IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ROPES AND CORDAGE, CANVAS, AND OTHER FABRICS AND ARTICLES, FROM SUBSTANCES HITHERTO UNUSED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1829

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HARRIS, of Brompton Crescent, in the County of Middlesex, Captain in the
Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fifteenth day of September, in the tenth year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said George
Harris, His especial licence, that I, the said George Harris, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Harris, my
executors, administrators, 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 Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ROPES AND CORDAGE, CANVAS, AND OTHER
FABRICS AND ARTICLES, FROM SUBSTANCES HITHERTO UNUSED FOR THAT PURPOSE;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
George Harris, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, parti-
cularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said 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
George Harris, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
consists,-
First, in preparing certain fibrous substances hitherto unused for cord-
age, canvas, or the like fabrics, in this country, in the manner herein-after
described;
And, secondly, in a compound or mixture, herein-after also described, which
I apply to such fibres, and to the several fabrics into which they are manu-
factured, by means whereof the same are rendered more durable and less liable
to be injured by the effects of damp or mildew.
And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said George Harris,
do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed
by the following description thereof, that is to say :-
And first of my said compound or mixture. I collect the juices of certain
trees, plants, or vines, such as the Ficus Indica, which grows on the coast of
Africa and in the East and West Indies, by tapping or making incisions in
the said trees, plants, or vines at that season of the year (say the wet season)
when they are best adapted for that purpose, and from which incisions a milk
or juice flows or exudes, which I collect into a vessel, and then submit to a
degree of heat over a fire amounting to boiling heat, by which means the
aqueous, pernicious, and offensive particles contained in the juice are made
to evaporate, and its liability to ferment prevented. To the milk or juice,
when in the state, I add about one gallon of cocoa nut, palm, or other oils
(not being essential oils) to twenty-five of the milk or juice; and the mixture
may in this state 'be imported into this country, where I heat it again, and add
a quantity of bitumen or asphalt, which quantity I vary according to the pur-
poses for which the compound is to be used, the quantity for general purposes
being about one pound of bitumen or asphalt to twenty pounds of the previous
mixture, which brings the whole into a compound of the consistency nearly
similar to bird-lime; but if required to be used in a more liquid state, I
accomplish that end by adding a quantity of the before-mentioned oils suffi-
cient for that purpose. It should be observed, that the compound is always.
to be used in a moderately heated state, say, at from about from eighty to one
hundred degrees of temperature.
I will now proceed to describe my mode of preparing the fibrous substances
before alluded to, and of applying the compound before described to them .in
their various stages of being manufactured into ropes and cordage, canvas, and
other fabrics and articles; that is to say, I first collect, in their green state, the
leaves of the plant growing in the East and West Indies and on the coast of
:

page_text: Africa, and called the silk grass, which I cause to be dried and beaten by
machinery or otherwise until the fibres are partly divested of the coat or husk
which at first covered them, so that but little except the fibres remain, which
I then cause to be rinced in water and dried. The fibres so prepared may
be imported into this country, where I cause them to be hitchelled in the
usual manner, except that I apply a portion of the compound before mentioned
to the hitchelling instruments instead of oil, as is now done, by which means
the fibres partake in some degree of the said compound, and the fibre is then
produced in the hitchelled state fit for spinning, after which a further portion
of the compound is given to the fibres by the hand, and the fibres are then
protected from the effect of damp. When the fibres are to be spun, the
spinner is provided with a tin case containing a quantity of compound, which
he attaches to his side, and into which he occasionally dips the fingers of the
hand with which he spins the fibres, holding, at the same time, in his other
hand, a cloth saturated with the compound through which the fibres, as they
are spun, pass; and by these means the compound has been three times applied
to the fibres. The fibres being thus spun into yarns or threads are now ready
to be reeled; and the reeler is provided with a similar cloth to the spinner,
impregnated with the compound before described, with which he snugs the yarn
as it passes, so that it has a fourth time received a portion of the compound.
In making the yarns into ropes (except for standing rigging, which I make as
herein-after described) the same plan is adopted as is used in the manufac-
turing of what is termed a white rope, until the yarns are about to enter the
tubes, when a portion of the compound is again applied to them, being a fifth
application, and they are then twisted into reddies. I should observe, that my
ropes so made are not closed so hard as is generally done, as that necessity is
prevented by the properties of my compound; and by this means the necessity
of the ropes being passed through a cauldron of any boiling substance or
substances, as is now done, is prevented.
My mode of making standing rigging before alluded to is as follows:-I
take any number of the yarns, spun and impregnated as before described,
according to the desired size of the intended rope, which yarns I continue to
knot on to one another, and work or wind in the form of a hank round two
iron or other bars, at the distance of about ten fathoms from each other, till I
obtain the number of the threads for the sized ropes required. This enables
one to form an eye in the intented rope at each bar for the reception of a
thimble. I then cause the yarns or bank to be stretched, by tackle applied to
the bars or otherwise, for the purpose of throwing an equal strain upon every
yarn, when I again apply to the yarns another coating of the compound; and

page_text: they are then served round by spun yarn or sennit, or are covered with a
sword-mat, and laced or sewed (the spun yarn or sennit or sword mat being
first saturated with the compound), and then again coated with it. I have
mentioned that I make my ropes for standing rigging about ten fathoms long;
but I nevertheless claim to make standing rigging in the manner before
described of any length; my reason for using short lengths being that they
are more easily carried out to sea, and more easily repaired in case of accident.
Of the lengths of standing rigging so made I take two or more, the eyes of
which, formed as before described, I connect together by a shackle chain link
divided in the middle, and fastened together by a hinge on one side, and by a
bolt, with a nut screw, on the other side. The advantages-of-standing rigging
so made are, that it is stronger than a twisted rope, and less liable to stretch:
My mode of making lines and twine, canvas, sailcloth, or other cloths, from
threads prepared and saturated as before described, is in the usual manner;
except that in making canvas I do not use starch or size in the manner now
done for the purpose of laying the haul as it is termed, as that necessity is
prevented by the properties of my compound; and the cloths so made are
rendered more durable and less liable to be effected by damp or mildew. It
should be observed that, although in the foregoing description I have specified
the fibres of the silk grass for the purposes of my Invention, yet my compound
is equally applicable to fibres of grass, bark, silk, woollen, cotton; flax, -hemp,
or other the like vegetable or animal substances.
And whereas I claim as my Invention the compound aforesaid; and the
application thereof to the fibres of the silk grass aforesaid, and other the like
fibrous substances, for the purpose of manufacturing ropes, cordage, canvas,
and other the like fabrics and articles; and such my Invention being, to the
best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before used within
that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
called England, His said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that
I do verily believe this my said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully
and without reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain
exclusive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness. whereof, I, the said George Harris, have hereunto "set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty.
GEORGE (L.S.) HARRIS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twelfth day of March, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid George Harris came before our Lord
the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.