A wire rope for face shovels or draglines, comprising: a core, said core is made from a plurality of core strands a plurality of outer strands laid on said core, a plurality of separator strands located in the interstices between said core strands and said outer strands, a plastic jacket around said plurality of outer strands, said plurality of separator strands and said core strands, wherein said plurality of separator strands extend from said core strands and in-between each pair of said plurality of outer strands so as to produce and maintain gaps between said pair of said plurality of outer strands; wherein said core strands are compacted, and the gap between said core strands is less than 0.4% of the diameter of the core strand.

A wire rope for face shovels or draglines, comprising: a core, said core is made from a plurality of core strands a plurality of outer strands laid on said core, a plurality of separator strands located in the interstices between said core strands and said outer strands, a plastic jacket around said plurality of outer strands, said plurality of separator strands and said core strands, wherein said plurality of separator strands extend from said core strands and in-between each pair of said plurality of outer strands so as to produce and maintain gaps between said pair of said plurality of outer strands; wherein said core strands are compacted, and the gap between said core strands is less than 0.4% of the diameter of the core strand.

A steel wire rope is presented for use in elevators and lifting applications. The steel wire rope contains a core surrounded by multiple strands. The outer filaments of the core and the outer filaments of the strands are likely to contact one another during used. The outer steel filaments of the core have an average Vickers hardness that is at least 50 Vickers hardness numbers lower than that of the outer filaments of the strands. As the hardness of the outer filaments of the core is substantially lower than that of the outer filaments of the strands, those softer filaments will preferentially abrade away during use. In this way the core is sacrificed while preserving the integrity of the outer filaments of the strands. The use of this ‘sacrificial core’ results in a higher residual breaking load after use.

A steel wire rope is presented for use in elevators and lifting applications. The steel wire rope contains a core surrounded by multiple strands. The outer filaments of the core and the outer filaments of the strands are likely to contact one another during used. The outer steel filaments of the core have an average Vickers hardness that is at least 50 Vickers hardness numbers lower than that of the outer filaments of the strands. As the hardness of the outer filaments of the core is substantially lower than that of the outer filaments of the strands, those softer filaments will preferentially abrade away during use. In this way the core is sacrificed while preserving the integrity of the outer filaments of the strands. The use of this ‘sacrificial core’ results in a higher residual breaking load after use.

A steel cord containing a core layer and an sheath layer, the core layer containing a plurality of core wires with a number of n and the sheath layer comprises a plurality of sheath wires with a number of m, and the steel cord has a flat cross-section with a major axis and a minor axis, the flat cross-section has a flat ratio being the ratio of the length of the major axis and the length of the minor axis, the flat ratio is more than 1.2, the steel cord has a breaking load being BL.sub.cord, the core wires and the sheath wires have a sum breaking load being Sum BL.sub.wires when the core wires and the sheath wires are un-twisted from the steel cord, BL.sub.cord and Sum BL.sub.wires satisfies the following formula: BL.sub.cord/Sum BL.sub.wires>96%. The steel cord has higher breaking load.

A steel cord containing a core layer and an sheath layer, the core layer containing a plurality of core wires with a number of n and the sheath layer comprises a plurality of sheath wires with a number of m, and the steel cord has a flat cross-section with a major axis and a minor axis, the flat cross-section has a flat ratio being the ratio of the length of the major axis and the length of the minor axis, the flat ratio is more than 1.2, the steel cord has a breaking load being BL.sub.cord, the core wires and the sheath wires have a sum breaking load being Sum BL.sub.wires when the core wires and the sheath wires are un-twisted from the steel cord, BL.sub.cord and Sum BL.sub.wires satisfies the following formula: BL.sub.cord/Sum BL.sub.wires>96%. The steel cord has higher breaking load.

A reinforced product, which can be used in particular for the reinforcing of a finished rubber article, comprises one or more textile or metallic reinforcing threads, the said thread or threads being covered individually or collectively with a sheath comprising a sheathing composition comprising one or more block copolymers comprising at least one polyamide block and at least one polyolefin block, the sheathed thread or threads being themselves embedded in a rubber composition.

A cord (50) comprises a single layer (52) of helically wound metal filamentary elements (54). The metal filamentary elements define 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 Dv, Df and Rf being expressed in millimetres, the cord satisfies the following relationships: 9≤Rf/Df≤30 and 1.30≤Dv/Df≤2.10.

A cord (50) comprises a single layer (52) of helically wound metal filamentary elements (54). The metal filamentary elements define 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 Dv, Df and Rf being expressed in millimetres, the cord satisfies the following relationships: 9≤Rf/Df≤30 and 1.30≤Dv/Df≤2.10.

The invention provides a steel cord for rubber reinforcement. The steel cord comprises a core strand and at least three outer strands twisted around the core strand, the core strand comprises at least one first core filament and multiple first outer filaments twisted around the first core filament, each outer strand comprises a number of second filaments, at least one of multiple first outer filaments is preformed prior to being twisted into the core strand, and at least one of second steel filaments is straight prior to being twisted to form each outer strand. The steel cord has improved performance on core filament migration.