Pulleys

Discover our collection of pulleys at Cromwell. We stock a variety of pulleys to suit your needs in a selection of sizes and finishes from well known brands, like Perry® and Matlock®.

Why buy pulleys?

Pulleys provide great support to heavier lifting applications. While some force is still needed to lift an item, the pulley mechanism takes a lot of the strain and makes lifting and moving heavy equipment much safer for the operator. They also allow for quick changes in direction, which can be very helpful when transferring stock into high storage or loading items for transport.

Pulley types

• Block and tackle pulley   -   Similar to a compound pulley, a block and tackle features a fixed pulley that acts upon a moveable pulley. These pairs are aligned parallel to one another and there can be several pairs in one system, which offers significant mechanical advantage.

• Compound pulley   -   This system consists of one fixed pulley that acts on a moveable pulley. This doubles mechanical advantage and allows for more lifting power and an easy change in direction.

• Cone pulley   -   This type of pulley features a series of pulley wheels fitted side-by-side in decreasing size order to form the shape of a cone. This allows for the operator to switch between each pulley wheel to adjust the speed and effort required to lift an object.

• Fixed pulley   -   This pulley offers no mechanical advantage in that it requires the same amount of downward force as the weight of the object to achieve lifting. The pulley wheel is mounted or fixed into place with a housing and axle and redirects the force on the rope to lift the object.

• Moveable pulley   -   This type of pulley sees the wheel attached directly to the object to be lifted via the housing. It requires upward force and moves the pulley system along with the object. A moveable pulley offers a 2:1 mechanical advantage.

FAQs

How does a pulley work?

A basic pulley system is fairly simple and includes a pulley wheel with a groove around its circumference. This is mounted into a housing which includes an axle on which the wheel will turn when the rope, chain or suspension cord fed around the wheel is pulled.

Incorporating more wheels into the pulley system will feed the rope around each one, which in turn increases the mechanical advantage to the operator.

What's the difference between a pulley and a winch?

There are a lot of differences between a pulley and a winch. A winch is a coil of metal cable with a hook on the end that is used to pull or tow a heavy item, like a car across a horizontal plain. A pulley, on the other hand, features multiple components and is used to lift an item vertically.