The exemplary embodiments herein provide a tether for use with an airborne device, where the tether contains an elongate member having a first end for attaching to a ground attachment point and an opposing second end for attaching to the airborne device where the elongate member has a cross-sectional area which varies across the member. In some embodiments, the tether contains one or more electrically conductive elements, an optional strength element, insulation separating any adjacent electrically conductive elements, and a jacket which surrounds and protects each of the tether components.

The present invention provides a using method of a seamless rope ring, comprising the following steps: sawing a braided end of the seamless rope ring and a tail end of the seamless rope ring together to form a double-lap seamless rope ring with a halved length; alternately winding a hitch-pulling rope and the double-lap seamless rope ring; and braiding a braided end of the hitch-pulling rope and a tail end of the hitch-pulling rope together to form a ring hitch. The seamless rope ring has a simple using method and extendable length so that the seamless rope ring has multiple purposes and using strength of the seamless rope ring is greatly enhanced.

The present invention provides a braiding machine and a braiding method of a tail-pulling rope. The braiding machine of the tail-pulling rope comprises a machine frame, two gallop knitting trays, a plurality of gallop knitting ingots and a rope belt braiding mechanism. The gallop knitting trays are located on the machine frame, and the gallop knitting ingots are mounted on the gallop knitting trays, wherein the rope belt braiding mechanism comprises a turbine speed change mechanism, two belt wheels and two transmission wheels.

A wave power generation device of the present invention includes: a buoy floating on the sea; a power generator generating electrical energy or hydraulic energy; a power transmitter connecting the buoy and the power generator to each other; and a wire having a first end and a second end connected to the buoy or the power transmitter and changing in tension by motions of the buoy.

Assembly for energy absorption, comprising m number of substantially straight steel wires and n number of curved steel cords, at least one of the m number of substantially straight steel wires having a tensile strength of at least 1000 MPa and an elongation at fracture of at least 5%, at least one of the n number of curved steel cords having a tensile strength of at least 2000 MPa and an elongation at fracture of at least 2%, wherein m and n are integers m>1, n>1, and at least one of the m number of substantially straight steel wires and at least one of the n number of curved steel cords are fixed together along their longitudinal direction, and the elongation at fracture of at least one of the m number of substantially straight steel wires is at least 2% larger than the elongation at fracture of at least one of the n number of curved steel cords such that the elongation curve of the assembly comprises three zones (11, 11, 12, 12, 13, 13), wherein a first zone (11,11) is characterized by an elastic deformation of the substantially straight steel wires, a second zone (12,12) is characterized by the plastic deformation of the substantially straight steel wires and a third zone (13,13) is composed of the continued plastic deformation of the substantially straight steel wires and the elastic deformation of the curved steel cords.

A load bearing member is provided including at least one load bearing segment having a plurality of load carrying fibers arranged within a matrix material. At least a portion of the load bearing member has a radius of curvature when the load bearing member is untensioned.

A method for creating a composite cable having at least one high-performance termination on at least one end. A high-performance termination is added to an end of a short synthetic tensile strength member. The strength of the tensile strength member and termination is then tested. Once tested satisfactorily, the short cable is spiced onto a long cable of the same type using prior art splicing techniques. The union of the short cable and the long cable creates a composite cable having a high-performance termination on at least one end. In most applications preferable to set the length of the short cable so that the interwoven splice will exist at a desired location.

A mooring member comprises a rope configured for extending between a vessel floating in a body of water and an anchoring device. The mooring member comprises a plurality of functional elements, wherein a first functional element is wound onto at least a portion of the rope, a second functional element is wound onto the first functional element, and so on, until an outermost functional element is wound onto a second-to-outermost functional element. The functional elements are wound in a helical configuration, and are configured to provide at least one of the following functions: damage protection, buoyancy, optical detection, sonar detection, stiffness control, and anti-fouling.

A braiding apparatus includes a base, a strand supplier supplying a core strand, strand carriers shuttling on the base and providing carrier strands that wrap the core strand and twist together to form a rope, a guiding pulley disposed above the strand carriers to feed the rope to a strand collector, and a control device having a driving source connected to the guiding pulley, at least one recognition unit arranged on the guiding pulley, a sensor disposed relative to the guiding pulley, and a controller electrically connected to the sensor and the driving source. The sensor counts the number of the recognition unit passing the sensor when the guiding pulley rotates to measure lengths of divided sections of the rope. Concurrently, the controller controls the driving source and the guiding pulley to have different rotational speeds, thereby controlling different braid densities of different sections of the same rope precisely.