IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART OF ROPE MAKING, UPON THE PRINCIPLE OF COMPOSING EACH STRAND OF ROPE WITH TWO DISTINCT THREADS TWISTED TOGETHER, AND OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE APPARATUS BY WHICH THE PRINCIPLE IS CARRIED INTO EFFECT
Year: 1808

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
GADD, of Shadwell, in the County of Middlesex, Rope Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS by His Majesty's Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth
day of June now last past, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, after
reciting that the said Samuel Gadd had by his Petition humbly represented
that he had, after much trouble, labour, and expense, found out and invented
an "IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART OF ROPE MAKING, UPON THE PRINCIPLE OF
COMPOSING EACH STRAND OF ROPE WITH TWO DISTINCT THREADS TWISTED TOGETHER,
AND OF THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE APPARATUS BY WHICH THE PRINCIPLE IS CARRIED
INTO EFFECT;" that the said Samuel Gadd was the first and true inventor
thereof, and that the same had never been made or used by any other person
or persons, to the best of his knowledge and belief, and therefore praying
the Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, to be granted
unto him, his executors, administrators, and assigns, for the sole use, benefit,
and advantage of the said Invention, within that part of Great Britain called
England, His Majesty's Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, for the term of fourteen years, according to the Statute in that case
made and provided; His Majesty did thereby give and grant unto the said
Samuel Gadd, his executors, administrators, and assigns, licence, full power,

page_text: sole privilege, and authority, that he, the said Samuel Gadd, bis executors,
administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by himself and themselves,
or by his and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as
he, the said Samuel Gadd, his executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term of years therein and herein-before expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend his said Invention within
that part of the said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, His Majesty's Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, in such manner as to him, the said Samuel Gadd, his executors,
administrators, and assigns, or any of them, should in his or their discretion
seem meet, and that he and they should and lawfully might have and enjoy
the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from time to time coming,
growing, accrueing, and arising by reason of the said Invention, for and during
the said term, to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence, powers,
privileges, and advantages therein-before granted unto the said Samuel Gadd,
his executors, administrators, and assigns, for and during and unto the full
end and term of fourteen years from the date thereof next and immediately
ensuing, according to the Statute in such case made and provided, subject to
the several provisoes and conditions therein contained and expressed concerning
the same, and particularly that the said Samuel Gadd should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of his said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, by an instrument in writing under his hand
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within one calendar month after the date of the now reciting
Letters Patent, as on reference thereto will fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso or condition
in the said Letters Patent for inrolling a description of the said Invention as
aforesaid, I, the said Samuel Gadd, do hereby describe and explain the
nature of my said Invention of certain machines and improved methods of
manufacturing ropes and cordage, and do declare that the requisite description
and explanation of my said Invention is fully made by reference to the accom-
panying illustrative Drawings in manner following, that is to say:
My said Invention consists principally of two distinct matters: first, the
principle on which I compose and construct iny rope or cordage; and second,
of the construction and arrangement of the apparatus by which this principle
is carried into effect.
My improvement in the construction of the rope or cordage is thus: that,
instead of composing the strands of my rope of single and simple rope yarns

page_text: or threads, I compose and construct each strand, of two or more yarns or
threads, using yarn or thread in its single state in forming the strand; and
the construction and arrangements of apparatus, and the methods by which
(among others) this improvement may be carried into effect, are illustrated
and explained by the Drawings, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, hereunto annexed, and
these the references of the apparatus shewn in Drawing No. 1. It may be
needful to premise that the principal features of its construction are a
rectangular frame of wood or other suitable material, having projecting pins
in the middle of two opposite sides, by which it is suspended or held to two
upright supports, and between which it is thus at liberty to revolve on itself.
The rest of the apparatus is within and immediately above this frame, as will
be described.
Fig. 1 shews a geometrical elevation of the upright supporting pieces, and
what is called a bird's-eye view of the revolving frame, or such a view as
would be obtained when, from an horizontal position, it had gone through a
quarter of a revolution, and remained in a vertical position with its upper
side presented to the observer. The upright pieces are marked A, A; the
revolving frame B, B, B; the pins on which it is suspended, C, D. On the
upper part of one of the uprights as at C is a fixed toothed wheel, through
the centre of which also the projecting pin of the frame passes at that end.
F is a toothed wheel set on a short axis F, and attached to the frame, and is
at liberty to revolve; on the other end of the axis F is a bevil wheel G, at
right angles to which works a corresponding bevil wheel H. This is set on
an axis which passes across the frame, and has at one extremity or near the
side of the frame a toothed wheel I fixed on it, which drives another toothel
wheel K, which also is set on an axis extending across the frame and having
at about the middle of its length an endless screw or worm cut or set upon
it, L; this works into a heart wheel M, which is supported by a frame shewn
in the Figure. At the extremity of the axis of the wheel K, and outside the
frame, is a small band wheel N, which by the belt or band P drives the band
wheel O. This is set on the end of the axis of the bobbin R, R, which is
placed in the frame to receive the proposed quantity of material. On the outside
the frame, at the end immediately behind the bobbin, is a band wheel or
sheave W, by means of which the whole frame is made to revolve, and
this either by a band connected with the moving power used by an endless
rope taking a round turn upon it by a winch handle, or any other obvious
contrivance for such purpose. The mode of operation of this arrangement
is thus-The whole frame B, B, B, with its attached apparatus, being made
to revolve about C and D by the wheel at W, the wheel E being fixed, F is

