TECHNOLOGY

At New England Ropes, quality and service go into every product we make. Every decision we make is intended to improve the quality of our products or our customers' experience with New England Ropes.

We are proud of our commitment to quality and excellence. In 1999, we earned certification to the ISO9001 quality standard. The practices we put into place for this designation help to ensure that our products and service meet customer expectations time after time after time. Every year, external auditors evaluate our performance and share information regarding best practices. It's a system of continuous improvement that we embrace.

We also subscribe to the safety standards developed and enforced by government and industry agencies in which our products are used. We recognize these industries to be experts in the safe use of our products and we ensure that our products meet their exacting specification. For instance, we were the first North American rope manufacturer to obtain UIAA certification on a climbing rope. In addition, our products meet or exceed (where applicable) safety specifications for a number of organizations including:

UIAA (Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme). An international body that encourages mountaineering for the young, develops international standards, raises awareness about safety, and protects the environment. Today the UIAA is the recognized International Federation and the acknowledged expert on all international climbing and mountaineering matters.

NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) whose mission is to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on the quality of life by providing and advocating consensus codes and standards, research, training, and education.

CE (Conformité Européene). CE Marking on a product is a manufacturer's declaration that the product complies with the essential requirements of the relevant European health, safety and environmental protection legislation, in practice by many of the so-called product directives. A Product Directive contains the "essential requirements" and/or "performance levels" and "Harmonized Standards" to which the products must conform. Harmonized Standards are the technical specifications (European Standards or Harmonization Documents) which are established by several European standards agencies (CEN, CENELEC, etc).

UL (Underwriters Laboratory) If a product carries the UL Listed Mark, it means UL found that representative samples of this product met UL's safety requirements. These requirements are primarily based on UL's own published Standards for Safety. This type of Mark is seen commonly on appliances and computer equipment, furnaces and heaters, fuses, electrical panelboards, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems, personal flotation devices like life jackets and life preservers, bullet resistant glass, and thousands of other products.

ANSI (American National Standards Institute) whose mission is to enhance both the global competitiveness of U.S. business and the U.S. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems, and safeguarding their integrity.

Additionally, New England Ropes is a member of the Cordage Institute, and we actively participate in the development and publishing of standards for quality and performance relating to cordage products.

Choosing the right fiber.

One of the building blocks of any line, regardless of ultimate use, is fiber. We feel that it is important for you, as the end-user expecting certain performance, to have a basic understanding of the characteristics of the various fibers used in the manufacture of rope today. The table below will help.

So where should these fibers be used?

Nylon: Applications where strength and shock absorption are important i.e. dock and anchor lines.

Polyester: Situations where strength, low stretch, and durability are key i.e. most running rigging applications.

HMPE, Aramids, and LCP: These are all generic fiber types. HMPE refers to Dyneema or Spectra; Aramids refer to Kevlar, Technora and Twaron, while LCP refers to Vectran. These are all considered very high performance fibers exhibiting very high strength and extremely low stretch but come with a high price tag. Generally found on very serious racing sailboats and larger yachts for running rigging.

Polypropylene: Applications where lightweight or very low cost is important such as light air spinnaker sheets or barrier rope for swimming.

As an ISO 9001 accredited manufacturer, our commitment is to utilize all our resources to maintain our position as one of the leading innovators in rope performance and technology. At New England Ropes we select only the highest quality fiber from leading worldwide suppliers.

Putting it all together.

At New England Ropes we utilize many different types of constructions. Most people recognize three strand, single braid and double braid as the basic methods of twisting or braiding fibers into a finished line. The process of twisting fibers by its very nature reduces strength and increases stretch. At New England Ropes, we pioneered a fourth construction technique called parallel (fiber) core construction (Sta-Set X). By keeping the fibers in parallel, we align the fibers with little or no twist. Our patented construction technique of wrapping the core and braiding a cover produces a line that will have higher strength and significantly less stretch than a comparable single or double braid. Innovation, experience, and high standards of quality are what set New England Ropes apart from the field.

The challenge is to blend the fiber's characteristics and our years of design and manufacturing experience into finished products that perform to your exacting standards. Those standards depend on your particular application and expectations.

Predictability and control of strength, stretch and durability are the ultimate goals for rope performance of all boaters. Our choice of materials, construction techniques and years of experience makes New England Ropes the leader in rope technology.

It begins with the customer and ends with the finished product.

New England Ropes constantly measures product performance through our on-site laboratory and testing facility. We evaluate supplier claims on fiber quality and strength before we even begin using it in our manufacturing processes. Our experienced Research & Development team constantly finds and evaluates new fiber and manufacturing technologies and processes to bring our customers the latest in rope design.

Our lab is equipped with state of the art equipment including drop test equipment for UIAA falls testing on our dynamic climbing ropes and both vertical and horizontal tensile test machines that measure the maximum tensile strengths of our other products. The machines can load our ropes up to 400,000 pounds! Then these results are measured and averaged according to industry standards and reported on this website and in all of our literature. To ensure that tensile strength, linear density, and other specifications are within prescribed tolerances before they are inventoried or shipped to our customers, we have a system in place to routinely test our products in the lab against our published specs.

We also use technology to ensure all of our life safety ropes are of the finest quality. Laser micrometers evaluate miles of rope a year to detect even trace amounts of lumps, broken or frayed strands, and other defects. Then all of these ropes are inspected a second time by hand to ensure only the highest quality products are placed into service.

The bottom line.

New England Ropes products are made from the finest raw materials by expert craftsmen. Our design engineers, product development team, and technology is second to none. When you purchase a rope or cordage product with the New England Ropes brand name, you can be assured you have the finest quality product available.

That's performance. Guaranteed.

Consult New England Ropes Spool Calculator to determine the length of rope able to fit on a winch drum or rope puller.