Ropes - General Arrangement

RUNNING ROPES

Hoist, crowd, retract and dipper trip ropes are all plastic impregnated for increased life and for sheave and drum grooving life enhancement. The double twin hoist ropes are attached to the center of the hoist drum using ferrule-becket anchoring for faster rope change out. Each rope passes over a boom point sheave through the padlock and back over the boom point sheave to the hoist drum. The dual twin hoist rope configuration stabilizes the dipper while digging by attachment to the outer edges of the dipper body.

Ropes - General Arrangement

Crowd and retract ropes are attached to the crowd drum and work as an integral system. As the crowd rope is wound on to the drum, the retract rope is reeled off.

SADDLE BLOCK

The saddle block, positioned between the boom side girders and pivoting on manganese-bronze bushings about the shipper shaft, acts as a guide for the longitudinal movement of the dipper handle. The free floating design of the handle in the saddle block eliminates handle torsion.

DIPPER HANDLE

One end of the 34" (0.86m) diameter handle connects to the dipper. The crowd rope half sheave attaches to the other end. A hydraulic adjustable take-up mechanism at the dipper end is used to remove slack from the crowd/retract rope system. The dipper handle moves in and out within the saddle block.

An electrical rate reduction circuit, along with the crowd ropes, absorb digging shock loads encountered when the dipper is crowded into the bank.