THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF OORDAGE. 21 
order that any tendency in the yarns to untwist may be coun- 
teracted by an opposite tendency in the strand. Three of these 
strands are formed into a rope, and three ropes into a cable. 
The term rope is generally confined to those which are above 
an inch in circumference; those which are less being called 
twine, line, and cord; though some of the latter terms are used 
with less strictness, as fishing lines and clothes lines are of very 
different diameters. Other kinds are distinguished by the 
name of ratline or of lashing; sometimes they are distin- 
guished by the weight of a certain quantity—thus, pound line 
signifies a line weighing 60 yards to the pound: 160 fathoms 
of white or untarred yarn weigh from two and a half to four 
pounds, 
In a popular work by Mr. Tomlinson, the different operations 
of ropemaking are described as follow: 1. Heckling, or hackling, 
of which the object is to separate the short fibres or tow, and 
to straighten the long ones, in order to enable them to run 
freely in spinning. 2. Spinning, or twisting the fibres into 
threads or yarns. 8. Tarring the yarns. 4. Twisting the yarns 
into strands. 5. Laying, or twisting three strands together, so 
as to form what is called a hawser-laid rope. In this process, 
which is called the first lay, each strand consists of as many 
yarns as are found requisite to give the required thickness to 
the rope. 6. Second lay, or shroud hawser-laid rope. This 
consists of four strands laid in the same way and under the 
same conditions. This rope has a straight loose strand, con- 
sisting frequently of only a few yarns, running through its 
centre; the object of this core-piece being to render the rope 
solid. 7. Third lay, or cable-laid rope. This consists of three 
hawser-laid ropes, each formed of three large strands, twisted 
or laid together in one gigantic rope or cable. 
A very important consideration is the due degree of twisting 
which ropes ought to receive in order to retain the utmost 
degree of strength. Another is the benefit or injury which is 
derived from a large or a small quantity of tar, because this, in- 
stead of being a preservative in all situations, as is generally 
supposed, is very often injurious, as is fully illustrated by the 
following experiments. The abridged account of these we have 
taken from Sir D, Brewster’s ‘ Edinburgh Encyclopedia :’ 
