ROPE-MAKING. 
605 
down. Some weight is taken ofT the sledge. ! 
The heavers now begin to turn at both ends. 
Those at the tackle-board continue to turn 
as they did before ; but the heavers at the 
sledge turn in the opposite direction to their 
former motion, so that the cranks at both 
ends are now turning one way. By the mo- 
tion of the siodge-crank the top is forced 
away from the knot, and the rope begins to 
close. The heaving at the upper end re- 
stores to the strand the twist which they are 
constantly losing by the laying of the rope. 
The workmen judge ot this by making a 
chalk mark on intermediate points of the 
strands, where they lie on the stakes which 
are set up along the walk for their support. 
If the twist ot the strands is diminished by 
the motion of closing, they will lengthen, and 
the chalk mark will move away from the 
tackle-hoard ; but if the twist increases by 
turning the cranks at the tackle-board, the 
strands w ill shorten, and the mark will come 
nearer to it. 
As the closing of the rope advances, the 
whole shortens, and the sledge is dragged up 
the walk. The top moves faster, and at last 
reaches the upper end of the walk, the rope 
being now laid. In the mean time, the sledge 
has moved several fathoms from the place 
where it was when the laying began. 
These motions of the sledge and top must 
be exactly adjusted to each other. T. he rope 
must be of a certain length. Therefore the 
sledge must stop at a certain place. At that 
moment the rope should be laid ; that is, the 
top should be at the tackle-board. In this 
consists the address of the foreman. He has 
his attention directed both ways. He looks 
At the strands, and when he sees any of them 
hanging slacker between the stakes than the 
others, he calls to the heavers at the tackle- 
board to heave more upon that strand. He 
finds it more difficult to regulate the motion 
of the top. It requires a considerable force 
to keep it in the angle of the strands, and it 
is always disposed to start forward. 1 o 
prevent or check this, some straps of soft 
rope are brought round the staff of the 
top, and then wrapped several times round 
the rope behind the top, and kept firmly 
down by a lanyard or bandage, as is 
shown in the figure. This both holds back 
the top, and greatly assists the laying of the 
rope, causing the strands to fall into their 
places, and keep close to each other, which 
is sometimes very difficult, especially in ropes 
composed of more than three strands. It 
will greatly improve the laying the rope, if 
the top has a sharp, smooth, tapering pin' of 
hard wood, pointed at the end, projecting so 
far from the middle of its smaller end, that it 
gets in between the strands which are clos- 
ing. This supports them, and makes their 
closing more gradual and regular. The top, 
its notches, the pin, and the warp or strap, 
which is lapped round the rope, are all smear- 
ed with grease or soap to assist the closing. 
The foreman judges ot the progress of clos- 
ing chiefly by his acquaintance with the walk, 
knowing that when the sledge is abreast of a 
certain stake, the top should be abreast of a 
certain other stake. When he finds the top 
too far down the walk, he slackens the mo- 
tion at the tackle-board, and makes the men 
turn briskly at the sledge. By this the top 
is forced up the walk, and the laying of the 
xope accelerates, while the sledge remains in 
the same place, because the strands are loos- 
ing their twist, and are lengthening, w'hile the 
closed rope is shortening. When, on the 
otlier hand, he thinks the top too far advanc- 
ed, and fears that it will be at the head of the 
walk before the sledge has got to its proper 
place, he makes the men heave briskly on 
the strands, and the heavers at the sledge- 
crank work softly. This quickens the motion 
of the sledge by shortening the strands ; and 
by thus compensating what has been over- 
done, the sledge and top come to their places 
at once, and the work appears to answer the 
intention. 
When the top approaches the tackle-board, 
the heaving at the sledge could not cause 
the strands immediately behind the top to 
close well, without having previously produc- 
ed an extravagant degree of twist in the in- 
termediate rope. The effort of the crank 
must therefore be assisted by men stationed 
along the rope, eacli furnished with a tool 
called a vvoolder. This is a stout oak stick, 
about three feet long, having a strap of soft 
rope-yarn or cordage fastened on its middle 
or end. The strap is wrapped round the laid 
rope, and the workman works with the stick 
as a lever, twisting the rope round in the di- 
rection of the crank’s motion. The wool- 
ders should keep their eye on the men at the 
crank, and make their motion correspond 
with his. Thus they send forward the twist 
produced by the crank, without either in- 
creasing or diminishing it, in that part of the 
rope which lies between them and the sledge. 
