CERTAIN IMPROVE MENTS IN MAKING AND MANUFACTURING ROPES AND OTHER CORDAGE, AND COILING OP LINES IN WHALE BOATS
Year: 1808

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Joun
HALL, of the Town and County of the Town of Kingston-upon-Hull, Rope-
maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did.
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth
day of June, in the forty-eighth year of His reign, give and grant unto
me, the said John Hall, my exors, admiors, and assigns, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Hall, my exors,
adñiors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of fourteen
years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE
MENTS IN MAKING AND MANUFACTURING ROPES AND OTHER CORDAGE, AND COILING
OP LINES IN WHALE BOATS;" in which said Letters Patent there is con-
tained a proviso obliging me, the said John Ball, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one
calendar month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may and will more fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said provisó, I, the said
John Hall, do hereby declare and ascertain the nature of my said Invention

page_text: and the manner in which the same are to be performed, used, and exercised,
as follows, that is to say:-
The
I give a regular turn or twist in all the threads or yarns spun by hand,
equally alike, by making use of a double wheel for spinning the same.
large or major wheel turns the spindles; the small or minor wheel turns the
regulating belt, which belt may be made of any fit material, and placed in any
situation, so as the spinners can see it. The most convenient method is to fix
two pullies above the minor wheel a sufficient height above the men's heads, over
which the belt travels, and above the beams down to the bottom of the walk,
where another pully is fixed, round which the belt is placed, and brought up
again, and the ends fastened together upon the belt. I fix a piece of red cloth
or any other conspicuous marks, in number equal to the setts of spinners I
have occasion to employ, taking care that the marks are placed at equal
<listances from each other to correspond with the spinning. The two wheels,
travelling on the same center make a revolution in the same time. For spinning
yarn of twenties I make use of a minor wheel of ten inches diameter, to a
major wheel of five feet six inches, and spindles of two inches diameter. The
minor wheel must be increased or diminished in size, at the rope maker's
discretion, according to the different sized yarn required. Other sized wheels
may be used for the same purpose in the proportion above described. The
marks being adjusted, I set two or more companies of spinners to work. Onc
man in each I select as head over the rest, and charge him to keep his men
together. When the guide mark is at the wheel, the first company hang on
their hemp. The man turning sets the wheels in motion; the major turning the
spindles, the minor turning the belt. The regulating mark will then travel down
the walk, which the men keep pace with in a body. By so doing, and spinning
the threads a proper thickness, they will have the same regular turn in them
from one end to the other. Having finished their threads, and arrived at the
bottom, they are taken off the wheel, and made fast to a large hook placed near
for that purpose, drawn tight, and the ends loosely fastened to a similar hook
fixed at the bottom, the threads remaining in the crooks all the way, to remove
which I employ a boy with a rod, having an iron ring at the end, with a
vacancy to admit placing the yarns in it, to unhook the threads from the crooks,
and place therein a large hook hung to the beams for that purpose. The first
company having got half way down the walk, one of the side marks will be at
the wheel, and the second company must then hang on their threads, and spin
down in the same manner as the first. When arrived at the bottom, they
unloose the threads first spun from the hook they are made fast to, and knott
the end of theirs to them, leaving the bight of the threads over the end of the

page_text: hook, which threads are taken off the wheel, drawn tight at the top end, and
loosely made fast to the top hook, ready to knott the succeeding threads to.
The boy, passing up with his rod, places the threads in the large hooks. The
spinners proceeding in this manner, and knotting their threads to the ends of
the preceding ones, and placing the bight over the hooks at each end, will keep
adding to the hank suspended in large hooks down the ropery, and resting at
each end on the top and bottom books. The boy employed to unhook the
threads must nettle them where required. An equal number of men must be
employed in each company of spinners. The hank having increased sufficiently
large, the whole are then slightly twisted together with the hooks they rest on,
and removed into the tar-house ready for that operation. I likewise place a
double spinning wheel at the bottom of the walk, or at any distance down it
I require the length of my yarn to be, the wheel being placed on a moveable
frame for that purpose. The belt being fixed round the minor wheel, similar to
the one at the top, it is drawn tight from the upper wheel, and the regulating
marks adjusted. The men, having spun down and fastened their threads to the
low hook, hang on to the low wheel, and spin up in company with the regu-
lating mark, in the same manner as they spun down. Having arrived at the
top their threads are taken off the lower wheel, and knotted to the ends of the
threads spun down, and the bight of the yarn is left over the bottom hook. They
are drawn tight at the top, and loosely fastened. As before, the boy with his rod
removes the threads into the large hooks, which, for conveniency of receiving the
threads spun down and up, should be double, The threads of the.hank spun
down are placed in the left side, and those spun up in the right side of tho
double hook. The men in this manner spinning alternately down and up
and knotting their threads to each other as they are spun, will keep adding
to the bank suspended in the walk. The spinners going down pass on
the left, and those coming up pass on the right hand side of it, and for the
conveniency of catching the threads, as they are spun up the thread hooks on
the right of the bank must be placed in a contrary way to those on the left.
The belt travelling on both the minor wheels, it is necessary for the turners at
each of the spinning wheels to keep pace together. The hank 'when full is
treated as before described. By taking the regulating belt from off the
wheels, I spin common yarn in the same way, down or down and up, knotting
the ends together to form the hank, and placing it in the large hooks, or bang.
it to the sides in any convenient situation; by which method I save in time
and labour. The low wheel, being moveable, can be placed at any distance.
down the walk the yarn is wanted to be in length. The operation of
tarring perform in the usual way (if the rope is to be white the tarring

