catenarian

When the wire was bent into other forms and moved, equally strong effects were obtained, especially when instead of a rectangle a double catenarian curve was formed of it on one side of the galvanometer, and the two single curves or halves were swung in opposite directions at the same time; their action then combined to affect the galvanometer: but all the results were reducible to those above described.

Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 Michael Faraday 1829

To say another word of the catenarian arch, without caring about mathematical demonstrations, its nature proves it to be in equilibrio in every point.

Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 Thomas Jefferson 1784

He cultivated the mathematical sciences with indefatigable diligence, discovered many useful theorems, discussed with great accuracy the resistance of fluids, and, though his priority was not generally acknowledged, was the first who fully explained all the properties of the catenarian curve.

The Rambler, sections 171-208 (1751-1752); The Adventurer, sections 34-108 (1753); from The Works of Samuel Johnson, in Sixteen Volumes, Volume IV 1751

He cultivated the mathematical sciences with indefatigable diligence, discovered many useful theorems, discussed with great accuracy the resistance of fluids, and, though his priority was not generally acknowledged, was the first who fully explained all the properties of the catenarian curve.

The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 03 The Rambler, Volume II Samuel Johnson 1746