Talk:Ronquières inclined plane

winches?[edit]

The article states "8 cables wound by winches". I am not an engineer, but I feel that the word "winch" is inaccurate. To my knowledge, a winch is a drum that winds up (reels) the cable. A drum that is merely used to move the cable should probably be called a "capstan". Owigger (talk) 07:58, 18 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I think the use of the word winch is fine. Capstans also have a vertical axis. Oreo Priest ^talk 20:11, 25 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A winch consistes of a drum to which one end of a cable is permanently attached. Winding the drum causes the rest of the cable to be wound onto the drum - for example a crane will normally raise its hook with a winch.

A capstan is a drum over which one or more turns are taken from the middle of a cable. As the drum is rotated, the friction between the cable and the drum causes the cable to be pulled. The "slack" end must be held with some tension to prevent the turns from slipping - for example a ship's anchor is raised by a capstan, although that particular variation is now normally called a windlass!

Winches and windlasses can be horizonal or vertical. A capstan, by its earlier use as a means of raising large sailing ship anchors, is normally vertical and was then powered by men pushing on poles inserted into the top of the capstan's drum

In the case of the workings at Ronquieres, the mechanism is a capstan, with the "slack" end being tensioned by the under-caison counterbalance weights. -Peter — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.52.14.33 (talk) 15:47, 20 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Ok. Go ahead and change it if you think it's more accurate. Oreo Priest ^talk 19:54, 21 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]