78 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



strands they are allowed to remain undisturbed till the rope is fin- 

 ished, which maintains an equal tension to the strands, and of 

 course increases the strength. 



KYANIZED ROPE. 



CONSIDERABLE attention has been excited by the Maysville estab- 

 lishment for manufacturing hemp without rotting. Frequent attempts 

 before have failed on account of inefficient machinery, and especially 

 on account of the great liability of this kind of hemp to most offensive 

 putrefaction and speedy decay. Now these difficulties seem to be en- 

 tirely overcome. The hemp is broken out and cleaned without making 

 tow or waste, and the product is carried through a chemical process * 

 called kyanizing, by which it is rendered indestructible from ordinary 

 exposure to weather. This kyanized rope is said to be superior to 

 the Manilla for river purposes, being stronger, more flexible, more 

 durable, wearing smoother, and being more pleasant for boatmen to 

 handle. At the same time, it must be admitted, that before it is used 

 it does not look as well as Manilla, and there is no other cordage in 

 the world that does. It is said to improve in appearance, however, by 

 wear, while the Manilla frays down and wears rough. Here, then, is a 

 use American hemp is applied to, which heretofore required a 

 foreign article. The kyanized rope and kyanized bagging, too, must 

 probably come into use in covering cotton-bales. The dew-rotted 

 rope and bagging gives way too soon, by the exposure which a great 

 deal of the cotton is subjected to, and it arrives at its place of destina- 

 tion in bad order. 



It is stated that hemp can be worked up into both rope and bag- 

 ging so economically and perfectly as to render it certain that the 

 usual manner of working it cannot be much longer used, that rope 

 and bagging can be made cheaper in this ~vvay than by the usual 

 mode. 



Some trials have lately been made at Cincinnati, in order to test the 

 comparative strength of Manilla and this new kyanized rope. A 

 small Manilla rope of the best quality, of Boston manufacture, broke 

 after sustaining a weight of l,520lbs. The kyanized rope manufac- 

 tured in Maysville \vas found to sustain a weight of 2 5 320lbs. before 

 breaking. On a second trial, a Manilla rope of the same size sus- 

 tained 2,200lbs., and the kyanized rope 2,410lbs. Two trials were 

 then made with a larger size of the Manilla rope, manufactured by 

 Bonte, which parted first, with a weight of 2,840lbs., and afterwards 

 with one of 2.7961bs. The large-sized kyanized rope sustained the 

 weight of 3,220lbs. before parting. The average diiference in favor 

 of the kyanized unrotted hemp-rope was, on the first trial, 500lbs., 

 and on the last one, 400 



WOVEN IRON. 



MESSRS. WICKERSHAW & WALKER, of Philadelphia, have a patent 

 right for the manufacture of woven iron. This improvement does 