page_text: is omitted), after which the yarn is extended upon the slots, and made into
rope. The sledge or laying wheel being placed at the distance required, I
hang on to three separate pinions or hooks as many yarns as wanted, first
entering the ends through a fair leader, which is mounted upon wheels. The
yarns being clear all the way, the upper ends are put through another fair
leader at the top, drawn tight from the sledge, and placed upon reels. To give
the yarns a proper tension, a spring is fixed upon the reels, which prevents
them yielding the threads faster than required in laying the strands. The
men at the sledge are then to turn, and the fair leader is moved
forward as fast as the strands are twisted to the top, which done they are
cut off and closed in the usual way. Care must be taken that the men
turn the wheels with a regular motion during the operation. In the following
manner I make double-thread strand cordage, the bottom wheel being placed
at any distance down the walk I require the yarn to be in length, and the
regulating belt fixed upon the minor wheels of each spinning wheel:-The
hemp being drest, I calculate the quantity required to make the yarn intended
to be spun, and weigh it out to each spinner, that my threads may be alike.
My companies consist of two or three men in each, as I want a double or a
threble thread set on to the upper wheel, and spin down with the guide mark,
place their threads upon bearers or stake heads; having arrived at the bottom,
the ends are knotted together and hung upon a looper fixed to a small drag,
the wheel still turning; a boy puts in a top, walks up with it, and closes the
threads together. It is then hung upon a spindle at the top, taken off the
looper, and hung upon the drag at the bottom, and hardened into a cord.
When finishel, it is placed to a side or hung in the large hooks suspended in
the walk. The spinners having finished their threads down, and knotted the
ends together, leave the boy to close them, set on to the low wheel and spin
up again in company with the guide mark. The threads spun up are closed in
same manner by the boy as those spun down, and the ends are fastened
together to form a hank as before. The men procced in this manner until
I obtain a quantity of those double threads or cords, which I tar in the usnal
way, and make them into strands by first laying the hart of a small number
of the double threads or of yarns, and placing the cords around the hart
similar to the making of a four-strand rope. The cords previous to laying are
put through the fair leader, and upon the reels, so as to have a proper tension
during the time of forming the strands, which strands I make into three or
four strand, shroud, or warp-laid ropes; and I combine them together by
sowing, in which case they will be found serviceable for mines or pitts. Every
other one of the combined double thread strands must have a contrary twist in

page_text: it, to prevent it from turning when loaded with heavy weights. In combining
these strands I make use of two needles, which penetrate through the center
of each, and the threads cross each other, and form a diamond. Whale lines
I make by combining in the same manner a plural number of these stranils
together. Of whatever number of strands the line is to consist, the whole I
make upon the same wheel at one time, regularity being required in forming
them; and to prevent the lines from entangling when in use I coil them on
reels in the fishing boats. At one end of the reel I fix a gripe wheel with a
brake to it; the fish being struck with the harpoon, one of the crew takes
hold of the brake, and lets out the line at pleasure. The round lines I coil
in the same manner upon reels, by which method they cannot foul, and
endanger the lives of those men in the boats. In making of warp-laid ropes,
I claim as my Invention a wheel containing nine spindles, whereby I make
the whole of the strands at once, which method puts a regular turn in them
equally alike. The wheel may be of any size, according to the power required
to make a large or a small rope. To prevent the yarns from getting foul of each
other, by making of nine strands at the same time, I use three bearers or
slots, which are placed one above the other, by which means each strand is
kept separately by itself. When the strands are sufficiently hard, I hang each
three strands upon three seperate pinions, and close them by three tops, fixed
upon a carriage, which moves forward as they are layed. The strands thus
formed are hung upon the spindle of the wheel, which is constructed for that
purpose, and made into a cable or warp.
Fig. 1 shews a front view of the spinning wheel, with the minor wheels and
regulating belt fixed upon it.
Fig. 2, side view of the same. a, a, in both Figures, is the regulating belt.
b, the guide mark fastened to the belt. c, c, the spinning wheel. D, the
minor wheel, with the belt upon it. e, e, the belt which turns the spindles.
9, 9, two sheeves placed above the minor wheel, over which the belt travels
down the walk.
Fig. 3, the minor wheel, detached from the major. As various sized minor
wheels arewanted for spinning of different sized yarns, them in or must be made
to ship and unship from the major wheel.
Fig. 4, two hooks, a double and single one, to hang the threads or yarns in
as they are spun. The double hook has a joint in it to turn up clear of the
men's heads when not in use.
Fig. 5, the combined double-thread strands, shewing the diamond stiching.
Fig. 6, inside view of a whale boat, with the reel fixed in her, and the line
upon it. n, n, the line as it runs off the reel. m and 8, the brake handle.

page_text: o, head of the boat. p, her stern. r, the bollard, which the line may be
taken to, and used in the common way, in case any accident happen to the
reel.
Fig. 7, the reel and line detached from the boat. t, t, the spindle upon
which it travels.
Fig. 8, end of the reel, shewing the gripe wheel u.
Fig. 9, the gripe which is fixed upon the wheel u.
The boats I most approve of are those built upon the plan of Messrs. Harper
and Wilson's Patent, they being much more capacious, lighter, stronger, and
less liable to leak, or be bulged by the ice, than those made in the common way.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Hall, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord Onc
thousand eight hundred and eight.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eight.