Pulley

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This article is about the mechanical concept and device. For other uses, see Pulley
(disambiguation).
Pulley

Pulleys on a ship. In this context, pulleys are normally known as blocks.

Classification Simple machine
Industry Construction, transportation
Wheels 1
Axles 1
A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft that is designed to support movement and change of
direction of a taut cable or belt, or transfer of power between the shaft and cable or belt. In the case
of a pulley supported by a frame or shell that does not transfer power to a shaft, but is used to guide
the cable or exert a force, the supporting shell is called a block, and the pulley may be called a
sheave.
A pulley may have a groove or grooves between flanges around its circumference to locate the 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.[1]
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.[2][3]

Contents
 1 Block and tackle
 2 Rope and pulley systems
 2.1 Method of operation
 2.2 Free body diagrams
  3 Belt and pulley systems
 4 See also
 5 References
 6 External links

Block and tackle

Various ways of rigging a tackle.[4]

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 of the blocks and threaded through the two sets of pulleys form a
block and tackle.[5][6]
A block and tackle is assembled so one block is attached to fixed mounting point and the other is
attached to the moving load. The ideal mechanical advantage of the block and tackle is equal to the
number of parts of the rope that support the moving block.
In the diagram on the right the ideal mechanical advantage of each of the block and tackle
assemblies[4] shown is as follows:
 Gun tackle: 2
 Luff tackle: 3
 Double tackle: 4
 Gyn tackle: 5
 Threefold purchase: 6
Rope and pulley systems

Pulley in oil derrick

A hoist using the compound pulley system yielding an advantage of 4. The single fixed pulley is
installed on the hoist (device). The two movable pulleys (joined together) are attached to the hook.
One end of the rope is attached to the crane frame, another to the winch.
A rope and pulley system—that is, a block and tackle—is characterised by the use of a single
continuous rope to transmit a tension force around one or more pulleys to lift or move a load—the
rope may be a light line or a strong cable. This system is included in the list of simple machines
identified by Renaissance scientists.[7][8]
If the rope and pulley system does not dissipate or store energy, then its mechanical advantage is the
number of parts of the rope that act on the load. This can be shown as follows.
Consider the set of pulleys that form the moving block and the parts of the rope that support this
block. If there are p of these parts of the rope supporting the load W, then a force balance on the
moving block shows that the tension in each of the parts of the rope must be W/p. This means the
input force on the rope is T=W/p. Thus, the block and tackle reduces the input force by the factor p.


A gun tackle has a single pulley in both the fixed and moving blocks with two rope parts
supporting the load W.

Separation of the pulleys in the gun tackle show the force balance that results in a rope
tension of W/2.

A double tackle has two pulleys in both the fixed and moving blocks with four rope parts
supporting the load W.

Separation of the pulleys in the double tackle show the force balance that results in a rope
tension of W/4.