Winch. Mechanical device, powered manually or by an electric motor, designed to lift and move large loads.
Summary
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- 1 Description
- 2 Use
- 3 Other uses
- 4 Sources
Description
A winch (or winch) is a mechanical device, powered manually or by an electric motor, designed to lift and move large loads. It consists of a rotating roller , around which a cable or a rope is wound, causing movement in the load attached to the other side of it. On manual winches, cross bars at the ends of the rotating cylinder allow the necessary force to be applied. They are an integral part, among other things, of nautical equipment .
Use
The use of winches is also extended to a wide variety of industrial tasks, among which is mining . In mining, winches are used to extract materials and personnel in cages or wagon trains from inside the mine . In the case of cages, the winches are arranged on the vertical well shaft, and allow the lifting of a mining cage vertically. In the case of wagon trains, the winches allow them to be pulled by means of a steel cable or other device, rolling the wagon train on the inclined surface.
Other uses
Other applications of winches can be the lifting of materials to hoppers in the cement, metallurgical and mineral industries, or the operation of production chains and belts in the industry.
