Improvements in the Manufacture of Wire Strands and Ropes.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Aug, 1891
Complete Specification Left, 21st May, 1892-Accepted, 25th June, 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Wire Strands and Ropes.
I, CHARLES JOHN BANKS of The Willows, Washington in the County of
Durham, Rope Works Manager, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of wire strands and
ropes and has for its object the economic production of such articles of manufacture
with a relatively increased strength for a reduced nett sectional area occupied.
Hitherto to effect this result sectional wires or wires other than circular have
been tried with indifferent results owing to the difficulty firstly of drawing such
sectional wires and secondly of spinning them truly or without torsion but by my
invention I propose to alter the section of ordinary round wires or some of them or
strands or ropes after the spinning operation so as to produce a wire strand or rope
composed in the first instance of round wire having its wires or strands or general
section composed for the most part of sectional parts other than circular parts.
This operation may be effected on the spinning machine near the ordinary dies or
at any convenient point beyond the laying plates so that it may be performed
substantially simultaneously with the ordinary spinning of the wires or it may be
effected at a subsequent and if desirable separate operation the effect in either case
remaining the same.
The apparatus used for effecting the desired result may consist of what I will
term drawing dies or plates so formed that on the strand or rope being drawn there-
through the wires or some of them which were round when stranded become altered
in section the crowns thereof being drawn over and against each adjoining wire
whereby the strand is rendered more compact and an increased and more even
wearing surface is produced on the rope.
The dies which may be perforated steel or metal plates properly mounted on the
machine need no special construction beyond their being so shaped as to produce
without undue straining the section of strand or rope required and it will be observed
that by this arrangement no forcing of any particular surface of the wire into any
particular position is required as the action of the drawing plates or dies produces
at once from circular wired strands or ropes a strand or rope with wires or strands
composed of sectional units other than circular ones as above described by which
many important economical advantages in the manufacture and life of wire strands
and ropes are produced.
Dated this 20th day of A van 1001
A. CRAWHALL CHAPMAN,
3, St. Nicholas' Buildings, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Patent Agent for Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Wire Strands and Ropes.
I, CHARLES JOHN BANKS of The Willows, Washington in the County of
Durham, Rope Works Manager do hereby declare the nature of this in- ention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of wire strands and
ropes and has for its object the economic production of such articles of manufacture
with a relatively increased strength for a reduced nett sectional area occupied.

page_text: Hitherto to effect this result sectional wires or wires other than circular have
been tried with indifferent results owing to the difficulty firstly of drawing such
sectional wires and secondly of spinning them truly or without torsion but by my
invention I propose to alter the section of ordinary round wires or some of them or
strands or ropes after the spinning operation so as to produce a wire strand or rope
composed in the first instance of round wire having its wires or strands or general
section composed for the most part of sectional parts other than circular parts.
This operation may be effected on the spinning machine near the ordinary dies
or at any convenient point beyond the laying plates so that it may be performed
substantially simultaneously with the ordinary spinning of the wires or it may be
effected at a subsequent and if desirable separate operation the effect in either case
remaining the same.
The apparatus used for effecting the desired result may consist of what I will
term drawing dies or plates so formed that on the strand or rope being drawn there-
through the wires or some of them which were round when stranded become altered
in section the crowns thereof being more or less compressed or drawn over and
against each adjoining wire whereby the strand is rendered more compact and an
increased and more even wearing surface is produced on the rope.
The dies which may be perforated steel or metal plates properly mounted on the
machine need no special construction beyond their being so shaped as to produce
without undue straining the section of strand or rope required and it will be observed
that by this arrangement no forcing of any particular surface of the wire into any
particular position is required as the action of the drawing plates or dies produces
at once from circular wired strands or ropes a strand or rope with wires or strands
composed of sectionál units other than circular ones as above described by which
many important economical advantages in the manufacture and life of wire strands
and ropes are produced.
I will fully describe my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings
which show one practical method of performing the operations above described but
I would have it understood that the precise means employed for effecting the desired
result may be very easily varied without departing from the invention herein about
to be described.
In the drawings
Figure 1. shows a plan, Figure 2. a sectional elevation and Figure 3. a cross-
section on line xy of the drawing dies and a method of applying them in connection
with a wire spinning machine.
In the figures, A is a foundation piece on which the die bracket 2 with cheeks 2"
is mounted.
The die holder may be formed in two pieces, an upper one 3 and a lower one 3"
in both of which recesses may be formed to take the die pieces 4 and to provide a
free passage 4 for the spun rope or strand 5 through the die holder to the drawing
off machine.
The number and size of the drawing dies may be varied to any desired extent and
their position may be secured by shouldering the holder (as at 6 in the drawings)
against the bracket cheeks and by vertical pressure applied through the screw 7
working in a boss 8 and actuated by a handspike in the ordinary manner.
A convenient method of applying the screw power is indicated by the application
of the bridged fork-piece 9 secured to the bracket 2 by a pin 9, which admits of
the parts being easily unshipped.
At S is shown the spinning machine with the wires W converging therefrom
through the layplate or nozzle N to the drawing dies above described.
In practice I find that a die having a sectional area from five to seven per cent.
or thereabouts less than the sectional area of the rope or strand about to be drawn
is sufficient to close the interstices of the rope and to effect the results hereinabove
stated.
In Figure 4. I show a section of an ordinary strand composed of seven circular
wires, six over one.

page_text: In Figure 5. I show a section of this same strand after it has been passed or
drawn through the dies as above described.
The result of the operation has been to close the interstices between the wires
composing the strand thus rendering the rope less liable to internal corrosion and to
alter the wires from a circular form to one approaching to an hexagon.
The mean diameter of the strand has at the same time been reduced and the
crowns of the wires are flattened down thus increasing the wearing surface by
rendering the circumference more truly cylindrical.
In precisely the same manner, other strands composing a rope can be altered in
section by this novel method of reduction-die-drawing so as to form a rope practically
composed of polygonal wires throughout, and possessing the attributes of economy
and durability above described.
It is obvious that the above results may be performed concomitantly with the
spinning or at a subsequent operation, as required.
The entry to each die is by a gradual taper to the minimum diameter.
Hitherto a lower grade of wire has had to be used for polygonal or so-called
"sectional " wires but by my improvements I can use circular steel wire of the
highest grade and convert it by the reduction-die-process as above described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The improvements in the manufacture of wire strands and ropes consisting in
altering the section of the individual wires or strands by means of drawing the
strands through drawing dies of a diameter or sectional area somewhat less than the
diameter or sectional area of the combined wires or strands as delivered from
the spinning machine substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
2. In the manufacture of wire strands and ropes the use of reduction-drawing-
dies or die plates for producing strands or ropes whereof the wires originally
cylindrical are altered in section and flattened on their surfaces to improve their
wearing when used as running ropes substantially as herein described and illustrated
in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 20th day of May 1899
A. CRAWHALL CHAPMAN,
3, St. Nicholas' Buildings, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Patent Agent.