460 



R O P E M A K I N G. 



H-ope- 



making. 



Mr. Chap- 

 man's first 

 patent, 

 1797. 



Mr. Chap- 

 man's se- 

 cond pa- 

 tent, 

 1798. 



Mr. Bal- 

 four's se- 

 cond patent 

 1798. 



Mr. Chap- 

 man's third 

 patent, 

 1798. 



a stationary frame, and as the strand was twisted by 

 the hook of' a sledge, the register advanced towards the 

 stationary frame. To the mass of yarn thus formed 

 into a strand, Mr. Huddart gave an additional twist, 

 by which the strand was shortened, and a compensa- 

 tion made for the effects of a reduction of its diameter 

 by stretching. Mr. Huddart likewise proposed a me- 

 thod of twisting the yarns while they were forming 

 into a strand, in order to counteract the diminution of 

 strength which would have arisen from the untwisting 

 produced by the countertwist of the strand. 



Such was the state of the rope manufacture, when 

 Mr. Chapman of Newcastle took out his first patent 

 for the improvement of cordage, and which was fol- 

 lowed by a series of other patents, which appear to 

 have contributed greatly to the present improved state 

 of the rope manufacture. His first patent, dated in 

 1797, had for its object to dispense with rope grounds, 

 and to reduce the expence of the- manufacture. The 

 strands revolved round their own axis only, and the 

 rope was formed by the revolution of a separate axis on 

 which it was wound. 



Mr. Chapman's second patent, dated 1798, consisted 

 in tarring the yarns so as to cause them all to wind 

 up singly as they came from the tar kettle ; and in 

 making the strand separately by house machinery, 

 and in two distinct methods. The first of these me- 

 thods consisted in having the yarns on separate reels 

 fixed on a platform, supported by the revolving shaft 

 or frame, by which, when the yarns were brought to a 

 focus, the strand was to be twisted, and thence drawn 

 forward and coiled up by machinery in a stationary 

 position. The second method consisted in having the 

 reels in a stationary frame, and conducting the yarns 

 separately into one focus over to a revolving shaft 

 or frame, in which the strand has to be mound up as 

 made, and which cotot (lined the machinery for hauling 

 forward the yarns which composed the strand. The 

 hauling-forward machinery consisted of two rollers on 

 a stationary and separate frame, close to the opening in 

 the top of the revolving shaft, which twisted the yarn 

 prepared for a strand, and contained the reel on which 

 it was wound up. The two rollers by which the yarns 

 were compressed and brought forward, drew them out 

 .to the same length, and prevented the yarn from being 

 twisted into a mass. The strands thus made, were 

 -proved by public experiments to be greatly superior to 

 those rqnde by the old methods. 



In the same year, viz. 1798, Mr. Balfour took out a 

 second patent for improvements on his former method 

 .of manufacturing ropes, which was successfully tried 

 in the king's yards, and for which he received a pre- 

 mium of some thousand pounds from the navy board. 

 The backward motion of the sledge which was in- 

 troduced by Mr. Balfour, and which affords the most 

 simple and perfect method of forming strands, led Mr. 

 Chapman to the idea of regulating the motion of the 

 sledge ; so that for every revolution of the strand the 

 sledge should move backwards through the exact length 

 of axis assigned to it, and thus render the twist uni- 

 form. He therefore took out a patent in 1798, for his 

 method of effecting this, which he thus describes: 

 This object he attained, " by stretching a rope, which 

 he called a ground rope, the whole length of the 

 ropery, and upon the floor of it. This rope was passed, 

 in the form of an S, partially round two or more gropved 

 wheels with horizontal axes, fixed with other apparatus 

 on the common machine for making ropes, technically 

 called a sledge, but which for that purpose is fitted 

 iWith. wheels to travel on a railroad. The grooved 



wheels press against each other to bind the rope, ard Hope- 

 have upon their axes toothed wheels, connecting them making.^ 

 with each other, and finally with the hooks for turn- * 

 ing the strands, which, in this instance, are all turned 

 by one great crank, intervening between the hooks 

 and the wheels appropriated to the backu .ml motion, 

 and connected with the ground rope. Thus when the 

 hooks were turned by the crank, the sledge was also 

 drawn backwards, by the turning of the grooved 

 wheels which received any determinate motion to that 

 of the strand hooks, by means of changeable wheels 

 easily taken off and on. In the preceding instance, 

 the labour of the men is relieved by a rope leading from 

 the sledge to a horse capstan, at the foot of the ropery. 

 In consequence of the ground rope, (which is capable 

 either of drawing the sledge forward, or retarding its 

 motion,) the horse cannot draw the sledge faster than 

 it ought to move ; but his spare power is given in aid 

 of twisting the strands through the intervention of the 

 wheels, which connect that operation with the back- 

 ward motion." 



Several ropeworks were erected under this pntent 

 on the river Tyne, Mr. Chapman having fitted up *ach 

 ropery with all the apparatus for ,560 ; and the rcpes 

 which were made were greatly superior to others. The 

 strands made on the improved principle, were as strong 

 as common made ropes, when the girt of the former was 

 to that of the latter as 7 1 to 94 upon an average of 1 4 

 ropes, from 3 to 10 inches in girt; and the cables were 

 as strong as common made ones, when the girt of the 

 former was to that of the latter as 143 to 189 upon an 

 average of 14 cables, from 5^ to 20 inches in girt. 



In the year 1798, a new kind of rope was introduced Mr. Curr'* 

 by Mr. John Curr of Sheffield, who took up a patent patent flat 

 for " a method of forming and making & flat rope in- r P es ' 

 tended to be used in drawing coals and other minerals "^ 

 and waters out of mines of any kind." These ropes are 

 formed by connecting two or more small ropes sidewise 

 together by sewing or stitching, lapping or interlacing 

 with thread or small ropes. Mr. Curr found it neces- 

 sary to make the component ropes alternately of a right 

 and left hand twist to keep the flat rope in a quiescent 

 state. In the tenth volume of the Repertory of Arts, 

 first series, will be found a description of the machine 

 for stitching the ropes together. 



Mr. Balfour, whose exertions in improving the man- Mr. Bal- 

 ufacture of cordage were indefatigable, took out a third four's third 

 patent in 1799> f r an improvement on his former me- P* teur > 

 thods of making ropes. This patent contains three im- ' ' ' " 

 portant improvements : 



1. He proposes that any number of yarns not above 

 four, shall be wound on each reel, and he has given a 

 method of winding them so as to cause them to unwind 

 equally. This original idea afterwards led to a still 

 greater improvement. 



2. He proposes to spin the hemp when tarred. 



3. In order to prevent loss of time when the spinners 

 are returning, he proposes to have a .wheel at both 

 ends of th<; rope ground, so that in place of returning 

 when they have reached the end of the rope ground, 

 the spinners spin back again. In this case boys take 

 the threads off the hooks and lay them at their length 

 on one side. 



In July 1799> Messrs. W. and E* W. Chapman took Messrs. W. 

 out another patent for a method of applying a steam and . W. 

 engine to the locomotive machinery in rope ground?, Chapman's 

 and for other inventions. The first object of these in- P atent > 

 ventions was to improve the method of spinning the ' 

 yarn by having the fibres of the hemp laid in the yarn 

 in th.e same manner as the yarns themselves are laid in 



