Arizona weekly citizen., 1885-08-08
IN A R0PEWALk. MANIFOLD IMPROVEMENTS lN THE PROCESS IN HALF A CENTURY. Twelve Kinds Of Hemp Used in Rope Making and 100 Sire. of Rope
 Made-HeAlthy Girls and
 Noisy Machines.
fNew York sun

Noisy Machines.
 fSe~ York Sun
 Rope making is not what it used 10 be. Nowadays a girl at spinning machine can do more work than eight men could do in the Old-fashioned way. and where one man could comb one bale of hemp one machine can now comb seventy five bales. The product of the largest ropewalk in the nited States Is 1jO tons of rope and twine q week. as compared with sixteen tons when it was built, fifty six years ago This ropewalk is in Bushwick and in the half century it has made the fortunes of i've men Bushwick was fifty years ago a small Long island ham let To-day it's boundaries are merged into the eastern district of Brooklyn. Not many years ago grove surrounded the ropewalk To-day it Is surrounded by dwelling houses. Fifty five years ago four horses furnished the motive power To-day 5JO-hOrse power engine Is taxed to do the work. The long. weather beaten structure, l. 100 feet in length. has had the same appearance for forty years or more of all the men who have worked in the ropewalk. one man has lived 10 sec fathers and sons pass away and to teach grsndsons how 10 make rope He is John Stewart. the sU perintendent. genial and an active old gentleman. now S0 years of age.
 Twelve kinds of hemp are used in rope making. Russian hemp being the best The hanks are bound into bales that can be readily handled Separating the hanks is the first process in rope making. Men do it. The hanks are unbound and tossed one side where men stand ready tO pic. them up and oil them The Oiling ma chimes are large. revolving drums of wood that absorb and hold the oil kept in the troughs below They are enclosed in wooden boxes. each with hole about as large as half an ordinary window. Taking hank. an Oier spreads il out and dashes it through a hole and against the oily surface of the drum. It clings and is drawn upward, but before the end is reached the man draws it back and repeats the motion until the fiber has been oiled. From the oiling machines the hemp goes Co the cOmbing machines of different sizes and capacities. Five combings are necessary. The combing machines are very ingenious and room after room is filled with them Endless bands with cross rows Ut long. fine teeth seize the fbers and Calfy them along until other teeth on a band moving faster comb through them and StraigAtcn and draw them. After the combing tlc fibers become roping. and endless yellow streams of it flow from upper stOries tO stories below for the spinning machines. Women and girls operate the spinEiug machines
 The noisy rattle of the machines l. hardly bearable by newcomer. but the girls talk and laugh. and. as a rule. they arc healthy and strong. The spinning machines are as interesting IS the comb ing machines, and the work k much cleaner. The streams of rOping come down through the spOuts and are guided by girls into sheet iron barrels that can be wheeled to the spinning machines. Each stream flows faster than several ma chimes can spin it when everything Is in good working order, and piles of rOping stand ready for use Roping after going through the spinning machines becomes spun yarn. The combing. strengthening. and spinning used to be done by hand T have spun by hand many a ton it. said the superintendent.
 One room Is called the waste room, and to it goes the waste from all the rooms The waste is combed and blown until the good flores are saved and spun into yarn for twins The dust in the room is as thick as a fog in the dog days. and how any one can work and live there for any length of time is 6 mystery. The danger from lire Is strikingly apparent. but fire has never seriously damaged any part of the building. Many machines are used in spinning and balling harvest twine which Is extensively used in the west Hundred ton orders for it are frequently filled. The machines for balling harvest twine are not so interesting ss the machines for spinning and balling small cordage, although the former are run by girls. The latter machines are squatiy and noisy. and can be compared to as many extremely lively bull dogs us ing all their legs and mouths at the same time One of the ma chimes had to be stopped in order that its mechanism might be shown. When quiet its ingenious arrangements can be appreciated but when in motion it is the worst thing in the world 10 fool with. It will tear of an arm or leg as quick as wink.
 In a low addition is the tar shop. where spun yarn for tarred rope goes through process as old as the hills. Those who like the smell of tar can get it here the year round in all its purity. Through long troughs nearly filed with hot tar the yarn is drawn until it is thoroughly sat urated On coming out 1t passes through squeeZers, and any excess of tar IS pressed out Then 1t passes through the ar Tor considerable distance to dry. and finally is wound on bobbins Tar protects cord age from injury by exposure and i'm mersion, but makes 1t more rigid and weakens it. Many efforts have been made to find substitute. and there is patent process which. it is asserted ren- ders rope waterproof. adds 10 it's dura- bility by preventing mildew or decay. in creases its strength, and keeps il pliablc in the coldest weather
 From the tar shop the way led 10 the extreme lower end of the rope walk and the machinery for making large ropes, CT cables Very little change has been there in there in the half century. The machinery is crude, but substantial, the stAncheons beams and braces being of roughly hewn wood Some of the work men are old and weather beaten, and seem to belong to the machinery.
 About 100 sizes of rope are made, run ming from one sixteenth of an inch Co twenty-fOur inches in diameter. The length of large ropes Is generally l.OJj feet, and the largest rope male nowadays is fifteen to eighteen inches. and no large rope Is made except 10 order. Cordage Ot all sizes was in the storerOom awaiting shipment. and the big cables were Coiled and spread as neatly as thread on spool Superintendent Stewart pointed out it's perfections with as much admiration as Le must have had for his first coil.
 A Good Practice.