ROPE MAKING. 
would instantly untwist, and become little 
better than loose hemp. He waits, there- 
fore, till he sees the reeler begin to him the 
reel, and he goes slowj^ up the walk, keep- 
ing the yarn of an equal tightness all the 
way, till he arrives at the wheel, where he 
waits with his yarn in his hand till another 
spinner has finished his yarn. The first 
spinner takes it off the whirl-hook, joins it 
to his own, that it may follow it on the reel, 
and begins 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 may have a 
clear conception of the principle which re- 
gulates this part of the process, we shall be- 
gin 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 becomes exceed- 
ingly soft and pliant, and after it has lain 
for some time in the form of fine yarn, 
it may be unreeled and thrown loose, with- 
out 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 sailmakers 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 great, and the dia- 
meter of the yarn (which is a sort of lever 
on which the elasticity of the fibre exerts 
itself), is so considerable, that no keeping 
will make the fibres retain this constrained 
position. 
The end of a rope yarn being thrown 
loose, it will immediately untwist, and this 
with considerable force and speed. It 
would, therefore, be a fruitless attempt to 
twist two such yarns together; yet the 
ingenuity of man has contrived to make 
use of this very tendency to untwist not 
only to counteract itself, but even to pro- 
duce another and a permanent twist, which 
requires force to undo it, and which will 
recover itself when this force is removed. 
Every person must recollect that when he 
had twisted a packthread very hard with 
his fingers between his two hands, if he 
slackens the thread by bringing his hands 
rearer together, the packthread will imme- 
diately curl up, running into loops or kinks, 
and will even twist itself into a neat and 
firm cord. The component parts of a rope 
are called strands, and the operation of 
uniting them with a permanent twist is 
calledi laying or closing, the latter term be- 
ing chiefly appropriated to cables and otlier 
very large cordage. 
The process for laying or closing large 
cordage is this : the strands of which the 
rope is composed consist of many yarns, 
and require a considerable degree of har- 
dening. This cannot be done by a whirl 
driven by a wheel-band; it requires the 
power of a' crank turned by the hand. The 
strands, when properly hardened, become 
very stiff, -and when bent round the top, 
are not able to transmit force enough 
for laying the heavy and unpliant rope 
which forms beyond it. The elastic twist 
of the hardened strands must, therefore, be 
assisted by an external force. All this re- 
quires a different machinery and a different 
process. At the upper end of the walk is 
fixed up the tackle-board, this consists 
of a strong oaken plank, called a breast- 
board, having three or more holes in it, 
fitted with brass or iron plates. Into these 
are put iron cranks, called heavers, which 
have hooks or forelocks, and keys, on the 
ends of their spindles. They are placed 
at such a distance from each other, that 
the workmen do not interfere with each 
other while turning them round. This 
breast board is fixed to the top of strong 
posts, well secured by struts, or braces, fac- 
ing tlie lower end of the walk. At the 
lower end is 'another breast-board, fixed to 
the li-'right post of a sledge, which may be 
loaded with stones or other weights. Simi- 
lar cranks are placed in the holes of this 
breast-board ; the whole goes by the name 
of the sledge. The top necessary for clos- 
ing large cordage is too heavy to be held in 
the hand ; it therefore has a long staff’, which, 
has a truck on the end ; tliis rests on the 
ground, but even this is not enough in lay- 
ing great cables. The top must be sup- 
ported on a carriage, where it must lie very 
steady, and it needs attendance, because 
the master workman has sufficient employ- 
ment in attending to the manner in which 
the strands close behind the top, and in 
helping them by various methods. The 
top is therefore fixed to the carriage, by. 
lashing its staff’ to the two upright posts. 
A piece of soft rope, or strap, is attached to 
the handle of the top by the middle, and its 
two ends are brought back and wrapped 
several times tight round the rope, in the 
direction of its twist, and bound down. 
This greatly assists the laying of the rope 
