Abstract: Apparatus and a method for use in handling a load includes a load-bearing rope and a mechanism for paying out and recovering the rope. There is also a drum for holding a service cable with a length of the service cable extending from the drum. A wrapping device rotates the length of service cable around the rope as the rope is payed out to wrap the service cable around the rope, and to unwrap the service cable from the rope as the rope is recovered.

Abstract: A composite optical element comprises a first optical material and a second optical material joined to one plane of a third optical material. The first and second optical materials are of equal thickness and having ground surfaces flush with each other on both of their principal planes. The first and second optical materials are fixedly joined to one another, and one of the principal planes of the two materials is ground. Then, the ground principal plane of the first and second optical materials is joined to the third optical material. Then, the other principal plane of the first and second optical materials is ground. A preferred embodiment is an optical isolator wherein the first and second optical materials are birefringent materials and are joined to one side of a Faraday rotator having a Faraday rotational angle of approximately 45°, and third and fourth birefringent materials are similarly joined to the other side of the rotator.