IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPE
Year: 1885

page_text: ашргоуошених д шасіпегу оr the manufacture or wirе коре.
We, GEORGE RICHARD COOKE Foreman to Wilkins and Company of 39 High
Street Wapping in the County of Middlesex, Wire Rope Manufacturers and
STEPHEN RICHARD MILLEN, Clerk to the same firm do hereby declare the nature
of our invention for " IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
WIRE ROPE to be as follows:-
"
Our invention has for its object to construct machinery suitable for the
manufacture of wire rope in which the wires composing each strand are made
to lie parallel with the axis of the strand as described in an application for a
Patent made by George Richard Cooke N° 14409 in the year 1884.
We will first describe our invention as applied to a vertical machine, i.e. a
machine having its main axis in a vertical position, and in which the finished rope
is drawn off in a vertical direction.
Each wire of which the rope is to be composed is wound upon a separate bobbin,
and the bobbins are collected into as many groups as there are bundles of wire in
the rope. These bundles of wire may be conveniently alluded to as 'parallel
strands."
6
All the bobbins of one group are mounted in a carriage or frame, in such a
manner that each bobbin may revolve to discharge its wire independently of all the
others, and the motion of each may be independently retarded by any of the usual
brake arrangements for adjusting the tension of the wires. The carriages are
mounted in a circle or circles on one horizontal disc, or between two horizontal
discs, or in succeeding tiers of carriages, between three or more horizontal discs as
may be convenient.
The discs are secured to the main shaft of the machine, so that when the main
shaft revolves the carriages are revolving in circles around it. The axes of the
carriages are connected with an eccentric ring, or a train of spur wheels, or with
any other known mechanical device, for the purpose of preventing them from
revolving upon their own axes, though they are gyrating around the main shaft.
That is to say, the north side, say, of the carriage always faces to the north.
The nose or upper bearing of each bobbin carriage is made hollow, that all the
wires carried upon it may be collected and passed through the nose. Immediately
beneath the passage through the nose, a guide plate is fixed to the carriage,
and perforated with a number of holes suitably disposed and corresponding to the

page_text: number of hobbins in the carriage. The wires are led through these holes and
thereby guided to their respective positions in the parallel strands. A parallel
strand being thus collected at the nose of each carriage they are all led upwards to
and converging upon the nose of the main shaft forming collectively the outline of
a cone. A "lay top" is secured to the end of the main shaft in any convenient
manner which will leave an open space between itself and the end of shaft;
preferably by three pillars or distance pieces. The lay top is a plate pierced with
holes in number equal to the parallel strands to be laid up the holes being arranged
in a circle round the centre of motion and the axis of each being a continuation of
the axis of one of the converging parallel strands. Each hole is fitted with a steel
nipple bored from end to end; the upper portion of the bore for a length of about
1inches is made of the exact size of the parallel strand when its wires are tightly
pressed together. The remainder of the bore tapers and enlarges toward the lower
end to about twice the smaller diameter. Each nipple emerges from the upper
surface of the lay top and is continued upwards and tapered off to a point where
the converging nipples almost touch each other. The nipples are prevented by
collars from drawing through but they are allowed sufficient freedom to enable
them to revolve in their sockets. It is convenient in some cases to make the upper
and tightly fitting portion of the nipple detachable, that it may be made of harder
material and replaced readily when worn. This gives also the further advantage
of making one set of nipples serve for several sizes of parallel strands simply by
changing the compressing heads.
A steel die or plate is provided for each parallel strand perforated with as many
holes as there are wires in the strand, the holes made, as small as possible, placed as
closely together as practicable and so disposed as to bring the wires led through
them as near their ultimate relative position as may be. These dies are not fixed
but simply threaded on the parallel strands, and allowed to play freely between the
end of main shaft and the underside of lay top.
Suitable arrangements are provided for driving the machine and for drawing off
the finished rope through fixed dies and for passing the core if any up the hollow
main shaft.
From the above description it will be seen that in this machine the treatment of
the wires is briefly as follows. A group of wires sufficient for forming one parallel
strand is collected at the nose of each carriage, there passed through the guide
plate which primarily places them in their relative. positions in comparatively open
order then led to the nose of the main shaft and passed through the loose die
which finally fixes their relative positions and brings them much closer together,
next passed through the nipples which gradually compress the parallel strands into
their final size and shape, in which condition they emerge from the nipples
immediately in front of the fixed closing dies which should be placed as close to
the nipples as possible that the wires may have no opportunity of escaping from
their proper positions before the rope is finally closed. The closing dies are fixed,
the remainder of the machine revolves, the rope consequently receives its twist in
the short space between the nipples and the closing dies.
From the foregoing description it will be seen that the system is capable of
producing ropes of any number of wires arranged in any number of. parallel strands,
that a bobbin carriage constructed to carry a large number of wires may be equally
well used for a smaller number simply by omitting some and inserting new
guide plates and loose dies, and that a machine arranged with a large number of
bobbin carriages may use a portion of them only, allowing the others to run empty
and changing the lay top for one. having the proper number of nipples.
Horizontal machines i.e. machines in which the axis of revolution is horizontal,
are made according to our invention, having the same peculiarities of construction
as described, for the vertical machines, the only differences being in the framing
and mode of carrying and driving the machines, which differences are the same as
those which exist between vertical and horizontal machines; of the older types; and
need not therefore be described..
J

