LAYING, TWISTING, OR MAKING ROPES AND STRANDS OF ROPES, AND. OF COILING UP SUCH ROPES AND STRANDS OF ROPES DURING THE PROCESS OP MAKING
Year: 1798

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHAPMAN, of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present. Majesty King George; the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date-at-Westminster,
the Sixth day of March, in the thirty-eighth year of His reign, did-give
and grant unto me, the said William Chapman, His especial licence that.
I, the said William Chapman, my executors, administrators, and .assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Chapman, my executors, administrators;
and 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, and in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, my Invention of "LAYING, TWISTING, OR MAKING ROPES AND STRANDS OF
ROPES, AND. OF COILING UP SUCH ROPES AND STRANDS OF ROPES DURING THE PROCESS
OP MAKING;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said William Chapman, by an instrument in-writing under my hand
and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,

page_text: as in and by the same, reference being thereto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Chapman, do hereby declare that my said new-invented Method or
Methods of Laying, Twisting, or Making Ropes or Strands of Ropes, and of
coiling up such Ropes and Strands of Ropes during the Process of Making,
is in general principles described in the Specification of the Letters Patent
granted to me by His present Majesty King George the Third, under the Great
Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of Sep-
tember, in the thirty-seventh year of His reign, for my Invention of Laying,
Twisting, or Making Ropes or Cordage of any Number of Yarns or Strands,
or any Number of Threads Tarred or Untarred, from the Size of a Cable down to
the smallest Line composed of more than One Thread; and my further amend-
ments, in point of explanation or improvements, are contained in the following
descriptions, and the Drawings annexed to the Specification of my former
Letters Patent aforesaid, which, except where otherwise mentioned, are the
Drawings hereafter referred to, previously premising, that in this as well as in
the other Specification the particular form, position, dimensions, and mate-
rials of the shafts, machinery, and apparatus, are not absolutely determi-
nate, but admit of being varied according to circumstances or the will of the
constructor.
My methods of making ropes, or strands of ropes; may either dispense with,
or make use of, a common ropery or laying ground. In the instances where I
altogether dispense with it, the spinners, instead of going backwards for the
Jength of the thread, may remain permanently in one place. In this case the
end of the yarn,
instead of being simply fastened to a hook, is attached to a
bobbin, by means of which and of a perforated spindle and a flyer it is wound
up progressively, as it is spun, and may receive any given number of twists in
a given length, or be given out at the pleasure of the spinner. After the yarn
is spun by these or any other means, my. Invention facilitates and improves the
different processes until it finally become a rope of any description. If de-
signed to be a white or untarred rope, and the yarn be spun in the common
method, I wind it in the first instance singly on reels or bobbins to any con-
venient length; if the rope have to be. a tarred one, I wind up the yarns in.
the common method, viz, four (or any other number) upon a reel, fastening
other yarns to the end of these, and thus continuing until the reel be full, or
otherwise so many yarns as are to be wound up at once are each wound up by
the same operation on separate reels, so regulated that, if any be disposed to
wind up the yarn faster than another, it shall slip back round its axis; but in:

