IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ROPE AND CORDAGE
Year: 1851

page_text: BROOMAN'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the firm of J. C. Robertson & Co., of Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agents, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of April
(One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one), in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Ierself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her
especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, adññors, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Ber-
wick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF ROPE
AND CORDAGE," communicated to me from abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in part
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
The nature of the said Invention consists in a peculiar manner of laying and
twisting the fibres in the manufacture of rope and cordage, whereby each and
every fibre composing any rope or cord is made to bear its exact proportion of
strain to resist fracture under tension. In cordage, as manufactured under the
processes in common use, this result is not attained, for it is well known that
in all such cordage the exterior strands are required to sustain the principal
part of tho strain, as may be easily proved by applying (very gradually)
sufficient force to break the rope, when the outside strand will be seen to.
part 'first.
0.
Now, according to the said Invention, the method of tubing or forming the
strand is such that an exact parallelism is ensured in each thread composing
it, and this is carried on from the core to the outermost thread. Another
valuable feature of the said Invention consists of a method of giving a double
twist first of all to the strand itself, and, secondly, to the rope while laying
the strand.
The means employed to obtain. the above novel results consist of a train of
mechanism, so contrived as to put in revolution a number of metal rings upon
which the stock is delivered as fast as prepared, and which is from these
conveyed to other rings as the work progresses to completion.
Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the annexed Drawings are representations of
the different parts of the machinery employed for this purpose. a represents
a large cylindrical ring, which for strength and other advantages, is made of
metal. This ring is attached from two of its sides, and directly in a line
running horizontally through it to two short hollow shafts b, c, said attach-
ments-being effected by flanges to which the rings are screwed, or by welding
directly to the end of the shaft, as may be thought best. These shafts rest
upon standards ď, d', d, terminating in pillar blocks fitted to receive the
journals. On the shaft c there is a pulley to receive a belt for driving it round,
and also a pinion which gears into a-wheel-for-driving-the-reeling machinery,
to be more fully explained hereafter. Around the circumference of one half
of the ring a there are attached several small sheaves, properly grooved to
'convey off the cord received from the interior rings, which sheaves are shewn
at letter d. The shafts extend also a short distance within the ring a, and
serve as bearings to sustain an interior frame, upon which rest the primary

page_text: rings and their attachments. At e is seen the lower part of the interior frame,.
which consists of a semicircular piece of metal, which is of less radius than
that. forming the ring a, and terminates at each end in eyes fitted so as to play
upon the shafts b, c. At the lower part this interior frame has much greater:
weight given to it than at the eyes; the object of this is to prevent it. from
being carried round with the shafts b, c, when they are put in rotation by the
friction of the parts in contact, and this weight must also be sufficient. to
counterpoise the weight of the bobbins and primary rings which rest upon it..
The primary rings with their bobbins are next introduced in the machine.
These are sustained upon triangular frames f, g, affixed to the belt c, and at
right angles to it, which are also placed at such a distance apart as to give the
necessary room to insert the primary rings, as seen. in the Drawings. These
frames are set in such a position that their centres are the same as the centres
of the shafts b, c. In the frame g the three arms are so spaced as to divide it'
into three cqual compartments, the use of which is to support the several.
trains of wheels which propel the primary rings, as will be hereafter more fully.
described. The three primary rings are not suspended on the frames f, g, the
letters h, h, h, representing said rings. They are constructed much in tho
same manner as the large ring a; two short hollow pivots i, i, are affixed to
them as shown; by these they are suspended within the frame f, g, the pivots
passing-through proper holes in the same. In the frame f, g, the pivots come
through at the termination of the three arms before. named, and consequently
are equidistant from each other. The pivots i, i, extend inside of the rings a
short distance, and terminate at journals, as seen at k. On each of these points
or journals a semicircular bail or hoop 1, 1, 1, is hung very similar to the large
bail e, before described; and like the large bail e, they.are all weighted on
their lower parts to prevent them from rotating with the friction of the
revolving pivots i and c. On each of these bails 7 two frames or standards are
affixed precisely in the same manner as those at the letters f, g, on e; the use
of these standards is to support the bobbins m, m, which hold the stock from
which the cordage is formed. The bobbins are supported upon pins a passing
through holes in the standards as shown. The distance each standard is apart
from the other is sufficient to receive several bobbins on a pin. In the
Drawing, each pin has two bobbins upon it, and there are in this case four
sets on each frame or standard. It may be remarked here, that other standards
than such as are here described, can be used to hold the bobbius. Neither is
it necessary to keep within this number of bobbins, for, on the contrary, the
number may be varied at pleasure to suit different kinds of work. The
primary rings have also on one of their sides a row of small pullies or sheaves