page_text: made to travel round it, and is thus evidently driven by its giving motion to
the bevil wheel G, which, by its connection with H, drives the toothed wheel
I, which again drives K, with its axis, on which is the worm L, and this
gives motion to the heart wheel M; the axis of K also carrying the band
and wheel N and P, the bobbin R, R, is made to revolve, and the revolution
of R, R, winds on the thread or materials as was proposed. Now the sus-
pending pin at C is perforated, as is also that part of the frame; through this
perforation are introduced two or more threads or yarns, which by the revolving
of the frame are twisted together, and thus twisted are carried from the reel
at V to the point of the heart at M, which affords the alternating and recti-
lineer motion necessary for laying the yarns or materials evenly on the bobbin.
The second or lower Figure in the first Drawing exhibits a perspective view
of the same apparatus as it would appear to an observer standing at a little
distance, and having (what in Fig. 1 is) the upper side nearest to him, and the
same letters of reference are placed to the same parts respectively. In this
Figure the operations above described may perhaps be more easily traced by
persons unaccustomed to geometrical drawings than in Figure 1; but to persons
conversant in mechanics, or to draftsmen, to whom alone indeed any descrip-
tions of machinery can be rendered clearly obvious, the Figure 1 may suffice.
Another apparatus I use for the same purpose of twisting together the
yarns, and winding them on them bobbins, as shewn in the Drawing No. 3.
It consists of a rectangular frame of wood, iron, or other proper materials,
supported, as in the last-described machine, on upright pieces by an axis or
projecting pins at its ends; and on which it revolves, being turned by a band
wheel connected with any proper moving power. Fig. 1 in this Drawing is
a geometrical elevation of the apparatus, and Fig. 2 a perspective view of it,
and in both Figures the same letters of reference are set to the same parts
respectively. A, A, A, is the frame. B, C, D, is the reel upon which the
compound yarns are wound at the end. C, the end of the axis of the recl,
rests and works within the frame A, A. At the end B it passes through tho
At this end also it is
frame, and also through the supporting piece X.
perforated to admit the number of yarns intended to be used together. This
axis and reel is driven by the bevel work seen at E and F. The axis of the
wheel F carries a band and wheels G, G, which receive, motion by a winch or
any other method at pleasure. I is a roller or sheave on which the yarns
take a turn before passing into the perforated axis at E; they are brought
out in an oblique direction at the hole K, from thence pass on to the rollers
L. L, and from thence down to the reel, as in-the-Figure. On the outside
the frame A, A, is a fixed pinion wheel 'M, which, when the frame is made to

page_text: revolve (as before mentioned by a band) drives the toothed wheel N, which is
set on the end of the screw O, O. This is a flat-headed compound screw,
having two threads cut on it, and running in contrary directions, one being what
mechanics term a right-handed and the other a left-handed screw. One of the
small rollers L is fixed; the other, with its frame, is moveable in a groove
cut in the side of the frame A, A. The frame of this roller is furnished at its
under side with a tongue or projecting piece which enters the thread of the
screw 0, 0, so that the motion of the screw by the wheel N obliges the moving
roller to travel along it in one direction by one thread, and when arrived at
the end of it, or at the beginning of the reverse thread, to travel back again
by the other; thus providing the alternating motion required to lay the material
evenly on the bobbin. I here observe, that in the arrangement of this
apparatus, or of that described and illustrated by the Drawing No. 1, for tho
said purpose of combining two or more yarns, and for winding them so com-
bined on the reel or bobbin, I do not confine myself to these or any particular
constructions, but describe them as methods (among others) by which those
operations may be performed. There will arise in practice many cases in
which obvious alterations will be made in the relative dimensions of the part,
their arrangement, and the scale of operation according to the required
extent of the works. I therefore do not hereby limit myself precisely to the
particular forms of the apparatus which I have or shall describe, because they
evidently admit of great variety in these respects, without at all departing
from the principle already recited. The machinery may be made capable of
winding on several bobbins; it may receive its motion from the labor of
men, of animals, from the application of a steam engine, from wind or water.
In the Drawing No. 2 are geometrical elevations and plans, or bird's-eye
views of the methods by which I apply the bobbins to the apparatus for rope-
making.
In this, A, A, is the
C
Figure 1 is a plan or ground view of the sledge.
frame; B is a barrel or wheel on which the rope is turned, which commu-
nicates motion from the power to the whole machine, and is connected with
it by any of the well-known methods. 1, 1, are sheaves upon which the ends
of the rope of this wheel take their respective directions for that purpose.
is the axis of this wheel. D is a toothed wheel on the outside the breast or
fore board of the sledge, and below this are the three smaller wheels driven
by it for the three strands. E, E, is the strand forming. F. is a bevel
wheel set also on the axis C; it works with a bevil wheel G, on whose axis
This drives a wheel I, fixed on the axis of a barrel K,
on which the ground rope L, L, L, is wound to admit of the required motion
is a toothed wheel H.

