The K-Rope

Famed inventor Harvard Kleinman came out of retirement Sunday to celebrate the 70th anniversary of his illustrious K-Rope.  At a special ceremony held at Newark Penn Station, Mayor Booker praised the apparatus, citing its historical impact on transportation in Newark, the United States, and across the globe. 

While today’s advanced K-Rope is well-known to the public, few may recall Kleinman’s original device or even the inventor himself, for that matter. 

“I was miserable,” said Kleinman in a lengthy Time Magazine interview, last year.  “Before the rope, I didn’t have two dimes to my name!”

***

The problem was simple:  reduce the effort and wait times of rail commuters, who, in order to transfer from one train platform to a distant, parallel platform, had to descend a set of stairs, cross underground (in some cities overground), and then climb a second set of stairs.  Kleinman’s solution: “The K-Rope” – a device enabling commuters to swing, Tarzan-like, across the chasm of railroad tracks.

"Testing went on for months and there were some significant safety concerns,” said Kleinman.  “There was the problem of how to hold onto the rope so that anyone could do it, not just Johnny Weissmüller-types.  You couldn’t use straps because a person had to jump off quickly.  Eventually, we came up with the lower plate for passengers to stand on.  And then, of course, there was timing of trains!  Boy – we had close calls!  We were very lucky in that all we ever suffered were scrapes and bruises.  It was very much extremely dangerous work."

Kleinman's team worked exclusively at night.  At first, they were forbidden from all testing because of the danger to trains and on-lookers.  Kleinman's angel came in the form of a two a.m. Shift Operator whose trains were already significantly staggered.  Together, they worked without sanction of the Transit Authority.  Had they been caught they would have likely suffered fines and possible jail time – an irony considering the inventor’s initial rope-building inspiration.

"It was late Summer, ‘41.  I was coming home to New Brunswick – very late at night – and the platform was deserted.   Suddenly, some two-bit thug, a turnstile jumper, bursts onto the platform, running crazy, followed by a couple transit police.  The far end of the platform was gated – and this boy was completely trapped!  Then he saw it.  Dangling from the center girder, high above the tracks, was an old, abandoned construction chain with its tail end hooked onto the nearby platform wall.  Without thinking, this kid unlatches the chain and leaps, swinging across the gap.  Unbelievable!  The police arrive a minute later, completely dumbfounded.  Where’d he go?  Where’d he go?!  But I saw everything.  The possibilities were endless!  And that’s when I got to work."

Of course, that boy, Ronald Snow, would come to plague Kleinman years later, claiming the rope had been his idea and demanding remunerations.

 "He was a petty crook!" said Kleinman.  "Nothing more.  Threats, blackmail, lawsuits.  And where did it get him?  Leavenworth!"

***

In April of 1942, Kleinman's finished rope was formally presented to Mayor Vincent J. Murphy and the Newark City Council.  Kleinman declared that his device would reduce wait times, improve commuter traffic, and generate long term revenues for the city.  Then he presented the rope, itself – a fine, thick, perfectly balanced blend of hybrid hemp fibers grown uniquely for their taut, superior strength. 

“Harvey's designs were strict and exacting,” said original rope team engineer Gerald Nowicki.  “We could only use the specific fibers Harvey imported – strong enough to hold in excess of 500 pounds – yet fluid enough to carry a man across a pit of seventy or eighty feet.  We erected a series of pulleys, chains, and guide ropes, all carefully weighted and balanced.  People think we just threw ropes up there!  But Harvey was a mechanics whiz and his designs were flawless.”