A protective braided sleeve and method of construction thereof is provided. The sleeve includes a seamless, circumferentially continuous, tubular braided wall having a cavity extending lengthwise along a central longitudinal axis between opposite ends. The wall includes a plurality of yarns braided with one another, with at least one or more of the yarns including a bicomponent yarn including a core and an outer adhesive sheath adapted to be selectively melted to bond the wall to an elongate member extending through the cavity.

A synthetic fiber rope comprising:—a core, said core being a laid or braided synthetic fiber strand,—a polymer layer, said polymer layer covering said core,—a first layer, said first layer having at least six first synthetic fiber strands laid in a first direction surround said polymer layer, and—a second layer, said second layer having at least twelve second synthetic fiber strands laid in a second direction surround said first layer.

A cord comprises a braided sheath of strands having an outer surface, an inner surface, and a central hollow portion defined by the inner surface and having a volume and a core within the central hollow portion of the tubular braided sheath, such that when the cord is in a relaxed state the tubular braided sheath has a cylindrical shape and a relaxed volume of the central hollow portion wherein the core does not fill the relaxed volume of the central hollow portion of the tubular braided sheath; when the cord is in a longitudinal tensioned state, the tubular braided sheath elongates under the longitudinal tension such that a tensioned volume of at least a part of the central hollow portion of the tubular braided sheath is less than the relaxed volume; and the inner surface of the tubular braided sheath of tensioned volume contacts and cinches a surface of the core.

The present invention relates to a mooring rope for use in subsea mooring, or a substantially synthetic rope thereof, said synthetic rope including a rope core and a layered shell arranged around the rope core, said the shell having a braided outer shell layer. The shell includes sub-surface buoyancy elements, suitable for use in a subsea environment, extending in radial direction between the rope core and the outer shell.

The present invention generally relates to the detection of the discard state of high-strength fiber ropes. The invention relates to a device for detecting the discard state of high-strength fiber ropes for various operating conditions, wherein a rope core of the fiber rope is sheathed with a rope sheath which is intended to wear more quickly than the rope core, comprising an optical detection device for detecting the rope surface and/or a load spectrum counter for detecting the load cycles to which the fiber rope is subjected, and on the other hand to a lifting gear such as a crane comprising such a device. According to the invention, there is provided a detection device for detecting the light absorption coefficient and/or the degree of reflection of the rope sheath and an adaptation device for adapting the algorithm, by means of which the discard state is determined, in dependence on the detected light absorption coefficient and/or the detected degree of reflection.

The present invention concerns a rope health monitoring system and a rope for such rope health monitoring system whereby the rope comprises objects which are remotely detectable, readable and programmable identification (ID) tags and whereby the rope monitoring system comprises said rope, at least one ID tag reader device mounted along said predetermined path of the rope, to detect at least the identity and optionally the historic health status and/or at least one physical rope parameters of the individual rope section provided with and identified by the at least one ID tag, at least one ID tag writing device, to write a new health status of the individual rope section to the at least one ID tag, at least one means to measure at least one rope operation parameter, a computing unit provided with data, whereby the computing unit is equipped with an algorithm capable to compute the relative longitudinal positioning of individual sections of the rope and the additional damage or damages suffered by individual sections of the rope, compute and record the new health status of the individual sections of the rope, store the new health status of the individual section of the rope in the corresponding programmable ID tag of the rope.

This application describes a braided cord containing a braided sheath and optionally a core surrounded by the braided sheath. The braided cord has changing cross-sectional area ranging from 0.0004 mm.sup.2 to 30 mm.sup.2 and contains one or more sections having a tapering angle ranging from 1° to 60° when observed in one direction along the cord axis. The change in the cross-sectional area of the cord can be achieved by changing the thickness of the braided sheath and/or changing the cross-sectional area of the core when the core is present. The thickness of the braided sheath can be adjusted by changing the size and/or twist level of one or more sheath strands, changing the pick count of the braided sheath, and/or using one or more shaped sheath strands. This application also describes a process of producing the braided cord with changing cross-sectional area.

A cord comprises a braided sheath of strands having an outer surface, an inner surface, and a central hollow portion defined by the inner surface and having a volume and a core within the central hollow portion of the tubular braided sheath, such that when the cord is in a relaxed state the tubular braided sheath has a cylindrical shape and a relaxed volume of the central hollow portion wherein the core does not fill the relaxed volume of the central hollow portion of the tubular braided sheath; when the cord is in a longitudinal tensioned state, the tubular braided sheath elongates under the longitudinal tension such that a tensioned volume of at least a part of the central hollow portion of the tubular braided sheath is less than the relaxed volume; and the inner surface of the tubular braided sheath of tensioned volume contacts and cinches a surface of the core.

Disclosed herein are methods for producing core-sheath structures by shaping at least one filament bundle containing a plurality of filaments to form at least one shaped strand of filaments, and braiding a plurality of strands, including the at least one shaped strand of filaments, over a core to form the core-sheath structure containing a braided sheath of the strands surrounding the core, wherein the shaped strand of filaments is an untwisted strand having a twist level of less than 1 turn per meter, a cross-sectional aspect ratio of the shaped strand of filaments is at least 3:1, as measured in the braided sheath, a thickness of at least a portion of the braided sheath ranges from about 10 to about 200 μm, and the braided sheath comprises a synthetic fiber having a tensile strength of greater than 12 cN/dtex. Also disclosed herein are core-sheath structures formed by such methods.

The invention concerns the field of marine ropes, and more specifically a marine rope (1) comprising a plurality of cores (2; 2a, 2b), an individual coating (3) around each core (2; 2a, 2b), and a permeable protective sheath (4) around the plurality of cores (2; 2a, 2b). Each core (2; 2a, 2b) comprises a fiber strand or braid and each individual coating (3) is watertight and has a melting temperature lower than that of the corresponding core and an elongation at break greater than that of the corresponding core.