Pulley cable or belt. The drive element of a pulley system can be a rope, cable, belt, or chain. Hero of Alexandria identified the "pulley" as one of six simple machines used to lift weights. Pulleys are assembled to form a block and tackle in order to provide mechanical advantage to apply large forces. Pulleys are also assembled as part of belt and chain drives in order to transmit power from one rotating shaft to another. A set of pulleys assembled so that they rotate independently on the same axle form a block. Two blocks with a rope attached to one
Block and tackle each of the parts of the rope must be "F/n." This means the input force on the rope is "F"="F/n." Thus, the block and tackle reduces the input force by the factor "n." Ideal mechanical advantage correlates directly with velocity ratio. The velocity ratio of a tackle is the ratio between the velocity of the hauling line to that of the hauled load. A line with a mechanical advantage of 4 has a velocity ratio of 4:1. In other words, to raise a load at 1 metre per second, the hauling part of the rope must be pulled at 4