page_text: Our invention may also be put into practice in connection with that form of
machine known as the "Archibald Smith stranding machine" in which the
bobbins are arranged along the axis of the machine which lies horizontally, the
bobbins together with their carriages remaining stationary, while the frame of
the machine and the wires revolve around them. In applying our invention to
this type of machine, we construct each carriage to receive as many bobbins as
there are wires in the parallel strand, arranged in a compact manner, with the
centre of gravity of the group lying either in or a little below the axis of the
machine. The wires from the group of bobbins are led through guides at the nose
of the carriage as already described, and then carried along the tie bars in the
manner usual for this type of machine. One or more loose dies are placed behind
certain of the separating discs for the purpose of retaining the wires in their proper
relative positions. At the front of the machine the various parallel strands are
gathered together; passed through loose dies, through the compressing nipples of
the lay top, and finally through the fixed closing, dies, in the same manner as
described for the vertical machine.

page_text: Improvements in Machinery for the Manufacture of Wire Rope.
We GEORGE RICHARD COOKE Foreman to Wilkins and Company of 39 High
Street, Wapping in the County of Middlesex, Wire Rope Manufacturers and
STEPHEN RICHARD MILLEN, Clerk to the same firm do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Our invention has for its object to construct machinery suitable for the manu-
facture of wire rope in which the wires composing each strand are made to lie
parallel with the axis of the strand as described in an application for a Patent
made by George Richard Cooke N° 14409 in the year 1884.
We will first describe our invention as applied to a vertical machine, i.e. a
machine having its main axis in a vertical position, and in which the finished rope
is drawn off in a vertical direction.
Such a machine is represented on Sheet 1 of the drawings.
Figure 1 is an elevation partly in section of the machine.
Each wire of which the rope is to be composed is wound upon a separate bobbin,
and the bobbins are collected into as many groups as there are bundles of wire in
the rope. These bundles of wire may be conveniently alluded to as
strands."
ff
parallel
All the bobbins of one group are mounted in a carriage or frame, in such a
manner that each bobbin may revolve to discharge its wire independently of all
the others, and the motion of each may be independently retarded by any of the
usual brake arrangements for adjusting the tension of the wires. The carriages
are mounted in a circle or circles on one horizontal disc, or between two horizontal
discs, or in succeeding tiers of carriages, between three or more horizontal discs as
may be convenient.
a a are the carriages; a side view of one of them is shown separately by
Figure 2. b are the bobbins, the wire is wound upon them and they revolve to
admit the wire to be drawn off; a leather strap may be tightened around the neck
of each bobbin to prevent the wire from unwinding too freely.
between which the carriages are mounted.
cc are discs
The discs are secured to the main shaft d of the machine, so that when the main
shaft revolves the carriages are revolving in circles around it. The axes of the
carriages are connected with an eccentric ring e (or a train of spur wheels or with
any other known mechanical device) for the purpose of preventing them from
revolving upon their own axes, though they are gyrating around the main shaft.
That is to say, the north side, say, of the carriage always faces to the north.
The nose a¹ or upper bearing of each bobbin carriage is made hollow, that all the
wires carried upon it may be collected and passed through the nose. Immediately
beneath the passage through the nose, a guide plate f shown to a larger scale by
the Figures 3 is fixed to the carriage, and perforated with a number of holes f¹ƒ¹
suitably disposed and corresponding to the number of bobbins in the carriage.
The wires are led through these holes and thereby guided to their respective
1