Such is the general and essential process 
of rope-making. The fibres of hemp are 
twisted into yarns, that they may make a line 
of any length, and stick among each other 
with a force equal to their own cohesion. The 
yarns are made into cords of permanent twist 
by laying them; and that we may have a 
rope of any degree of strength, many yarns 
are united in one strand, for the same reason 
that many fibres were united in one yarn ; 
and 'in the course of this process it is in our 
power to give the rope a solidity and hard- 
ness which make it less penetrable by water, 
which would rot it in a short while. Some 
of these purposes are inconsistent with others; 
and the skill of a rope- maker lies in making 
the best compensation, so that the rope may 
on the whole be the best in point of strength, 
pliancy, and duration, that the quantity of 
hemp in it can produce 
The following rule for judging of the weight 
which a rope will bear is not far from the 
truth. It supposes them rather too strong ; 
but it is so easily remembered that it may be 
of use. 
Multiply the circumference in inches by 
itself, and take the fifth part of the product, 
it will express the tons which the rope will 
carry. Thus, if the rope has 6 inches cir 
cumference, 6 times 6 is 36, the fifth of which 
count of them. It is evidently proper to tar 
in the state of twine or yarn, this being the 
only way that the hemp could be uniformly 
penetrated. The yarn is made to wind off 
one reel, and having passed through a vessel 
containing hot tar, it is wound up on another 
reel ; and the superfluous tar is taken off by 
passing through a hole surrounded with 
spongy oakum ; or it is tarred in skains or 
hauls, which are drawn by a capstern through 
the tar-kettle, and through a hole formed of 
two plates of metal, held together by a lever 
loaded with a weight. 
It is established beyond a doubt, that a 
tarred cordage when new is weaker than 
white, and that the difference increases by 
keeping. The following experiments were 
made by Mr. Du Hamel at Rochefort on. 
cordage of three inches (French) in circum- 
ference, made of the best Riga hemp. 
August 8, 1741 . 
White, Tarred. 
is tons ; apply this to the rope of 3, A, on 
which sir Charles Knowles made his experi- 
ments 3{X 3A= 10,25, -§- of which is 2,05 
tons, or 4592 pounds. It broke with 4550. 
This may suffice for an account of the 
mechanical part of the manufacture. But 
we have taken no notice ot' the operation of 
tarring ; and our reason was, that the methods 
practised in different rope-works are so ex- 
ceedingly different, that we could hardly 
enumerate them, or even give a general ac- 
4500 pounds. 3400 potmcU. 
4900 
3300 
4800 
3250 
April 25, 
1743. 
4600 
3500 
5000 
3400 
5000 
3400 
Sept, 3, 
1746. 
3800 
3000 
4000 
2700 
4200 
2800 
A parcel of white and tarred cordage was 
taken out of a quantity which had been made 
February 12, 1746. It was laid up in the 
magazines, and Comparisons were made from 
time to time as follows: 
White bore. Tarred bore. Differ. 
1746, April 14, 2645 lbs. 2312 lbs. 333 
1747, May 18, 2762 2155 607 
1747, Oct. 21, 2710 2050 660 
1748, June 19, 2575 1752 823 
1748, Oct. 2,2425 1837 588- 
1749, Sept. 25, 2917 1865 1052 
Mr. Du Hamel says, that it is decided by 
experience, 1. That white cordage in conti- 
nual service is one-lhird more durable than 
tarred. 2. That it retains its force much 
longer while kept in store. 3. That it resists 
the ordinary injuries of the weather one-fourth 
longer. 
We know this one remarkable fact,: in 
1758 the shrowds and stays of the Sheer hulk 
at Portsmouth dock-yard were over-hauled,, 
and when the worming and service were taken 
off, they were found to be of white cordage. 
On examining the store-keeper’s books, they 
were found to have been formerly the shrowds 
and rigging of the Royal William, of 110 
guns, built in 1715, and rigged in 1716. She 
was thought top-heavy, and unfit for sea, and 
unrigged, and her stores laid up. Some few 
years afterwards, her shrowds and stays were 
fitted on the Sheer hulk, where they remained 
in constant and very hard service for about 
30 years, while every tarred rope about heir 
had been repeatedly renewed. 
Why then do we tar cordage ? It is chiefly 
serviceable for cables and ground tackle, 
which must be continually wetted, and even 
soaked. The result of careful observation is, 
1. That white cordage, exposed to be alter- 
nately very wet and dry, is weaker than 
tarred cordage. 2. That cordage which is 
; 5 
t 
