IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ROPES OR CABLES TO BE USED FOR TELEGRAPHIC OR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING SUCH CABLES OR ROPES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Fenwick, of Gateshead-on-Tyne, Engineer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ROPES OR
CABLES TO BE USED FOR TELEGRAPHIC OR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY
FOR PRODUCING SUCH CABLES OR ROPES."
Sealed the 14th June 1870, and dated the 25th April 1870.
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Fenwick at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th April 1870.
I, GEORGE FENWICK, of Gateshead-on-Tyne, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF ROPES OR CABLES TO BE USED FOR TELEGRAPHIC OR OTHER
PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING SUCH CABLES OR ROPES," to be as
follows:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
ropes or cables to be used for telegraphic or other purposes, and in
machinery for producing such cables or ropes complete and in one
continuous length. The rope or cable relates to that description in which

page_text: the protecting or covering wires are each surrounded with hemp or other
fibrous material twisted around them.
The improvement in the manufacture of this description of rope or
cable consists in causing the protecting or covering wires to enter the
centre of each set of yarns forming a "strand without any twist being
put thereon, whereby the full strength of the wire is utilised, as it is
not weakened by being twisted with the hemp or other fibrous covering.
The mode in which I propose to effect the aforesaid improvement is
by the employment of a wire bobbin in the centre of each drum, carrying
cach set of yarns in such manuer as to enable the drum to revolve, and
thereby twist the hemp or other yarns around the wire, which is held
in a stationary position relatively to such yarns. This I effect by con-
necting the wire bobbins with a ring combined with cranks, wheels,
belts, or other suitable means, so as to produce a kind of sun-and-
planet motion, and thereby allow the wire to enter cach "strand"
without any twist being put thereon, whilst the hemp or other fibrous
covering is twisted around such wire in the continuous manufacture of
the rope or cable.
The machine to which this Invention is applied, consists of a central
hollow shaft working in a footstep, and upon the said shaft are mounted
rings adapted to hold three or more drums, each drum forming its own
strand," and upon the said rings are proper regulating and draw-off
motions to cause the "strands" to be drawn from the drums at one'
equal strain, and at the top of the shaft is a motion for closing the
"
strands into the said ropes or cables, and also a draw-off motion to
change by wheels to suit the different lengths of "lay." The machine
can be made to work either in a vertical or horizontal position.
SE
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Fenwick in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
FENWICK, of Gateshead-on-Tyne, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Fenwick, Her special licence
that I, the said George Fenwick, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said George Fenwick, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF ROPES OR CABLES TO BE USED FOR TELEGRAPHIC OR OTHER
PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING SUCH CABLES OR ROPES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Fenwick, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Fenwick, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
-
The Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
ropes or cables to be used for telegraphic or other purposes, and in
machinery for producing such cables or ropes complete and in one
continuous length. The rope or cable relates to that description in
which the "protecting" or covering wires åre each surrounded with
hemp or other fibrous material twisted around them.
The improvement in the manufacture of this description of rope or
cable consists in causing the "protecting" or covering wires to enter
the centre of each set of yarns forming a "strand" without any twist
being put thereon, whereby the full strength of the wire is utilised, as
it is not weakened by being twisted with the hemp or other fibrous
covering.
The mode in which I propose to effect the aforesaid improvement is
by the employment of a wire bobbin in the centre of each drum, carrying
cach set of yarns in such manner as to enable the drum to revolve, and

page_text: thereby twist the hemp or other yarns around the wire, which is held in
a stationary position relatively to such yarns. This I effect by con-
necting the wire bobbins with a ring combined with cranks, wheels,
belts, or other suitable means, so as to produce a kind of sun-and-planet
motion, and thereby allow the wire to enter each "strand" without any
twist being put thereon, whilst the hemp or other fibrous covering is
twisted around such wire in the continuous manufacture of the rope or
cable.
The machine to which this Invention is applied consists of a central
hollow shaft working in a footstep, and upon the said shaft are mounted
rings adapted to hold three or more drums, each drum forming its own
"strand," and upon the said rings are proper regulating and draw-off
motions to cause the "strands" to be drawn from the drums at one
equal strain, and at the top of the shaft is a motion for closing the
"strands" into the said ropes or cables and also a draw-off motion to
change by wheels to suit the different lengths of "lay." The machine
can be made to work either in a vertical or horizontal position.
And in order that my said Invention may be more clearly understood
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed, aided by the accompanying
Drawings, more fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents a side clevation, and Figure 2 an end elevation of
machinery or apparatus having my improvements applied thereto for
producing cables or ropes constructed according to my Invention according
to which the "protecting" wires are caused to enter the centre of each
set of yarns forming a "strand" without any twist being put thereon;
Figure 3 is a vertical section through some of the parts; Figure 4 is a
plan taken on the line 1, 1, of Figure 1; and Figures 5 and 6 are vertical
sections through some of the parts.
a is a hollow shaft which works in a footstep, as is well understood,
and through this shaft the "core" is passed from the bottom to the top
thereof. On this shaft are keyed or otherwise firmly fixed rings b, c.
between which the drums d are carried. These drums carry a number
of bobbins d¹ provided with hemp or other fibrous covering for the
protecting "wires which are wound on the bobbins e. Above each
of the drums d is a regulating and draw-off motion for cach completed
strand," and at the top of the hollow shaft a is provided a motion g
"

