C H A I N W O R K. 



7 >' 



Network, prosecution of the fisheries. The inventor has been 

 * V formerly practically employed in Mperiatending and 

 constructing machinery, novel in its principle, and 

 vastly more complicated in its various operations than 

 \\liat is here proposed, and has consequently the less 

 difficulty in estimating both the attendant obstacles, 

 and ultimate practicability of his plan, subject to those 

 variations, adaptations, and improvements of the par- 

 ticular parts, which experience alone will point out 

 in their practical effects, and perseverance only will 

 remo 



Of the general principle by which labour is to be ob- 

 \i;ited, it may be proper to say something, previous- 

 ly to entering into the particular details of the va- 

 rious parts of the proposed machine, and a descrip- 

 tion of the explanatory drawings which conclude the 

 article. 



Many species of reticulation, besides that exclu- 

 sively adapted to the manufacture of fishing nets, 

 have been already effected by the agency of machi- 

 nery. Of these, the lace and stocking manufac- 

 ture are, perhaps, the most prominent and exten- 

 sive. That species of ornamental work called tam- 

 bouring, is also a branch of the same. For the con- 

 struction of machinery adapted to this branch, the 

 inventor of the present plan some years ago obtained 

 his majesty's letters patent, and the business is still 

 conducted by those with whom he was connected in 

 the invention. These circumstances naturally led 

 him to consider, with some attention, all these various 

 branches of the art, the practical purposes for which 

 they were intended, and the shades of difference 

 which subsisted between them. This circumstance 

 led to that train of reflection which has produced 

 this invention. The great distinction between the 

 manufacture of nets for the fisheries, and other 

 branches of reticulation, it is apprehended, consists 

 chiefly in the manner of knotting ; but the great re- 

 quisite in fishing nets, is the complete fastening of 

 the knots which connect the meshes, so that no fish 

 may be allowed to escape, whether enclosed by haul- 

 ing, or seized by the gills, in attempting to force a 

 passage through the intersections of a stationary net. 

 In no other species of reticulation, hitherto attempt- 

 ed by the agency of machinery, has this particular 

 ever been deemed of paramount importance; and, 

 consequently, the inventors of all the others have 

 been contented with adopting slip knots, or loops 

 sufficiently adapted to the objects which they had in 

 view, but by no means so for the fisheries. The mesh 

 knot, used in weaving fishing nets by the common o- 

 peration, might certainly be tried by machinery, butit 

 is by no means well adapted for dispatch ; and, were 

 the machine to proceed by one mesh at a time, no be- 

 nefit whatever could accrue from the invention. Pre- 

 suming, therefore, that any other knot which is not 

 liable to slip, might be substituted for the mesh knot, 

 the inventor, in the first place, bent his attention to 

 analyse the various kinds of fast knots in use, espe- 

 cially those preferred by mariners, which he concei- 

 ved to be the best adapted to his purpose. Among 

 these he selected what is called the ring knot ; both 

 because it Is equally fast with the mesh knot, and is 

 also better adapted to the weaving of nets by ma- 

 chinery, although by no means equally so, for work- 

 ing them by single meshes. The ring knot, is call- 

 ed also thejisher's knot, and is that used for connect- 

 8 



ing lines of horse hair employed in angling. If, *c~ Nattwdc, 

 !mg to our former supposition, the wrbt from '""""*'' 

 which nets are afterwards to be fornu-d, consist of 

 meshrj, the diagonals of which an- two inches each, 

 and the whole breadth of each web is to be S' 



ugluh yard, it follows, that 18 methtt 

 will be contained in the breadth ; and it wa pre- 

 mised, that, assuming this for the scale of a first ex- 

 periment, these 18 mesheg are to be formed and knot- 

 ted at one and the same time, by the operation of the 

 machine. From the diagonal form in which the 

 meshes succeed each other, that part which, for dis- 

 tinction's bake, may be called the mesh frame, may 

 therefore consist of 18 compartments, one being al- 

 lowed for each mesh, and these might be variously 

 constructed. One mode, which seems sufficiently 

 well adapted for the purpose, is represented by Fi- 

 gures 1 and 'J, Plate CXXXIX. as it appear* in an 

 elevated state ; and its hori/.ontal appearance, viewed 

 from above, is given in Figures 3 and 4> of the came 

 Plate. Perhaps, however, these may be better under* 

 stood after a cursory description of Fig. 5. wbich PLATK 

 contains a horizontal plan of thf principal part* of t XXXIX. 

 the machinery, and of Fig. 6. which contains au ele- F| S* 5>6 ' 

 vation of the front part. It may here be premised, 

 that the twine, or cordage, previously to the com- 

 mencement of the process of weaving, is to.be wound 

 upon a certain number of bobbins of a particular con- 

 struction ; and when the reticulation is completed, the 

 finished net work is received upon a roller or beam, 

 from which it may be cut in such lengths as are best 

 adapted to the proposed dimensions of the intended 

 nets, so as to avoid waste or remnants ; at AA, 

 Fig. 5. appear the two side rails which compose the Fig. 5. 

 upper part of the framing of the machine. At DB, 

 is the receiving roller, or beam, upon which the net 

 is to be received when finished ; and at CC are two 

 ratchet wheels to regulate its motion. At DD is 

 the mesh frame for forming the knots ; and st F and 

 G are cross rails of wood, which serve to regulate the 

 motions of the twine while forming the meshes. In 

 Fig. 6. A A are two of the upright posts wbich sup- F'S- * 

 port the framing, and of which there are four. BB 

 is a cross horizontal rail of wood, which serves as a 

 framing for the bushes in which the spindles or axes 

 which support the meeh frames revolve. The par- 

 ticulars of the construction of the mesh frames, or 

 moulds, will be the subject of future description. In 

 this plan, nine of them appear between F and F, 

 which is the number required for a net of 18 inches 

 in breadth, the diagonal measure of each mesh b 

 supposed two inches when equally distended L 

 ways in the form of a diamond. At C is another 

 cross rail, perpeudicularly under that at B, which 

 supports the lower extremity of the spindles. At 

 DD is a third cross rail, the use of which is to con- 

 tain a number of sheaves or pullies, by which the 

 cords or bands which move the spindles are directed ; 

 and at EE appears the end of a vibrating frame, 

 which communicates a rotatory motion to the spindles, 

 by means to be afterwards explained. These form 

 the principal parts necessary for the machine* the re- 

 spective uses of which it may now be proper to ex- 

 plain at more length. 



The principal part of the whole, and that to the 

 accuracy and regularity of whose motions it will be 

 necessary to pay the most sedulous attention, is that 



