ROPE MAKING. 
by its friction, which both keeps' the top 
from flying too far from the point of union 
of the strands, and brings the strands more 
regularly into their places. The first ope- 
ration is warping the yarns. At each end 
of the walk are frames called warping 
frames, which carry a great number of 
reels or winches, filled with rope-yarn. 
The foreman of the walk takes otF a yarn 
end from each, till he has made up the 
number necessary for his rope or strand, 
and bringing the ends together, he passes 
the whole through an iron ring fixed to the 
top of a stak^ driven into the ground, and 
draws them through : then a knot is tied on 
the end ofthe bundle, and aworkman pulls 
it through this ring till the intended length is 
drawn off the reels. The end is made fast 
at the bottom of the walk, or at the sledge, 
and the foreman comes back along the 
skein of yarns, to see that none are hang- 
ing slacker than the rest. He takes up in 
his hand such as are slack, and draws them 
tight, keeping them so till he reaches the 
upper end, where he cuts the yarns to a 
length, again adjusts their tightness, and 
joins them altogether in a knot, to which 
he fixes the hook of a tackle, the other 
block of which is fixed to a firm post, called 
the warping post. The skein is well stretch- 
ed by this tackle, and then separated into 
its different strands. Each of these is 
knotted apart at both ends. The knots at 
their upper ends are made fast to the hooks 
of the cranks in the tackle-board, and those 
at the lower ends are fastened to the cranks 
in the sledge. The sledga itself is kept in 
its place by a tackle, by which the strands 
are again stretched in their places, and 
every thing adjusted, so that the sledge 
stands square on the walk, and then a proper 
weight is laid on it. The tackle is now cast 
off, and the cranks are turned at both ends, 
in the contrary direction to the twist of the 
yarns (in some kinds of cordage the cranks 
are turned the same way with the spinning 
twist). By this the strands are twisted and 
hardened up, and as they contract by this 
operation^ the sledge is dragged up the 
walk. When the foreman thinks the strands 
sufficiently hardened, which he estimates 
by the motion of, the sledge, he orders the 
heavers at the cranks to stop. The middle 
strand at the sledge is taken off from the ^ 
crank ; this crank is taken out, and a 
stronger one put in its place. The other 
strands are taken off from their cranks, and 
are all joined on the hook which is now in 
the middle hole ; the top is then placed be- 
tween the strands, and being pressed home 
to the point of their union, the carriage is 
placed under it, and it is firmly fixed down ; 
some weight is taken off the sledge. The 
heavers now begin to turn at both endsj 
tliose 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 cianks at 
both ends arc now turning one W'ay. By 
the motion of the s!edge‘crank the top is 
forced away from the knot, and the rope 
begins to close. The heaving at the iipjjer 
end restores to the strand the twist which 
they are constantly losing by the laying of 
tile rope. The workmen judge of this by 
making a chalk mark on intermediata 
points of the strands, where they lie on the 
stakes which are set up along the walk for 
their support. If the twist of the strands 
is diminished by the motion of closing, they 
will lengthen, and the chalk mark will move 
away from the tackle-board; but if the 
twist increases by turning the cranks at the 
tackle-board, the strands will 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. The rope must be of a cer- 
tain 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 atten- 
tion 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 regu- 
late 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. To 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. This both holds back the , 
top, and greatly assists the laying of the 
rope, causing the strands to fall into theii; 
places, and keep close to each other, 
Rr S 
