ROPE MAKING. 



yarns, that is, twisting the hemp in the 

 lirst instance. This is done in various 

 ways, and with different machinery, ac- 

 cording- to the nature of the intended 

 cordage. We shall confine our descrip- 

 tion to the manufacture of the larger 

 kinds, such as are used for the standing 1 

 and running 1 rigging 1 f* ships. An alley, 

 or walk, is inclosed for the purpose, 

 about two hundred fathoms long 1 , and of 

 a breadth suited to the extent of the manu- 

 facture. It is sometimes covered above. 

 At the upper end of this rope-walk is set 

 up the spinning-wheel. The hand of the 

 \vheel goes over several rollers, called 

 whirls, turning 1 on pivots in brass holes. 

 The pivots at one end come through the 

 frame, and terminate in little hooks. The 

 wheel, being- turned by a winch, gives 

 motion in one direction to all those 

 whirls The spinner has a bundle of 

 dressed hemp round his waist, with the 

 two ends meeting before him. The hemp 

 is laid in this bundle in the same way 

 that women spread the flax on the dis- 

 tart'. There is great variety in this ; but 

 the general aim is to lay the fibres in 

 such a manner, that as long as the bundle 

 lasts there may be an equal number of 

 the ends at the extremity, and that a fibre 

 may never offer itself double, or in a 

 bight. The spinner draws out a proper 

 number of fibres, twists them with his 

 fingers, and having got a sufficient length 

 detached, he fixes it to the hook of a 

 whirl. The wheel is now turned, and 

 the skein is twisted, becoming what is 

 called rope-yarn, and the spinner walks 

 backwards down the rope-walk. Tle 

 part already twisted, draws along- with it 

 more fibres out of the bundle. The spin- 

 ner aids this with his fingers, supplying* 

 hemp in due proportion as he walks 

 away from the wheel, and taking care 

 that the fibres come in equally from both 

 sides of his bundle, and that they enter 

 always with their ends, and not by the 

 middle, which would double them. He 

 should also endeavour to enter every fibre 

 at the heart of the yarn. This will cause 

 all the fibres to mix equally in making it 

 up, and will make the work smooth, be- 

 cause one end of each fibre is by this 

 means buried among the rest, and the 

 other end only lies outward ; and this, in 

 passing through the grasp of the spinner, 

 who presses it tight with his thumb and 

 palm, is also made to lie smooth. A good 

 spinner endeavours always to supply the 

 hemp in the form of a thin fiat skein, 

 with his left hand, while his right is em- 

 ployed in grasping firmly the yarn that is 



twining off, and in holding it tig-ht from 

 the whirl, that it rnav not run into loops 

 or kinks, li isevidenl, that both the ar- 

 rangement of the liares and the degree 

 of twisting, depend on the skiil and dex- 

 terity of the spinner, and that he must be 

 instructed, not by a book, but by a mas- 

 ter. The degree of twist depends on the 

 rate of the wheel's motion, combined 

 with the retrograde walk of the spinner. 

 We may suppose him arrived at the lower 

 end of the walk, or as far as is necessary 

 for the intended length of his yarn. He 

 calls out, and another sp ; n;ier imme- 

 diately detaches the yarn from the hook 

 of the whirl, gives it to another, who car- 

 ries it aside to the reel ; and this second 

 spinner attaches his own hemp to the 

 whirl-hook. In the mean time, the first 

 spinner keeps fast hold of '.he end of his 

 yarn ; for the hemp, being dry, is very 

 elastic, and if he were to let it go out of 

 his hand, it would instantly untwist, and 

 become little better than loose hemp. 

 He waits, therefore, till he sees the- reeler 

 begin to turn the reel, and he goes slow- 

 ly up the walk, keeping the yarn of an 

 equal tightness all the \vay, till he arrives 

 at the wheel, where he waits with h';s 

 yarn in his hand till another spinner has 

 finished his yarn. The first spinner takes 

 it oiF the whirl-hook, joins it to his own, 

 that it may follow it on the reel, and be- 

 gins a new yarn. The second part of the 

 process is the conversion of the yarns 

 into what may, with propriety, be called 

 a rope, cord, or line. That we ma) have 

 a clear conception of the principle which 

 regulates this part of the process, we 

 shall begin with the' simplest possible 

 case, the union of two yarns into one 

 line. 



When hemp has been split into very 

 fine fibres by the hatchel, it become ex- 

 ceedingly soft and pliant, and after it has 

 lain for some time in the form of fine 

 yarn, it may be unreeled and thrown 

 loose, without losing much of its twist. 

 Two such yarns may be put on the whirl 

 of a spinning wheel, and thrown like 

 flaxen yarn, so as to make sewing thread. 

 It is in this way, indeed, that the sail- 

 makers' sewing thread is manufactured, 

 and when it has been kept on the reel, 

 or on balls or bobbins for some time, it 

 retains its twist as well as its uses require. 

 But this is by no means the case with 

 yarns spun for great cordage. The hemp 

 is so elastic, the number of fibres twisted 

 together is so gnat, and the diameter of 

 the yarn (which is a sort of lever, on 

 which the elasticity of the fibre exerts 



