ROPE-MAKING. 



783 



yarn are reckoned equivalent in length to eighteen 

 fathoms of rope cable-laid, and to twenty fathoms 

 ha\\'ser-laid. Ropes of from one inch to two inches 

 and a half in circumference are usually hawser-laid ; 

 or' from three to ten inches, are either hawser or 

 cable laid ; but when more than ten inches, they 

 are always cable-laid. 



Every hand-spinner in the dock-yard is required 

 to spin, out of the best hemp, six threads, each 160 

 fathoms long, for a quarter of a day's work. A 

 hawl of yarn, in the warping process, contains 336 

 threads. 



The following are captain Huddart's improved 

 principles of the rope manufacture : 



1. To keep the yarns separate from each other, 

 and to draw them from bobbins revolving upon 

 skewers, so as to maintain the twist while the 

 strand or primary cord is forming. 



2. To pass them through a register, which di- 

 vides them by circular shells of holes; the num- 

 ber in each concave shell being conformable to the 

 distance from the centre of the strand, and the 

 angle which the yarns make with a line parallel 

 to it, and which gives them a proper position to 

 enter. 



3. To employ a tube for compressing the strand, 

 and preserving the cylindrical figure of its surface. 



4. To use a guage for determining the angle 

 which the yarns in the outside shell make with a 

 line parallel to the centre of the strand, when re- 

 gistering; because according to the angle made by 

 the yarns in this shell, the relative length of all 

 the yarns in the strand will be determined. 



5. To harden up the strand, and thereby increase 

 the angle in the outside shell; which compensates 

 for the stretching of the yarns, and the compres- 

 sion of the strands. 



A great many patents have been obtained, and 

 worked with various degrees of success, for mak- 

 ing ropes. We shall confine ourselves here to a de- 

 scription of two machines, figuredin Plate LXXIV., 

 the one for making rope yarns, the ether for sewing 

 flat-ropes ; invented by Mr James Whitelavv, and 

 fitted up by him in one of the most extensive rope- 

 works in Glasgow. 



Twisting Machine. Fig. 1 is a front elevation 

 of the machine for making rope yarns. This 

 machine is set in motion, or stopped, by means of 

 a belt which works upon the fast and loose pulleys 

 a a. The main driving shaft b b, runs the whole 

 length of the framing of the machine and beyond 

 its ends. Upon the shaft b b, the bevel-wheels 

 c, c, c, are fixed; and these wheels give motion to 

 the frames which hold the cans d, d, d, by gearing 

 into other wheels fixed to the under ends of the 

 frames. The pulley e, upon the main shaft, sets 

 in motion the pulley f, by means of a belt passing 

 over each ; and the pulley f runs loose upon the 

 spindle of the rollars g g, and carries a teethed 

 pinion, h, round with it. The pinion h, gears into 

 a wheel i, fixed on the end of the spindle of the 

 rollars k, k ; and in this way, it communicates mo- 

 tion to the top drawing-rollers. Upon the other 

 end of the spindle of the rollers k, k, the spur 

 wheel / is fixed, which gears into the spur wheel 

 m, fastened upon the end of the spindle of the 

 rollers g, g ; and in this way these rollers are set 

 in motion. The teeth are not shown in any of 

 the wheels. If the cans had been made of a 

 smaller size than they are shown in the figure it is 

 supposed that this would have been an improvement. 



The mode of operation of the machine is as fol- 



lows. The cans d,d,d, are first put into frames, 

 (with very large holes at the top) similar to those 

 shown in the fig., which run in front of the ordin- 

 ary kind of drawing frame, and a large portion of 

 twist is thus put into the sliver whilst the cans are 

 filling. When the cans are filled at the drawing- 

 frame in the way mentioned, they are lifted from 

 it, and set into the frames of the machine shown 

 in the fig., after each end of the half-formed rope- 

 yarn has been passed through a hole made for the 

 purpose, in the top part of its can-frame. When 

 the cans are thus put into their frames, the end of 

 each yarn is first passed over the top rollers k, k, 

 then under the rollers g,g, and again over the top 

 rollers, and under the bottom ones, after the man- 

 ner of a crossed belt ; then the ends are passed 

 betwixt each pair of back guide-rollers n,n, and 

 from them to a reel. As soon as all this is done, 

 the machine is set a going, and the rest of the 

 twist is put into the yarns, by the cans revolving, 

 whilst the draw- rollers are taking them out, and 

 passing them on to the reel; the surface of which 

 moves at the very same speed as the surface of the 

 rollers y,g, and k, k. 



Above the top journal of each can frame a nip- 

 per is fixed, which revolves along with it. Each 

 nipper is composed of two pieces of hardened steel, 

 which work in a mortice cut through the cylindri- 

 cal part fixed above the top journal of each can 

 frame. These steel pieces bear upon each other 

 at their inner ends ; each of which has a semicircu- 

 lar groove running up and down in it, sufficiently 

 large to hold the yarn fast, so as to press and 

 smooth it, whilst passing through the nippers. 

 An oval spring 0,0, presses each pair of steel 

 pieces together, and every spring has a pinching- 

 screw, which is not seen in the fig., to regulate the 

 strain. One of the cans is shown in section, and 

 there is a small ring or eye for the yarn to pass 

 through, fixed inside of each can, at the top, which 

 eye is shown in this can. Next to the sectioned 

 can, one is drawn showing the edge of its frame, 

 and also the manner of holding the cans, and how 

 they may be taken out or put into their frames. 

 Upon the top of the last mentioned frame, one end 

 of the steel pieces of the nippers is shown. The 

 top drawing rollers have grooves cut into them, in 

 order to guide the yarns; and the two pulleys p 

 and q, which drive the reel, form part of these 

 rollers. The pulleys p and q, have the one an 

 open, the other a crossed belt, and there is a dou- 

 ble clutch-box with suitable pulleys, upon an in- 

 termediate shaft; which shaft is in two pieces, and 

 by this arrangement the reel is set in motion, 

 stopped, or reversed. The axes of the top and 

 bottom draw-rollers are not in the same perpendi- 

 cular plane, but the top rollers overhang the bottom 

 ones, in order to prevent the yarn when passing 

 from the nippers on to the top draw-rollers, from 

 coming in contact with the turns of the yarn upon 

 the under draw-rollers. If the machine is working 

 so as to put fore twist into the yarn, it can be 

 altered to put back twist into it, very easily, by 

 simply opening the cross belts, or belt, and cros- 

 sing the belts or belt, which is open, upon the 

 pulleys a, a, e, and/ 1 . 



If instead of cans, bobbins filled by an ordinary 

 roving-frame, were put into the above machine, 

 with the spindle of each lying in a horizontal di- 

 rection, the additional twist would in this way be 

 given to the yarn, if the machine was adjusted, and 

 set in motion in the way already described. 