page_text: of the sledge regulated by the progressive formation of the strand. a, a, a, a, arc
four small wheels on which the sledge moves.
Fig. 2 is a ground view of the machine, in which the bobbins are so disposed
as to wind off their contents in a proper manner. In this, M, M, M, is a
square framework, the hinder side of which, N, is higher that the front, and
in which the bobbins are disposed on pivots. They are shewn at n, n, with
the yarns running from them this. The register board or plate at O, P, is a
board or plate which carries at its centre a pair of half cylinders, between
which the strand receives the required compression for giving the proper figure.
The plate P itself may be made in two parts to admit of being taken off the
strand occasionally. The half cylinders are held firmly together by nuts
working on screws cut on their outer surfaces. An enlarged front view of this
plate shewing these nuts, &c. is seen in Figure 5.
Figure 3 is a side elevation of Figure 2, in which the parts are marked
respectively with the same letters of reference.
Figure 6 is a front view of the same Figure, arranged in the same way as
to the letters of reference.
Figure 4 is a side elevation of the Figure 1, in which also the same parts are
respectively marked with the same letter of reference. I also use, in this my
new method of manufacturing ropes and cordage, an improved regulating or
equalizing machine, the invention of Mr. Joseph Parsons. Its construction
and mode of operation is illustrated by the Drawing No. 4. Thus the Figure 1
in that Drawing shews a side elevation of the machine; Figure 2, an elevation
of the fore end; Figure 3, an elevation of the back end; and Figure 4, a plan
or bird's-eye view of the whole machine.
In Figure 1, A, A, is the frame or carriage. At the fore end of this the
framework is continued downwards on each side, forming a support for the
axle and wheels of that end, as shewn in the Figure. B is one of the fore
wheels, and C one of the back. At the back end of the carriage the axle of
the wheels supports a circular plato D, on which stands four uprights or
pillars E, E. Two of these supports each side of that end of the carriage.
The back axle is attached to the plate D by a centre pin (d), seen in the
Figure 3, and is at liberty to move about it as a centre, thus affording to the
machine the usual method of varying the direction of four-wheel carriages.
To vary the direction of the machine at the will of the workman, and to have
the quantity of its inclination always at command, a chain F is attached to
each end of the axle, and are carried thence beneath the machine to two
small rollers fixed on an axle which lies across the fore end. These two
chains, with the axle and rollers, are seen in Figure 4, where F, F, are the

page_text: cliains, X, X; the axle, and R, R, the rollers.
A handle G is also attached
to this axle, by which it turned, when the back axle stands even or at right
angles to the length of the carriage. These chains are taught, and are
fastened to their respective rollers, one above and the other below, so that,
when by the motion of the handle G the axle is made to turn, one of the
chains is gathered on its roller, and draws in the corresponding back wheel,
while the other roller releases the same quantity of its chain which is carried
out by the outward motion of the other wheel, the handle G is therefore
moved up or down according to which wheel or end of the back axle is
intended to be drawn in to produce the required inclination of the machine.
Across the fore end of the machine lies an axle with a winch; on this axle is
fixed a spur pinion H, by which the wheel K is driven; this carries the back
spur pinion I, which, with others fixed on the same axle (as seen in Figure 4),
drives bevil wheel L, and consequently the spindles M, M. N, N are upright
plates corresponding with the tackle boards in the usual machine; through
these the spindles pass, and are supported by them. At the fore end of the
machine is an upright frame O, which forms a guide for the rope as it comes
off the great wheel; this slides along a grooved cross piece seen in the
Figures 2 and 4, at T, T, and is tightened at the required position by a nut
provided with a small handle shewn beneath the plate T in Figure 2. On each
of the arms of the wheel K is a row of small holes, in which projecting pins
are set one in each arm at the same distance from the centre, thus forming a
barrell for taking up the ground rope, and of a greater or less diameter at
pleasure according to the required velocity of the machine.
I now observe, that the Figures in these Drawings are not meant to fix the
dimensions, or even the relative proportions, of the parts, but to exhibit their
relation to each other as to their mode of operating. The teeth or cogs on
the wheels are also in many parts omitted, the Figures as they are given being
usually deemed sufficient for all the purposes of explanation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Gadd, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and eight.

page_text: AND BE IT RELIEMBERED, that on Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year
above mentioned, the aforesaid Samuel Gadd 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 Specifi-
cation aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in that
case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year above written.