page_text: place of subsequently warping or stretching out these yarns upon "a rope
ground to any determined length preparatory to their being tarred, and of
afterwards again separating and stretching the tarred yarns, preparatory
to their being made into a strand or wound up on reels for that purpose,.
my process of tarring and warping consists in winding up separately during
the process of tarring each'individual yarn or small number of yarns, as may
be previously determined, and of any given length. In the common method
of tarring; which is frequently done to the extent of three or four hundred
yarns at one time, they are as they come from the tar kettle passed in the mass
thro' an opening, where they receive such pressure as to force back the super-
fluous quantity of tar, and they are drawn forward by the mass of yarns being
passed any requisite number of turns round an axis, which is moved by a
horse or by any other means, and the whole is progressively coiled up.
In place of this, my method is to draw forward and wind up any determi-
nate number of yarns by their ends being fastened to their respective reels one
or more to each; and as it is necessary in their passage from the tar kettle or
other vessel to those reels to keep the yarn from entangling, I occasionally
press them separately in such a manner as that each reel shall draw 'forward
its own yarn or yarns independently of the rest, similar in principle to what in
my late Letters Patent, before recited, I have described in the passage of the
yarns through the strand shaft, which may be done by one general pressure,
the yarns being divided in layers by the intervention of coarse woollen cloth,
felt, or any other elastic or pliable substance; and in the transverse direction.
to those layers they may be further separated by the insertion or intervention of
metal or wooden pins, or other divisions, which must have correspondent
openings or grooves either in the press block or place pressed against.
This description will likewise more clearly explain one of the methods of
retarding separately and individually the passage of the yarns through the
strand shaft during the making of a rope or strand of a rope. It is necessary
further to observe, that not any of the reels on which the white yarns are
wound, and from which they unwind as they pass into the tar kettle, should
pass its yarns to two or more reels, as inconveniences would thereby arise in
regulating their manner of winding up, consequently the white yarn should be
on as many separate reels as the tarred yarn is proposed to pass on to at the same
time. By these means, during the process of tarring, any requisite length of
tarred yarn may be wound up and cut off, and other reels may be substituted
for the continuation of the process for the residue of the yarn. In the passage
of the yarns through the tar, it will be elligible to keep them separate by
passing them through distinct openings in the piece of metal usually called by

page_text: yarn
under
ropers a foot, one or more of which is sometimes used to keep the
the surface of the tar in its passage through the kettle, and by this separation
the distinct pressure 'upon each yarn may be omitted, and the whole pass con-
jointly through one opening, provided the pressure be not so considerable as to
prevent one yarn from slipping past another, or means of slipping be given to
the reels winding up the tarred yarn, which latter would be attended with
considerable inconveniences. According to these methods, much of the trouble
will be saved that is requisite in the common modes préviously to the two
separate: operations.of.tarring a haul of yarn, and of making the strands of
the rope. According to the methods for which I have formerly obtained His
Majesty's Letters Patent, as already recited, I regulate the passing of each
separate strand from its shaft by a due retarding stress from springs, weights,
and other means. If the strands lay unequally, viz, one higher or lower than
another, that resistance might, on stopping the machine, be duly regulated by
slackening or tightening the springs, shewn in the upper shaft of Figure J., or
by moving inwards or outwards the weights on the levers, as shewn in the
upper shaft of Figure III..
:
My Invention affords a further regulation, which may be applied during the
going of the machine. This consists in having a collar capable of moving
either up or down upon any proper part of each strand shaft, and connected
with the lever compressing the strand; then by means of a lever or bar press-.
ing upwards or downwards upon any respective collar, the resistance on that
strand may be diminished or increased at pleasure, so as to make them.lay
fair and uniformly below the laying block or top, where all the strands unite
above the head of the rope shaft. The same end of determining the point
of union. may be produced by pulley sheaves, or any other separating guides.
The rope must thenceforward be drawn on or at least regulated in its motion
by similar machinery to what is described in the afore-recited Specification, by
means of the twisting sheaves and appendages. The wheel S, S, Figure III., from
which the twisting sheaves ultimately receive their motion, is not necessarily con-
cave or fixed in this position; it may be placed at the foot of the shaft, and the
axis containing the endless screw O may be horizontal or in any other position;
neither is the screw itself necessary, as by duly proportioning the intervening
geer, a pinion may be made to act on the twisting sheaves. The twisting sheaves
may also, if necessary, be each of them driven by a separate screw or pinion, or
one may drive the other by a cog wheel on each; they likewise are not confined
either as to their place on the shaft or relative position to each other, or in the
means of receiving diversity of motion suitable to the size of the rope or strand.
The principles of my Invention consist..not only in making a rope complete

