Provided is a rope including a load supporting member and a covering member covering an outer periphery of the load supporting member. The load supporting member includes: an impregnation material and reinforcement fiber bodies, which continuously extend in a longitudinal direction of the rope, are embedded in the impregnation material, and are configured to support a load acting in the longitudinal direction. The reinforcement fiber bodies include corrugated reinforcement fiber bodies which have, at least in part, a corrugated shape in a section parallel to the longitudinal direction. The corrugated reinforcement fiber bodies have such a length that a total length thereof given when the corrugated reinforcement fiber bodies are straightened is equal to or larger than 1.1 times a total length of the load supporting member.

A braided structure that includes a core and a sheath is provided. The core includes a yarn formed at least in part from an aromatic polymer (e.g., an aromatic polyester/liquid crystalline polymer or an aramid polymer), and the sheath, which includes a plurality of ultra high molecular weight polyolefin yarns, is braided around the core. The sheath has an overall diameter ranging from about 60 micrometers to about 650 micrometers. Despite its small diameter, the braided structure can be creep resistant and abrasion resistant while at the same time exhibiting low elongation, a high load at break, and high stiffness. The braided structure can be used in medical applications such as sutures, load bearing orthopedic applications, artificial tendons/ligaments, fixation devices, actuation cables, components for tissue repair, etc.

A cord of a band of a tire has a single-stranded structure in which steel filaments are stranded, and the number of the filaments is not less than three and not greater than six. In a cross-section of the cord, when represents a diameter of a smallest circle that surrounds cross-sections of the filaments, and represents a diameter of each filament, a gap is formed between the filaments such that the diameter is not less than three times the diameter and not greater than six times the diameter in the case of the number of the filaments being three or four. An initial elongation of the cord is not less than 0.1% and not greater than 1.5%.

A facility for manufacturing at least first and second assemblies of M1 filamentary elements and M2 filamentary elements, in which each of the first and second assemblies includes a plurality of filamentary elements wound together in a helix, includes an assembling apparatus and a splitting apparatus. The assembling apparatus of the facility assembles M filamentary elements together into a layer of M filamentary elements around a temporary core, to form a temporary assembly. The splitting apparatus of the facility splits the temporary assembly into at least the first and second assemblies of M1 filamentary elements and M2 filamentary elements.

A method is provided for manufacturing at least first and second assemblies of M1 filamentary elements and M2 filamentary elements. At least one of the first and second assemblies includes a plurality of filamentary elements wound together in a helix. The method includes a step of assembling M filamentary elements together into a layer of the M filamentary elements around a temporary core, to form a temporary assembly. The method also includes a step of splitting the temporary assembly into at least the first and second assemblies of M1 filamentary elements and M2 filamentary elements.

The method enables the production of a final assembly (A) comprising two layers and comprises a step (100) of providing a temporary assembly (AT) comprising a temporary core (NT), a step (124) of separating the temporary assembly (AT) into a first divided assembly (AFI), a second divided assembly (AF2), a third divided assembly (AF3) and the temporary core (NT). The method comprises a step (135) of reassembling the first divided assembly (AFI), the second divided assembly (AF2) and the third divided assembly (AF3) to form the final assembly (A).

A cord (50) comprises a single layer (52) made up of N helically wound metal filamentary elements (54) having an outer diameter D, the metal filamentary elements (54) defining an internal enclosure (58) of the cord of diameter Dv. Each metal filamentary element (54) has a diameter Df and a helix radius of curvature Rf. With this cord (50), D, Dv, Df and Rf being expressed in millimeters: 0.10?Jr?0.25, 9?Rf/Df?30, and 1.60?Dv/Df?3.20, where Jr=N/(?*(D?Df))?(Dh?Sin(?/N)?(Df/Cos(???/180))) and ? is the helix angle, expressed in degrees, of each metal filamentary element (54).

The various embodiments relate to pneumatic tires including a cap ply of braided strands of yarn. Various embodiments relate to strands of yarn that are fiberglass filaments or steel. The braided strands may include a tight braid or a loose braid. Various embodiments include braids having 1 to 5 stitches per cm.

In a tire the strength of steel cord and the resilience of rubber are a successful combination. However, in some specific areas of a tire, more elongation is expected from the steel cord, while still a sufficient degree of stiffness is expected. A steel cord is presented that has these properties. The steel cord comprises two or more steel elements that are twisted together. The steel elements comprise one or more steel filaments. In total the steel cord comprises N filaments, each with a cross sectional area A. When the steel elements are individualised out of the steel cord they show a helix pitch length of L.sub.o, while a single pitch has a centre line length of S. The inventive steel cord shows a P value of at least 50 newton, wherein P=NE (A/S).sup.2. Further methods are presented to produce this steel cord.

An apparatus for producing an assembly of filamentary elements that are wound together in a helix includes a twisting device, a preforming device, and an assembling device. The twisting device is structured to twist at least first and second filamentary elements individually, such that each filamentary element is twisted separately from another filamentary element, to produce at least first and second twisted filamentary elements. The preforming device, which is arranged downstream of the twisting device, is structured to preform each of the twisted filamentary elements individually into separate preformed helixes, to produce at least first and second preformed helixes. The assembling device, which is arranged downstream of the preforming device, is structured to assemble the preformed helixes into an assembly.