Abstract: A compact rope stretcher maintains the tension in an endless rope used for threading a web in a papermaking machine and includes a beam having parallel flanges forming tracks which are engaged by guide wheels supporting separate carriages. The carriages support corresponding rope sheaves for free rotation, and a pair of fluid cylinders are mounted on the beam and have piston rods connected directly to the corresponding carriages. The rope sheave on each carriage has at least two peripheral grooves to receive a double loop of the rope, and the frame supports a corresponding multiple groove sheave for each of the carriage sheaves and for also receiving a double loop of the rope.