Doesnyour town have an endless wire ropeway?
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nWell,nnobody’s town calls their mass transit by this name (darn!),nbut the inventor of the cable car first called his invention annendless wire ropeway!
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nWhennpeople say, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” they meannthat people see a need and create a new device to meet that need. Andnwhen Andrew Smith Hallide saw a horrible accident on the hills of SannFrancisco—a horse working with a team of horses to pull a streetcarnlost its footing on the steep roadway, and fell, resulting in its ownndeath and the death of several other horses!—Hallide knew there hadnto be another way to take people from here to there over those steepnhills! A way that didn’t endanger horses.
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nAndnhis idea involved a sort of rope made of wire.
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That’snwhat the cable in a cable car is, after all. Ropes are made by many,nmany fibers twisted or braided together to make a strong cord, andncables are very similar except, instead of fibers twisted/braidedntogether, cables are made up of twisted/braided metal wires.
That’snwhat the cable in a cable car is, after all. Ropes are made by many,nmany fibers twisted or braided together to make a strong cord, andncables are very similar except, instead of fibers twisted/braidedntogether, cables are made up of twisted/braided metal wires.n
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nSonI love the name “endless wire ropeway”—although I have to admitnthat a 5-syllable name isn’t as handy as a shorter name. n
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Ifnyou’re wondering why today, of all days, is Cable Car Day, this marksnthe anniversary of Hallide’s first cable car railway patent, in 1871.nThat’s 142 years of clang-clang-clang history!
Ifnyou’re wondering why today, of all days, is Cable Car Day, this marksnthe anniversary of Hallide’s first cable car railway patent, in 1871.nThat’s 142 years of clang-clang-clang history!n
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nTakena virtual ride on a cable car here.
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nThis video shows how wire rope cables are made, and this onenshows how normal fiber ropes are made.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nKid Inventors’ Day
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nBenjaminnFranklin’s birthday
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nAnniversarynof the Pope moving back to Rome
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