page_text: similar to the large ring, to be used for conveying off the strand as it is formed
from the bobbins.
21
To describe now the gearing for giving motion to the primary rings. These
all receive motion from one wheel placed at the centre of the large frame on g;
this wheel is represented at n, and is keyed on the end of the shaft c, and
receives motion from it; it also rotates in unison with the ring a. Each of the
pivots passes through the hoop 9 sufficiently to. allow.of the pinion wheels.o
being keyed to them, and these are connected to the wheel m, by intermediate
wheelwork. The size of the pinion is such that it revolves with greater speed
than n, which speed is to bo varied to adapt itself to work. different kinds of
stock. In Figure 5 an end view is given, showing clearly the wholo gearing
in connection. The reason why a set of intermediate wheels is used, is in order
that the primary rings may rotate in the same direction as the largo ring (a)
The tubes for forming the strand are composed of metal, and havo an intérior
opening sufficiently large to receive all the lines collected from the several
bobbins. In Figure 3 this part of the arrangement is more clearly shown;
the letters p, p, show the tubes in their proper. positions; they are held in
place on a horizontal bar which is. sustained by a vertical post rising from 7,
the tubes are also in line with the centre of rotation of the ring h. In:forming
the strand (which consists of several layers) a. series of threads.. from the
bobbins No. 1 are passed through the tubes p", p'; and p; next from the row
of bobbins No. 2, a like number is passed through. the tubes'p and p, these
forming a layer over the first. Now, No..3 is. next treated in the same-way,
passing the thread through p.outside of all; the threads thus collected form one
of the strands of the rope as yet untwisted. They are then all taken together
and put through the-end hollow pivot k, and passed on through the bore of the
same, until they are brought out at the sido opening at .. Then from, tho
strand thus partly formed is passed round so as to lay-on-tho-little sheaves
placed on one-half-thoring h, and thonce through the opposite hollow: pivot,
to the rear end of the machine. The tubes on the other two-primary-stands
being filled in liko manner, and the strands brought to the same point finishes
the three strands of which a rope is made. The materials of the three strands
thus collected are all to be put through. the bore. of the hollow shaft b: at the
rear end of the machine, thence they are passed over the sheaves d, placed.on-
the large ring a, and thus carried to-the-opposite shaft c, through which they
are also put, in the manner shewn in the several Figures. From the end of
this shaft the collected strand is carried to the reeling machine, which is of
common construction.
decaribed it relatos-simply to the

page_text: putting in of the stock preparatory to the process of twisting. The stock
when so put in exhibits merely a mass of fine lines brought all together from
the various bobbins to the place of final delivery at the end of the shaft c.
The manufacture of perfect rope is now proceeded with by simply putting the
shaft c in rotation, but not the stock, which is carried from place to place to
effect the twisting, and remains all the time, in a quiescent state... When all
the parts are thus set in motion, the primary rings revolve rapidly around-their
respective sets of bobbins; the reeling machine also commences. drawing off
the rope as it is formed, and the twisting, process is, going on throughout the
several parts. The twist given by this machinery, is peculiar, inasmuch, as it
consists in giving a double twist to each individual part composing the rope
and also the rope itself; this is effected by the peculiar action of the rings.
By means of the primary rings the threads from the several bobbins are
twisted as they are collected through the tubes (p, p,p"). Two distinct
twists are put. in by cach ring, the first twist at the place where the thread
comes first upon it as at i, and the second twist at the place where it leaves it
as at ; thus a full twist is put in at each end at every complete revolution.
The effect of the first twist is to cause each layer of threads as they are
collected in the tubes to be wound one upon another, and thus each thread is
made to draw or bind upon the other with equal tension. The second twist is
given at the outlet i¹, and this is for the purpose of more perfectly hardening
and combining the strand previous-to-laying it into rope. The laying of the
strand into rope is now effected by bringing the large ring a into action. All-
the strands being brought together are thrust into the hollow shaft b, and
passed over the ring a, and out at its opposite side through c, as before
described. The principle of laying or twisting the strand into rope by the
large ring is the same as that produced by the primary rings, giving two twists
in the same manner; the rope is then formed, and nothing more remains to
be done but reeling it.
}
It may be proper to give various degrees of hardness to rope according to
the service it is to perform. This is effected by changing the speed of the
drawing-off wheels on A. Accelerating the speed will diminish the hardness
of the rope, by putting less twist in a given quantity, and diminishing the
the speed will increase the hardness of the rope by contrary action, or putting
more twist in less length.
To manufacture shrouding, or that kind of rope which has a central
strand or core. By this machine it is only necessary to prepare a reel
of the proper sized strand; this is then to be put upon a spindle placed
vertically on the belt e, a short distance in front of the opening in the

page_text: shaft b as shewn, and the strand being then inserted along with those received
from the primary rings, the latter will be laid or formed upon it in the usual
manner.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the improvements which I
claim as comprehended in the said Invention are as follow:-
First, I claim the causing of the fibres or threads taken from the bobbins
in the manufacture of rope and cordage to revolve around said bobbins in the
manner before described, that is to say, under the operation of the primary
rings, for the purpose of giving the double twist to said fibres.
Second, I claim the mode of forming the strand by collecting the fibres or
threads in the tubes, so that said strand shall be composed of successive layers
wound or twisted one upon the other as set forth.
Third, I claim the mode of laying the strands thus formed into rope, by
giving to said rope at one operation a double or compound twist.
Fourth, I claim the combination of the revolving rings or carriers, producing
like mechanical effects with the stands for holding the stock, &c., as before
described.
And, fifth, I claim the said ring or carrier when combined with and revolving
about several primary rings and their frames or stands as shewn at a, c, f, g,
in the Drawings and before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this First day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.