A rope is usually formed of three or four strands, each strand composed of a number of yarns laid parallel and slightly twisted together. Making these strands is "forming." As the strand is twisted it is wound on a large reel and appears as a smooth, round strand composed of a number of individual yarns. This is known as the "ready." The yarn has a tendency to untwist; to overcome this the twist of the ready or strand is made in the opposite direction. The result is that the tendency of the yarn to untwist in one direction, and the tendency of the ready to untwist in the other direction balance each other.
The rope-making operation is "laying." In laying the rope, three or four of the reels containing the readies or strands are put on the laying machine, and the strands are led through a "block," wound around the capstan, and reeled on the finishing end of the laying machine. In laying there is a different problem, for the ready is neutral—that is, it has no tendency to untwist—and if the readies were twisted together without alter ing this neutral condition the rope would continually untwist. So
an extra twist is added to the ready as it is passed into the ma chine, this twist being computed so that it will be just sufficient to counteract the tendency of the three strands to untwist when they are formed into a rope. All good rope is absolutely neutral; if cut off in 5 to io ft. lengths and laid on the ground, it will not untwist of its own accord.
Cable-laid rope consists of three completed ropes, nine of the simple strands which form an ordinary rope. The same method of balancing the twisting strands is used, an additional twist or foreturn being given to the three-strand ropes just be fore they are laid up, so that their tendency to untwist in one direction shall exactly counterbalance the tendency of the cable to untwist in the opposite direction.