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wire rope and hempen rope, as regards size, strength, weight, 
and price. 
For example : — Smith's wire rope of two inches circumfer- 
ence was put to a strain of eight tons ; its weight per fathom 
was 2 lbs. 10 oz., and its price per fathom Is. 8id. A 
hempen rope of equal strength was five inches circumference, 
weighed 6 lbs. per fathom, and cost 2s. 7 Jd. per fathom. 
Take another example : — K ivire rope, four inches circum- 
ference, and calculated to sustain twenty-four tons of break- 
ing strain, weighed 12^ lbs. per fathom, and cost 7s. S^d. 
The hempen rope of equal strength was ten inches circum- 
ference, weighed 25 lbs. per fathom, and cost 10s. lid. 
The first of these illustrations shows the wire rope to be 
less than half the bulk and weight of the hempen one, and 
more than 30 per cent, per fathom cheaper. The second 
shows it to be about half the bulk and weight, and 27 per 
cent, per fathom cheaper. 
The Admiralty report further states, that a two inch wire 
rope of Smith's manufacture bore half a ton more strain than 
a seven inch hemp rope, and was considerably less than half 
the weight. The wire rope, in this instance, would cost 
Is. S^d. per fathom, and the hempen rope 5s. 4d. per fathom. 
Mr. Smith's prospectus contains a tabular view of the 
results of experiments made by Mr. Lewis, of Withy moor, 
near Dudley, from which it appears that a round rope of 
three inches circumference bore 16^ tons without breaking, 
but broke at 17 tons; and a flat rope, four inches broad by 
half an inch thick, bore 1 1 tons without breaking, but broke 
at 11^ tons. The round rope weighed 7 lbs. per fathom, and 
the flat one 7 lbs. 6 oz. From these trials it appears that 
with equal weights per fathom, the round rope possesses 
greater strength than the flat ; for although the former was 
rather lighter than the latter, yet it bore 50 per cent, more 
weight suspended from the end of it. 