page_text: at one operation, but occasionally making the strands separately in the
following manner; that is to say:-I coil or wind up the yarn requisite for a
strand on one coil or reel, or any number of coils or reels or bobbins, and fix
the reel or reels or bobbins on a pin or pins, or axes, round or with which it or
they will revolve as drawn off, the yarns are then twisted together, and drawn
forward by a revolving shaft, similar to E in Figures I., III., or IX., placed in
any requisite position (to which shaft the reels are not fixed). The yarns are.
thus made into a strand, which is coiled up during the process of making, in the
modes described in my aforesaid Letters Patent, or in any other manner, so as
to admit of the revolution of the axis or shaft making the strand, which, when
thus made, may either be heated similar to a cable strand, as therein described,
or it may with other strands be laid in a common rope ground, or after the
common method, as may also the strands made by any other of my processes,
my method being to complete the rope after any of those ways, according to
circumstances. In this method of making the strand, by drawing the yarns or
threads from off separate reels that are not fixed to the revoking axis or shaft
that twists the threads together into a strand, I regulate the coming forward
or making of the strand by apparatus fixed to or connected with the shaft,
either in a manner similar to what is explained in the description of the shaft
and apparatus for twisting the strands into a rope, or in any other way. I..
also place above, or leading to the head of the shaft, a yarn guide to separate
the yarns to any extent deemed necessary; likewise to enable them to come off.
in greater or less quantity, as required by the part of the strand they fall into,
I regulate the resistance of their coming forward to any extent wanted to
give sufficient compactness to the strand, and at the same time not prevent the
yarns from any reel or number of reels from coming forward, as required. For
this purpose that resistance may either be placed on the reels or yarns them-
selves, or in any manner that separates or divides the whole mass of yarns, or
in any other way that allows one or more yarns to slip or come forward inde-
pendent of the rest. By the methods formerly described for making a com-
plete rope at one operation, I, during the act of making the strands, unite
them into a rope by means of what I there call a rope shaft, in which they are
all concentred, and receive the twist which forms them into a rope; but I
also occasionally omit the concentring of them, and the subsequent part of the
operation during the making of the strand or strands, and in place of twisting
them into a rope, I only draw the strand forward as made, and coil it or them
in any manner whatsoever. They in this instance having no rotative motion,
the apparatus for drawing forward is not fixed to the revolving shaft con-
taining the reel or reels, and other necessary appendages, but may be per

page_text: manent, and receive its motion in any proportion whatever to the revolu-
tions or twists given to the strand by that shaft.
The principles of making the strand in these two different ways are obviously
portions of the process that would, as has been described, make the whole rope
at one operation, and those two methods of making the strand, independently of
making the complete rope, are reducible to the following principle,-that in
making a strand simply, one end only need to be twisted, and the other held
from turning, but that both be permitted to pass forward, and progressively
change place, and that the yarns be, if deemed necessary, so regulated as to
come off their reels in such a manner as the part of the strand they come into
may require.
.
There is also a third method of making a strand, compounded of the two
preceeding, which may be followed, viz:-That of using two revolving shafts
in place of one, the reels being placed on one of them, and the strand coiling
up on the other. These two shafts ought to turn in contrary directions to each
other, in place of going the same way about, as they do in making the strands.
and rope at the same process. The making of an individual strand is particu
larly useful when the rope machine, explained in Figures I. and II., is not
sufficiently large to make the rope required, under which, or in any other pre-
dicament, I occasionally fix the requisite number of. reels on the strand
tables, shewn in Figure II., and, passing the yarns through the upper shafts in
the same manner as if a rope were going to be made, I unite them at the head
of the lower shaft E, and then, in place of the fixed laying block h, which
is used in the making of ropes, I fix a yarn guide with any number of grooves
or openings suited to the number of yarns, or any division of that number, and
then the process goes forward as in the making of a rope, with this difference,
that the upper tables stand still; this method differing in nothing from one of
those before described, but in the saving of the distinct apparatus that would
be requisite to resist the passing off of the yarns, and to give the necessary
hardening or compactness to the strand.
Besides these methods of separately making strands in such manner as to
give every yarn or determinate number of yarns their fair bearing in the
strand, so as to give it a degree of strength unattainable by the common
method, I have invented a further method which requires little more appa-
ratus than is used in common-roperies or laying grounds, viz-At the head
of the ropery, or in any other part, 1 fix upon pins so many reels as will con-
tain all the yarns, requisite for a strand, or the given number of strands
determined to be made at one time, each reel containing one or more yarns;
then, in the instance of making three stands, I fix two different hooks on the...

