A wire rope serves as a flexible tackle to transmit pulling force over a distance, to perform hauling, hoisting or suspending operation. Wire ropes and slings find variety of applications in engineering industries, construction and material handling. Information about reasons for use of wire ropes, components of a wire rope, construction of wire ropes, strand patterns, lay and lay selection and wire rope manufacturing process is given in this article.Wire ropes are designed to transmit forces longitudinally along their axis. The reasons for use of wire ropes lie in their three main properties as under.Wire rope has very high tensile strength as compared to other types of structural or mechanical systems.A typical wire rope may contain hundreds of individual wires which are formed and fabricated to move or operate at close bearing tolerances with respect to one another. When a wire rope bends, each of its many wires slides and adjusts in the bend to accommodate the difference in length between the inside and the outside bend. Due to this flexibility, it can be wound on reels or packed in coils resulting into easier storing and transportation. Secondly during use, it can be wound on drums and deflected over sheaves or rollers to change the direction of imparted forces.