BRACING 



209 



bolt. Thread the end of the rope through the 

 eye and proceed exactly as with the other. When 

 the tackle is taken away this will leave just about 

 the right degree of slackness in the wire rope. If 

 it is desired to put a greater strain on the rope, 

 the nuts on the bolts can be screwed up only two or 

 three threads at first and tightened up afterwards. 



" Come-along ' 



and turnbuckle arranged for tightening up a 

 wire rope brace 



The only step in this process which requires 

 special tools is the tightening up of the cable. The 

 ideal outfit for this work is a long, light turnbuckle 

 with two hooks, and a lineman's "come-along" to 

 grip the rope. A grip can be secured in other 

 ways, however, as by means of one of the smaller 

 cast-iron (not stamped) tie-plates used by linemen 

 to splice cables. The middle bolt of the tie-plate 

 is taken out and a wire is looped through the hole, 

 the turnbuckle being hooked over the loop. With 

 the smaller sizes of cable a strong man can get 

 usually a sufficient degree of tightness, especially if 



