 



Number 



of 

 Tests 



Cutting Time 

 Minutes 



Number of 

 Pump Strokes 



Maximum 



Hydraulic 



Pressure 



Mean 



Ranee 



Mean 



Range 



1/2" Steel Wire 

 Rope 6x19 

 w/IWRC 



2 



V. 



- 



- 



- 



- 



Angle Iron 

 3/4x3/4x1/8 



2 



1.5 



1.4-1.6 



52 



50-53 



9500 



5/8" Diameter 

 Steel Rebar 



2 



0.6 



0.5-0.6 



25 



23-26 



3500 



" Would not cut 



24 



