IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Stirling Newall, of Gateshead, in the County
of Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Stirling Newall
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th August 1863.
I, ROBERT STIRLING NEWALL, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA-
RATUS FOR SERVING ROPES FOR SHIPS' RIGGING AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
The operation of serving rope, that is, wrapping a yarn round it, is at present
effected by means of an instrument known as the serving mallet, which
requires a man and a boy to work it. Now the nature of this Invention is to
attach to the serving mallet a bobbin which carries the yarn that is to be
wrapped round the rope, and to make the mallet and bobbin revolve by
mechanical means.
There is a travelling carriage having on its upper part bearings for a hollow
axle, through which the rope to be served passes. On one end of this axle is
a bevil wheel, and both axle and wheel are cut in two across the diameter so
as to allow of the rope being placed in the centre of the axle or taken out..
Projecting from the bevil wheel and parallel to the axle is a driver, which

page_text: presses against the handle of the mallet and communicates motion to it from
another bevil wheel, to which motion is given from the prime mover. As the
work proceeds the carriage is pushed forward so as to keep the driver in
contact with the mallet bandle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Stirling Newall in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
STIRLING NEWALL, of Gateshead, in the County of Durham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Stirling Newall, Her special license that I, the said Robert
Stirling Newall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Robert Stirling Newall, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SERVING ROPES POR SHIPS' RIGGING,
AND OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Stirling Newall, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 Robert Stirling Newall, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
The operation of "serving " rope, that is, wrapping a yarn round it, is at
present effected by means of an instrument known as the serving mallet, which
requires a man and a boy to work it. Now the object of this Invention is to

page_text: work the serving mallet by mechanical means, whereby an economy of labour
and increased speed in the serving of the rope will be obtained. To this end
I attach to the serving mallet a bobbin which carries the yarn that is to be
wrapped round the rope. I also provide a travelling carriage having on its upper
part bearings for a hollow axle through which the rope to be served passes.
On one end of this axle is a bevil wheel, and both axle and wheel are cut in
two in a line crossing their axis so as to allow of the rope being laid in the
axle or taken out with facility. Projecting from the bevil wheel and parallel
to the axle is a driver, which presses (against the handle of the mallet and
communicates motion to it from another bevil wheel to which motion is given
from the prime mover. As the work proceeds the carriage is pushed forward
so as to keep the driver in contact with the mallet handle.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a sido elevation of my improved
apparatus for "serving" rope, shewing the travelling carriage with its
appliances driving the serving mallet; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same;
Fig. 3 is an end view of the carriage with its appliances; and Fig. 4 is an
end view of tho mallet with the bobbin attached thereto.
The carriage consists of a platform A, mounted on wheels, which run on a
railway in the rope yard. From the middle of this platform A stands a pillar
B, which carries at top a table C. To this table the standards D and E for
receiving the bearings for the gearing to be presently described are securely
bolted. In the standards D a short axle is mounted, to which are keyed a
pulley F and bevil wheel G. This pulley F receives motion through a band
from a pulley H, attached to or cast with a fly wheel on a crank shaft I below.
This shaft is rotated by means of a hand lever and connecting rod K, the hand
lever having its fulcrum in a bracket pendent from the table C. The wheel G
gears into a similar wheel L, which is affixed to a hollow axle which embraces
the
rope that is to be served. This wheel L and its axle are divided into two
in a line crossing their axis for the purpose of allowing the upper half to be
raised so as to admit the rope to be served within the hollow axle and to permit
of its removal when served. The parts of the wheel and axle are held together
by means of their bearings, the upper parts of which are hinged as shewn best
in the end view, Fig. 3, and held firmly by spring clips M. Attached to the
hollow axle and revolving therewith is a clamp N, to which is attached a
driver O. This driver consists simply of a crauk rod of sufficient length to
operate upon the handle P of the serving mallet while that mallet is
traversing a given distance over the rope under treatment. Affixed to
the end of the mallet (which is a block of wood slightly hollowed to receive the
rope) are bracket arms Q, Q, which carry a spindle or rod that carries the

page_text: bobbin R. The yarn to bo served is wound on this bobbin, and the bobbin
being put in place, as shewn at Fig. 4, the yarn is drawn off and passed
through an eye in the handle P of the mallet. The rope which is to be served
having been laid in the hollow axle, as described, and its ends made taut, the
end of the yarn is fastened to the rope and a few turns are taken round the
rope with the mallet in the usual way. The carriage is then brought up and
its driver brought abreast of the mallet handle, and rotary motion being now
given to the gearing on the carriage, the mallet will be driven round at consider-
able speed and caused to lay the yarn evenly on the rope, travelling forward at
each turn a distance equal to the diameter of the yarn. When it has run
forward a given distance the carriage is also moved forward to keep the driver
in contact with the mallet.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
Apparatus for Serving' Ropes for Ships' Rigging and other Purposes," I
claim the means above described for serving ropes by the aid of the ordinary
serving mallet.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Stirling Newall, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
R. S. NEWALL. (L.S.)