page_text: breast or foreboard of a sledge, so many yarns separately concentring to each
as are requisite, the yarns being previously passed through the openings of three
separate fixed tops or yarn guides, one opposite to or correspondent' with each
hook. Before or on the face of each top, towards the sledge, there may or may
not be fixed a cylinder, such as I have formerly described, below the laying
block at the head of the rope shaft. The yarns are then to be prevented from
passing too easily off their reels either by a pressure on the reels themselves,.
or on the yarns in their passage to or upon their separate tops, or in any
manner that will permit them to come off as wanted. The men are then to
heave upon or turn round the hooks of the sledge in the usual way, and the
only remaining difference consists in the sledge being drawn progressively
backward as the strand is making, until the whole or any determinate
length of strand be made. The process of drawing backward may be done
various ways; amongst others, by a rope to a capstan, moved either by a horse
or men, according to the strength requisite, which will not be considerable on
account of the slowness of the motion of the sledge, which, although called
technically by this name, I propose to move on wheels; or this method may
be reversed, by fixing the yarn and its described apparatus on the sledge or
carriage that has to be drawn backwards. The strands being now made, and
all joined at one end by a single hook, the wheels of this sledge may either be.
locked, and itself laden with a proper weight, or it may have attached to it a
common sledge with its requisite load, and then the completion of the rope
may go forward in the usual way. But to give the rope the greatest strength
it is capable of by any process in which a rope yard or rope ground is made
use of, I, after the strand or strands are made in the manner described, or in
any other wherein the yarns are of.different lengths, according to their position
in the strand, harden up the strand or strands by twisting one or both ends of
them so as to shorten them any determinate space, generally from one twenty-
fourth to one twelfth of their length, previously to the strands being twisted
into a rope. This I do to allow for the position that the yarns will assume
after the rope is fully stretched, and I claim it as a principle of my Invention.
By the described process of drawing the sledge backwards, and by a single
hook on the foreboard of the sledge, and a fixed top, or anything equivalent
to it at the place where the sledge departs from, a rope may be made during
the process of making the strands, after that manner which I have described,
as admitting the strands to be coiled up in any manner whatever. The
other method is, to wind up these strands during their making, and after-
wards to stretch them on the rope ground previously to the commencement of
forming them into a rope; and in this manner one large strand machine would

