250 



COKDAGE. 



the size of the sliver, arrange the fibers that 

 compose it smoothly side by side, and deliver it 

 at last in a continuous band, which falls natu- 

 rally into coils in a box as it leaves the ma- 

 chine. When the box is full, the sliver is 

 severed and the box is wheeled away to the 



this way is commonly known as " patent cord- 

 age " as distinguished from the old-fashioned 

 irregularly laid varieties. 



The bobbin-stand and the perforated plates 

 just described are at one end of the "rope- 

 walk," a name appropriately derived from the 



Down. Track. 



FIG. 3. A ROPE-WALK. 



A, bobbin-frame ; B, yarns leading from the bobbins ; C, a row of perforated plates (see also Fig. 4); D, strands 

 or readies ; E, winch, similar to C, Fig. 2 ; F, a fixed pin, to which the readies (f ) are attached when hard twisted. 

 The car moves with the arrow. K, point of attachment for the readies when about to be laid up ; I, readies reach- 

 ing from end to end of the walk ; H, the top (see also D, Fig. 2) ; G is the finished rope. The car moves with the 

 arrow. 



"spinner," where it is again passed over 

 toothed brands, which further reduce it, and 

 suffer it, when it contains the proper number 

 of fibers, to enter a tube, on emerging from 

 which it receives a twist to the right and is at 

 once converted into yarn and wound upon 

 large spools or bobbins ready to be sent to 

 the rope-walk or the machine-room. In the 

 former case they are set upon a frame as at 

 A, Fig. 3. 



At this point one of the chief differences 

 between old and new methods comes in. 

 Hand-made rope assembles the yarns in a 

 strand, but a yarn that begins on the outside 

 of a strand may find its way to the inside and 

 out again, thus varying the strain to which it 

 may be subjected. In modern machinery the 

 yarns, B, are led from the bobbins through 

 holes in circular plates at C, Fig. 3, and shown 

 in detail in Fig. 4. The holes, made large 

 enough to permit the free passage of the yarns, 

 are bored in concentric circles as shown. 

 Through them the yarns pass to a tube the 

 exact size of the required strand, and then re- 

 ceive the twist from left to right that lays them 

 together in their permanent relation (D, Fig. 3). 

 Obviously the yarns that pass through the 

 outer circles of holes will remain on the out- 

 side of the strand, and in like manner each of 

 the concentric circles of perforations delivers 

 its own layer of yarns, so that each yarn has 

 its place marked out for it through the entire 

 length of the strand. Eope that is made in 



methods followed by the rope-makers of an- 

 tiquity, as seen on the sculptured tombs of 

 Thebes. Rope- walks are often 1,000 to 2,000 

 feet long. The one at the Charlestown (Mass ) 

 Navy- Yard is 1,360 feet long, and in them the 

 best cordage is always made. Devices for 

 dispensing with the " walk " are used, but 

 their product, until recently, was, in techni- 

 cal parlance, " dead " as compared with the 

 product of the rope walk. An expert recog- 



FIG. 4. PERFORATED PLATES. 



nizes machine-made rope in an instant, even 

 without touching it, but there is no recog- 

 nized difference in the market price. 



After passing through the plates and tubes 

 just described, the strands are attached to 

 swivel-hooks on a frame similar to the rope- 

 maker's winch previously described, but in 

 this case mounted on a car (E, Fig. 3), and 

 the ends are drawn away by machinery down 

 the rope-walk, the hooks revolving at a furious 



