R P R M A K I N G 



161 



Rope- 

 making. 



Mr. Hud- 



duri's se- 

 cond patent, 

 1799. 



the strand. 1 he machinery fur thin purpose consists 

 only of a spindle divided into two parts, the upper con- 

 turning apparatus to draw forward the hemp from the 

 spimuTwiih twist sufficient to combine the fibres, which 

 nuhled them to employ women, children, and inva- 

 .il to appropriate the rope ground lor the pur- 

 i laying rope* Another o!>j rt of the pa 1 

 was to give to the yarns in the net i;!' their bring spun, 

 tl'-it cotnitfr-tv.-i^t M tint of the strand, whic; 

 Huddart in IIH intent of 17f)<), had given them during 

 the operation of miking the strand. Mr. Chapman 

 j>r> hieed this <'!fi-rt cither by dividing the spindle, 

 and giving it two separate motions, or by two separate 

 tions, the last of which methods was preferred. 



Mr Jimes Mitehel of 1'oplar took out a patent in 



lor " a method of manufacturing cnbles, hawsers, 



or strand laid ropes, &c. on n scientific' principle." 



Tin's principle consists in slightly twi-ting a small 



number of yarns together previously to the formation 



of the strand, and those slightly twisted spts of yarns 



were united in the strand as so many single yarns. 



v.-ns a happy improvement on the idea of Mr. Ii.:l- 



r >iu , %vho overlooked the propriety of giving the yarns 



upon his reels a slight twist. 



In the snme year, Mr. J. Grimshaw took out a patent 

 which embraced four objects. 1. That of splitting the 

 hemp previous to spinning. 2. That of winding up 

 the yarns. 3. That of preparing the yarns for tarring, 

 and 1, That of laying the ropes and the strands. To 

 accomplish the first of these objects, he makes the heads 

 of hemp, when spread out, ^pass through conical fluted 

 rollers of the form of truncated cones, before they come 

 to the rotative heckles, so that by this means the hemp 

 is very equally mixed. In winding up the yarns and 

 preparing them for tarring, he uses a long cylindrical 

 barrel which contains the whole length to be tarred at 

 once. Before the tarring tikes place the yarns fire drawn 

 from the cylinder, and coiled away in a revolving tub, 

 so that the mass of yarns are twisted together and pre- 

 pared to go through the tar kettle, from which they 

 are again coiled away in a tub in a similar manner be- 

 fore they are separated. In forming the strands or 

 ropes, Mr. Grimshaw uses a top or conical block of 

 wood, along the grooves of which the strands converge 

 into a point, where they are combined into a rope. 

 This top follows the central motion of the rope ma- 

 chine, and the rope, when formed, is coiled upon a 

 stationary barrel of such a size as will hold the 

 whole rope' without any double coils. The same plan 

 is used by Mr. Grimshaw in forming the strands from 

 the yarn*. Mr. Grimshaw erected the rope works of 

 Southwick and succeeded Mr. Fothergill, whose pa- 

 tent we have already noticed. 



In August 1799, Mr. Huddart took a second patent, 

 intitled for an "improved method of registering or 

 forming the strands in the machinery for manufac- 

 turing cordage," The machinery described in the pa- 

 tent was erected at Mr. Huddart's rope work at Lime- 

 house. A cable of twenty inches girth made by it 

 was subjected to experiment and found far superior to the 

 cordage made in the usual way. A steam-engine was 

 employed by Mr. Huddart in the formation of the 

 shroud strand. 



In 1800, Mr. Huddart secured in a third patent his 

 right to "certain improvements in tarring and nnnu- 

 tVturing cordage." These improvements seem to have 

 been very important. The new method of tarring, &c. 

 here described, consists in registering the strands of 



ropes during the operation of tarring, which is done in 

 <>wing manner: The kettle in covered *o as to 

 retain the evaporated mutter, which thicken* the tar if 

 it is allowed to escape, and contequently make* the 

 yarn too pitchy. The heat of die tar i* regulated by a 

 thermometer.* The ropes made by this process are 

 said to be particularly compact and firm. 



In 1801, Mr. Hoard took a patent for "a portable Mr. Heard'* 

 machine for manufacturing ropes and cordage of any P* 18 **. 

 length in a short Rpace, particularly adapted for thin- '* 

 ping." This portable machine consists of separate reels, 

 containing the full length and number of yarn* 

 necessary for making a strand. From this reel the 

 yarns are drawn out to the distance ;it which the two 

 reels c*n be placed, and are then attached to the other 

 i i 1 which is empty, one of the reels being moveable 

 en a sledge. The strand between the retls is then 

 twisted, until the reels have advanced towcrds each 

 other through the usual space, vie. one-fifth. The portion 

 of the strand thus twisted and formed, is wound up on 

 the second reel, and then so much more of the yarns 

 uncoiled from the first reel as will bring the reels to 

 the greatest distance. The rope is made on two reels 

 from the three strands, just as the strand was made from 

 the yarns, with this difference only that a top is used 

 to regulate the twist of the rope. 



In 1801, Mr. A. Thompson took out a patent for Mr. A. 

 "improved machinery for spinning rope yarns, and Thomp- 

 sail cloth yerns, and rot laying and making ropes and 800> * P** 

 cordage." The following is the account given of this tent> 180I- 

 patent by Mr. Chapman : "Preparatory to spinning, he 

 draws out the hemp into a long sliver by different sets 

 of chain heckles, moving with progressively greater 

 speed ; and in the end the sliver is spun by a t>pindlc 

 with its plyer and bobbin into a thread. The threads 

 remain wound up on their bobbins until wanted to be 

 made into a rope, tarred or untarred. The bobbins are 

 then, according to the number of yarns wanted on a 

 strand, placed so as to form two circles of the same di- 

 ameter round an open cylinder, consisting of three 

 hoop? or ring*, distant from each other the length of a 

 bobbin, and placed near to one end of a long horizontal 

 axis; and, if the rope be to be tarred the yarns are led 

 through a ring of a few inches diameter, near that end 

 of the described open cylinder which has the spare 

 length of axis projecting from it. The yarns are then 

 diverged in different degrees so as to form, when pass- 

 ed longitudinally through an open cylindric frame of 

 several feet in length, so many different concentric cir- 

 cles round the axis mentioned, as there are different 

 shells (or concentric coats) of yarns in the strand ; and 

 frcm the further extremity of this last mentioned cy- 

 lindric frame, the yarns are concentred to one focus 

 at the extremity of the axis, which is there concave, 

 and has an opening through which the yarns pass to 

 the machine which is to twist them into a strand, and 

 draw them forward to be coiled up within itself. At 

 the focal point described, there are nippers to express 

 the tar from the yarns, which is put into them in tl-e 

 following manner, viz : the last mentioned open cylin- 

 der between the ring from which the yarns enter to if, 

 and the perforation of the axis where they concentre 

 and quit it, lies over a tar kettle and has a portion of 

 its lower half immersed in the tar just so far as to im- 

 bue either the whole or any portion of the yarns with 

 tar as may be deemed expedient. This cylinder must 

 of course turn round with such convenient degree of 

 speed as not to let the yarns be drawn off the cylinder 



r. Iladdart docs not mention the proper heat. In the common practice it is between J12" and 230* of Fahrenheit. 