page_text: be sufficient. I shall here observe, that in place of reels of yarn'I occasionally
substitute balls, or rolls, or coils of yarn, in canisters or other vessels, or in any
way in which they may unwind. My Invention also consists in coiling up ropes
or strands of ropes during the process of their making, in any way that receives
its motion from the machine itself or its moving power, examples of which
have already been given, and its principles explained, in the Specification of my
aforesaid Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in
the thirty-seventh year of His present Majesty's reign. All the shafts and
machinery may receive their motion from steam engines, from water, from
wind, or from the power of animals, which may communicate the respective
direction and velocity to the separate parts in any manner, according to the
will and judgment of the millwright or other constructor. It will be necessary
to observe, that when two or more yarns are to be.wound on each reel, one
turn or twist ought, at least, to be put into the conjoined yarns for every turn
they shall take about the reel on which they are to be wound, as they will
otherwise come off of different lengths. This twist may be put into them by
means of a flyer and spindle, serving as an axis to the reel, the latter making
two revolutions, whilst the flyer makes one..
EXPLANATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS ANNEXED TO THIS
SPECIFICATION.
In the preceding part of this Specification the Drawings of the former one
have been referred to, as being conceived sufficiently explanatory to all persons
conversant in machinery; but, to make the principles of this Patent as intel-
ligible as may be to persons of every description, I have annexed the accom-
panying Plans, which I shall proceed to explain.
Figures I., II, and III., exhibit a mode of making a strand of a rope by
twisting it at the end next the reels, and simply drawing it forward and coiling
it up as made. Figure IV. shews a method of making a strand of a rope by
twisting it from the end where it commences to be made, and leaving the reels
stationary, and revolving only round their own axis. In this method the reels are
fixed upon axis C, C, round which they revolve as the yarns are drawn forward.
x shews the case where they are compressed together, either conjointly as one
mass, or divided as heretofore described, which pressure is applied on the
press block & through the lever u, u, on which the weight w shafts inwards or.
outwards, so as to suit the. requisite resistance of the yarns to being drawn
forward. Y is the yarn guide, separating the yarns, and preventing the twist
of the strand advancing further than this point. E is the revolving shaft that:
twists the yarns into a strand, which strand is drawn forward and prevented

page_text: from turning by the twisting sheaves m, n, under the lower of which the strand
passes, then between the two, and over the higher, as shewn in its approach to
the reel M. The sheaven is forced forward in any determinate velocity suited
to the girt of the rope by means of the worm or screw o, which receives its
motion from the pinion 7, which is moved by revolving round the fixed or dead
wheel s, s.
This pinion, or the worm and wheel connected with it, may be
varied according to the girt and circumstances of the rope or strand, or the
same end may be produced by other means. The wheel drives forward the
wheel m, by means of coggs, which are hidden in the wheel n by the rim
containing the teeth for the screw nut to act in. The rope is held fast between
these two wheels by means of the weight and lever, as shewn in the Plan; and
to make it wind fair on the reel M, either the reel may be made to move up
and down upon a longer axis, or the pulley or guide p may be made to lift up
and down, as the rope or strand winds up, by means of a rack connected with p,
and moved by the pinion 2, on the same axis with the toothed wheel 3, which
is moved by a pinion on the shank 4, on the opposite end of which is a bevelled
pinion that, as the change of motion is required, acts alternately on the upper
or lower small bevelled wheel 5 or 6, which are connected together, and fixed
on and move with the reel M round its axis. The change of position of this
pinion may be effected by the overturning of a weight, as shewn in Figure VII:
of my former Specification, or by other means. The shaft E, which forms the
strand, receives its motion by a wheel, or any part of it, as at 8, and the reel M
is retarded by friction, or any other method, so as to coil up the rope or strand
as it is made. In Figures I., II. and III., a shews the revolving table or plat-
form on which the reels are placed. In Figure I. the table is in plan, and in
Figures II. and III. in elevation, shewing the sides and ends of the reels, which
revolve on axes c, c, inserted through them, and supported on standards b, b.
To prevent the reels drawing each other round, a washer may be put between
each, and pinned to the axis. D, D, are the stiles or uprights of the revolving
shaft, between which is placed the pressing case x (Figure II.), in which, by
means of the press block d, and the compound lever u, u, and moveable weight
w, the yarns receive the necessary resistance to passing forward into the
strand, which commences to be made immediately below the yarn guide, by
the revolution of the shaft D, D, which receives its motion upon the wheel g.
The wheel g communicates it to the pinion 7, the worm o, and twisting sheaves
n, m, which, with their appendages, are the same as described in Figure IV.,
differing only in remaining in a permanent situation in place of revolving
round a common axis, from which cause there is no difficulty in providing for

page_text: Inrolled the same Fifth day of April, in the year above written.