page_text: positions in the parallel strands. A parallel strand 'being thus collected at the
nose a¹ of each carriage they are all led upwards to and converge upon the nose of
the main shaft d forming collectively the outline of a cone. The main shaft is
driven at a suitable speed by bevilled gear as shown; it is hollow and if a fibrous
core be employed as is usually the case it is led up through the main shaft. A "lay
top" is secured to the end of the main shaft in any convenient manner which will
leave an open space between itself and the, end, of shaft, preferably by three pillows
or distance pieces. The lay top is shown to a larger scale at Figure 4; it consists
of a plate pierced with holes in number equal to the parallel strands to be laid up;
the holes being arranged in a circle round the centre of motion and the axis of each
being a continuation of the axis of one of the converging parallel strands. Each
hole is fitted with a steel nipple y bored from end to end; the upper portion of the
bore for a length of about 1 inches is made of the exact size of the parallel strand
when its wires are tightly pressed together. The remainder of the bore tapers and
enlarges toward the lower end to about twice the smaller diameter. Ench nipple
emerges from the upper surface of the lay top and is continued upwards and
tapered off to a point where the converging nipples almost touch each other. The
nipples are prevented by collars g¹ from drawing through but they are allowed
sufficient freedom to enable them to revolve in their sockets. It is convenient in
some cases to make the upper and tightly fitting portion g*.of the nipple.detach-
able, that it may be made of harder material and replaced readily when worn.
This gives also the further advantage of making one set of nipples serve for
several sizes of parallel strands simply by changing the compressing heads.
One of the nipples is shown separately by Figure 5.
A steel die or plate h shown also by Figures 6 is provided for each parallel
strand; it is perforated with as many holes as there are wires in the strand, the
holes are made as small as possible, placed as closely together as practicable and so
disposed as to bring the wires led through them as near their ultimate relative
position as may be. These dies are not fixed but simply threaded on the parallel
strands, and allowed to play freely between the end of main shaft d and the underside
of lay top; but when the machine is at work they tend to close up to the lay top.
Suitable arrangements are provided for driving the machine and for drawing off
the finished rope through fixed dies i (roller dies are here shown) and for passing
the core if any up the hollow main shaft.
From the above description it will be seen that in this machine the treatment of
the wires is briefly as follows. A group of wires sufficient for forming one
parallel strand is collected at the nose of each carriage, there passed through the
guide plate which primarily places them in their relative positions in comparatively
open order; then led to the nose of the main shaft and passed through the loose die
which finally fixes their relative positions and brings them much closer together;
next passed through the nipples which gradually compress the parallel strands into
their final size and shape, in which condition they emerge from the nipples
immediately in front of the fixed closing dies which should be placed as close to the
nipples as possible that the wires may have no opportunity of escaping from their
proper positions before the rope is finally closed. The closing dies are fixed; the
remainder of the machine revolves; the rope consequently receives its twist or lay
in the short space between the nipples and the closing dies.
We would here remark that the machine above described is similar in some of
its features to machines before employed in making wire ropes with twisted or
layed strands; also that we do not claim generally the manufacture by such
machinery of rope with parallel strands, for since making application for Letters
Patent we have become aware that this has before been proposed --but what we
consider essential to our invention is herein after defined in our claiming clauses.
From the foregoing description it will be seen that the system is capable of
producing ropes of any number of wires arranged in any number of parallel strands;
that a bobbin carriage constructed to carry a large number of wires may be equally
well used for a smaller number simply by omitting some and inserting new guide
"

page_text: plates and loose dies; and that a machine arranged with a large number of bobbin
carriages may use a portion of them only, allowing the others to run empty and
changing the lay top for one having the proper number of nipples.
Horizontal machines i.c. machines in which the axis of revolution is horizontal,
are made according to our invention, having the same peculiarities of construction
as described for the vertical machines, the only differences being in the framing
and mode of carrying and driving the machines which differences are the same as
those which exist between vertical and horizontal machines of the older types; and
need not therefore be described.
Our invention may also be put into practice in connection with that form of
machine known as the "Archibald Smith stranding machine" in which the bobbins
are arranged along the axis of the machine which lies horizontally, the bobbins
together with their carriages remaining stationary, while the frame of the machine
and the wires revolve around them. We applying our invention to this type of
machine in the manner illustrated by the Figures 7 and 8. Figure 7 is a side
elevation of the machine and Figure 8 is a plan of a portion of the same.
k is a shaft driven in any convenient manner, is a disc fast upon it.
The disc is connected by the bars m m with other discs n n, these parts form a
frame and all revolve together being supported between rollers on fixed standards.
The discs support the carriages a between them. a* are weights attached to the
carriages which prevent them from revolving, b are the bobbins. f f the guido
plates on the carriages. oo are pulleys which lead the parallel strands from the
noses a¹ of the carriages along the tie bars m m to the lay top which is attached
by short pillars to the last disc n of the series. gg are the projecting nipples of
the lay top closely fitting and compressing the strands as already described.
hh are free guide dies-i is the fixed die through which the rope is drawn
forward by the winding apparatus.
We construct each carriage a to receive as many bobbins b as there are wires in
the parallel strand, arranged in a compact manner, with the centre of gravity of
the carriage lying below the axis. The wires from the group of bobbins are led
through guides fat the nose a¹ of the carriage as already described, and then
carried along the tie bars in the manner usual for this type of machine.
At the front of the machine the various parallel strands are gathered together;
passed through loose dies, through the compressing nipples of the lay top, and
finally through the fixed closing dies, in the same manner as described for the
vertical machine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. In a machine for making ropes with parallel strands the nozzles which
tightly compress the strands and projecting from the lay top bring the strands
close together and deliver them to the fixed dies i substantially as described.
2. The combination in a machine for making ropes with parallel strands of
the carriages a bobbins b guides upon the carriages, lay top with projecting
compressing nozzles g guide dies h and rope die i substantially as described.
3. Machinery substantially as herein described and represented by the annexed
drawings.
Dated this 22nd day of April 1886