Rope drive tensioned by an idler pulley, but this system was not used in the UK and each loop was tensioned between its two pulleys by one of them being movable. Rope drives were also cheaper than belts, around a quarter of the price. The rope drives were placed in a large diagonal shaft at the side of the building, usually windowless and distinctively visible from outside the building. Rope drives required a larger such shaft than comparable belt or shaft drives. As the open shaft represented a channel for transmitting fires, unlike the narrow holes of a shaft drive, it needed
Wire rope spooling technology rope smoothly onto the drum. Level winders can be hydraulically or electrically driven and computer controlled, or they can be simple mechanical devices. A mechanical level winder comprises a main shaft (the lead screw) with helical screw grooving along which the rope feeder travels. The rope feeder housing includes two vertical roller bars and one horizontal roller, or alternatively a wire rope sheave. The lateral movement of the housing is generated by a chain drive sprocket ratio between drum and lead screw, as shown in the image. The automatic level winder fitted is designed and engineered to be compatible with