ROPE MAKING. 



.Mr. Sylvfi 

 Mipe 



. :ne, 



Mr. Sey- 

 mour's pa- 

 tent, 1784. 



Mr. Cart- 



p:)tflit COr- 



.Mr. 1-V 



thcrgill's 

 patent rope 

 machine, 



I'l.ATE 



l-l-rCI.VXXII. 



J-'i. I- 



the rope manufacture till the end of the lout century, 

 win n various successful attempts were made not only 

 to improve the quality of ropes, but to facilitate the 

 pnxvss tit' making tin-in. 



Wr .'hull now endeavour to give an account of these 

 import-nit improvements, taking lor our guide M r. ( liap- 

 inan's 7 ///;.w on t'tr /'//<- M-A.v/Vr ,-'i-l, .r.o-trx to improve 

 I/if Ma ni< J',ict u><- tfitl DiiKiiiott (>t Cordage. 



So early as 17H3, Mr. Sylvester proposed to super- 

 sede the iitcrssity of a rope ground, l>y employing n 

 machine, of which he deposited a model with the So- 

 ciety of Art", which we have had occasion to examine. 

 In order that the manufacture might be carried on in 

 a house, he spun the thread on a bobbin and spindle, 

 and the yarns which composed the strands were wound 

 on three separate reels fixed on frames, which turned 

 individually round their axis, and also round a com- 

 mon centre, in consequence of which motions they were 

 twisted into a rope, which was to be wound up as it 

 was made. Mr. Chapman mentions, that the defect of 

 the machine was, that Jhe process of making the 

 strands, and twisting them into a rope, was performed 

 by two successive operations as in a rope ground, por- 

 tions of the threads being first made, and these por- 

 tions afterwards combined into a rope. Our recollec- 

 tion of the machine, however, is, that both operations 

 were performed at the same time. 



Be this as it may, however, the invention was given 

 gratuitously to the public, and as the inventor took out 

 no patent, it was never carried into effect, the gene- 

 ral result of most inventions, where no inducement is 

 held out to bring them into actual practice. 



In 1784, Mr. Benjamin Seymour took out a patent 

 for a new method of making ropes ; but this seems to 

 have been nothing more than the substitution of horses 

 in place of men, for driving the machinery then in use. 



The Rev. E. Cartwright took a patent in 1792, for 

 his Cordelier, a machine for making ropes. This in- 

 vention appears to have been the same as Mr. Sylves- 

 ter's ; but differed from it, according to Mr. Chapman, 

 in the circumstance of the motions for twisting the 

 strands, and making the rope, going on at the same 

 time. 



The advantages of making ropes by machinery seems 

 to have been considered so great, that the attention of 

 many ingenious individuals was about this time direct- 

 ed to the subject. 



In the year 1793, no fewer than three patents were 

 taken out for improved methods of making ropes. Mr. 

 11. Fothergill, of Sunderland, secured by patent, in 

 1793, his invention of a method of heckling and pre- 

 paring the hemp, and of spinning it into rope yarn, 

 and of a machine for making the rope. This machine, 

 which we have represented in Plate CCCCLXXXII. 

 Fig. 1. is on the same principle as Mr. Cartwright's. 

 The object of it was, to make ropes without the neces- 

 sity of a rope ground, and to diminish the labour of the 

 manufacturer. In the perspective view of this ma- 

 chine given in the figure, A represents the platform, 

 by the revolutions of which the three strands are twist- 

 ed into a rope at their place of junction B, from which 

 it is drawn forward at C as it is made by the revolu- 

 tion of the wheel D. The three separate reels that 

 contain the strands are shown at E, E, E, and contain 

 the proper number and length of yarns necessary for a 

 strand. These reels revolve round their individual 

 axes, at the same time that they are all carried round 

 by the frame A, which supports them. For a drawing 

 of Mr. Fothergill's machinery for slivering and draw- 

 ing out the hemp, and of his yarn spindle and bobbin, 



we must refer the reader to Mr. Chapman's work, al- 

 ready quoted. This machinery was erected on a very 

 large scale at Southwick, on the river Wear. 



In the same year, Mr. J. D. Balfour, of Elstneor, Mr. B*l- 

 took out a patent for " a new invented machine for four'ip*- 

 manufacturing ropes and cordage." The principal ob- '>< ' ''' 

 ject ot '.Mr. H -Hour's invention was, to remedy the de- 

 fect in the usual method of making the strand ; in con- 

 sequence of which, a given number of spirals round a 

 large cylinder, must require a greater length of yarn 

 than the same number of spirals formed round a small 

 cylinder, having its axis of the same length as the 

 large one. 



In order to avoid this evil, Mr. Balfour stretched out 

 at length upon a rope ground all the yarns which were 

 to compose the strand, to the same length as the pro- 

 posed strand. The remaining length of the yarns, or 

 the excess of the length of the yarns above the requir- 

 ed length of the strand, was to be wound up on as 

 many bobbins as there were yarns placed upon a large 

 frame. The yarns were separated at intervals through- 

 out their whole length from the frame to the com- 

 mencement, where they all united either through holes 

 arranged in concentric circles, or round the notches of 

 an apparatus, which he called a top minor. The whole 

 of the yarns were then twisted at that end, the top 

 minor retiring as the twist advanced. As the yarns at 

 the opposite end would remove from the bobbins no 

 more than was necessary from their position in the in- 

 ternal or external part of the spiral, they would ot' 

 course be of different lengths. " This plan," says Mr. 

 Chapman, " was very ingenious, and had much merit 

 in its principle, although defective in stopping short of 

 what would effect the ultimate purpose of causing all 

 the yarns to bear alike on breaking the rope. Before a 

 rope is brought to its breaking stress, both it and the 

 strands composing it are much elongated, and their 

 diameters greatly reduced. Now, under any reduc- 

 tion of diameter of strand, it is apparent that the 

 outside coat of yarns must slacken considerably, and 

 give no support to the internal yarns, which, from the 

 smallness of the spiral, could elongate but little, and 

 must of course break in succession from the centre 

 outwards. In addition to this defective circumstance, 

 the mode of operation was so complex and laborious, 

 as to prevent its adoption. This invention of Mr. Bal- 

 four's, though defective and nugatory, has nevertheless 

 been the basis of all future improvements." 



The defect in Mr. Bal four's method was very ingeni- j jr j, lHj 

 ously supplied by Mr. Joseph Huddart of Islington's dari' 6 fir>t 

 " new mode of making great cables, and other cordage, patent, 

 so as to obtain a greater degree of strength therein, 179;i - 

 by a more equal distribution of strain upon the yarn.-. 

 This method was secured by patent, in 1793, and was 

 suggested by a practice which Mr. Huddart had seen 

 among the negroes in the West Indies, in making line* 

 of a certain description. Behind the top minor of M r. 

 Balfour, Mr. Huddart places a tube, consisting of two 

 parts, divided longitudinally, and overlapping each 

 other. These tubes, made of thin steel, and brought 

 to a spring temper, may be more or less compressed. 

 Mr. 1 1 uddart's top minor consists of a plate, perforated 

 with a proper number of holes for the yarns, arranged 

 in concentric circles ; and at a distance from the plate, 

 sufficient to allow the yarns to be easily concentrated, 

 is placed the above-mentioned tube, which is connected 

 with a register, which indicates the proper angle of 

 twist during that process, and regulates the increased 

 angle of the next process. The reels which held the 

 yarns, were placed at the head of the rope ground iu 



