Apparatus and method for automated braiding of square rope and rope product produced thereby

Abstract From the Canadian patent

An apparatus automatically braids a plurality of rope forming strands onto a center core member in a braiding pattern that causes the resulting rope to have a generally square shaped cross section. The braiding extends are fed to a braiding point on the center core member from a plurality of eight strand feed assemblies which are transported on a mechanism in two distinct but crossing orbits that encircle the center core member. The constituent strands are themselves formed by prebraided or pretwisted substrands or filaments to cause the resulting rope to exhibit pronounced ribs along the corners of the square cross section for a secure hand-to-rope grip.