page_text: for closing the "strands" into a rope or cable, and a draw-off motion h
provided with change wheels to draw off the completed rope or cable and
to suit different lengths of "lay."
In carrying my Invention into effect I mount each of the bobbins e
carrying the "protecting" wires in a frame c¹ fixed on the upper end of
a shaft or axis e², on the lower end of which is keyed or otherwise firmly
fixed a crank e³. The upper end of each of the frames e¹ is guided as
shown at Figures 5 and 6. The drums & are each keyed or otherwise
firmly fixed to toothed wheels & which are taken into by and receive
motion from intermediate toothed wheels i driven by a
sun wheel" k
which is keyed or otherwise firmly fixed to a hollow shaft or axis l. On
this hollow shaft or axis is also firmly keyed or otherwise fixed a worm
wheel m which receives motion from a worm or screw n¹ fixed on one end
of a shaft or axis n, on the other end of which is fixed a toothed pinion n³,
which is taken into by and receives motion from a toothed wheel o¹ fixed
on the main or driving shaft o. To the ring b is fixed a bevilled
toothed wheel which is taken into by and receives motion from a
bevilled toothed pinion o fixed on the main driving shaft or axis o.
Thus the necessary rotary motion of the rings b, c, around the hollow
shaft or axis a is obtained by the bevilled gearing b' and o³, whilst the
rotary motion of each drum d around its own axis and around its
respective wire is obtained by the worm n' and worm wheel m, and by
the sun wheel", intermediate wheels i, and wheels d, but in order
to prevent the "protecting" wires being twisted in their motion around
the central hollow shaft a, and consequently around the "
core," I
connect all of the cranks es to a ring e, which is capable of travelling
with the cranks around the central hollow shaft or axis 1, but is
controlled by the guide wheels to rotate in a path eccentric to that
of the shafts or axes e, thereby maintaining the bobbins e in a fixed
position relatively to the bobbins d. Each of the bobbins e is provided
with a wheel c*, around which passes a friction band, or to which
friction is applied in any suitable manner, to regulate the tension at
which the "protecting" wires are drawn off from the bobbins e.
"
I would here remark that I do not claim the general arrangement of
machinery as herein-before shown and described, as such, with the
exception of the peculiar motion given to the bobbins e carrying the
protecting" wires, has before been used and is now well known and
6

page_text: understood, and for this reason I have not thought it necessary to enter
into a minute description of all the parts.
I would also remark that I am well aware that wire ropes or cables
have before been made without any twist being put upon the individual
wires of which such ropes or cables are made, but in the manufacture of
that description of rope or cable herein-before referred to in which a
central core is covered by a number of “protecting” wires, cach of
which is separately covered by hemp or other fibrous material, it has
been customary before the date of my Patent to twist such " protecting "
wires with the hemp or other fibrous covering, thereby weakening the
wires and causing other defects in the completed cable or rope.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the mode
in which I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood that
what I claim in the manufacture of ropes or cables of the character
herein first referred to is, causing each of the protecting wires to enter
the centre of each set of yarns forming a "strand" without any twist
being put thereon, and I claim for this purpose the employment of
machinery in which the wire bobbins e are caused to remain in a
stationary position relatively to the bobbins d³, in manner substantially
as herein shown and described.
In wituess whercof, I, the said George Fenwick, have hereunto set
my land and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
GEORGE FENWICK. (L.S.)
B. J. B. MILLS,
Patent Agent,
35, Southampton Buildings,
London.