CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF ROPES FOR CABLES, AND OTHER PURPOSES TO WHICH ROPES ARE APPLI- CABLE
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
SMITH, of Princes Street, Leicester Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster the Twentieth day of March, in the second year of Her reign, did.
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Andrew
Smith, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I,
the said Andrew Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Andrew Smith, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF ROPES FOR CABLES, AND OTHER PURPOSES TO WHICH ROPES ARE APPLI-
CABLE;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the
said Andrew Smith, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, par-
ticularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in
Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Andrew Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof (that is to say):-

page_text: My present Invention of certain improvements in the manufacture of ropes
for cables and other purposes, to which ropes are applicable, applies to tha
mode or method of making or manufacturing ropes, cards, or cables, in which
several strands of material are twisted or coiled one around the other, as is
the usual method of making ropes, cords, or cables of hemp or other fibrous
materials. It consists in the adaptation, application, and use of malleable iron
or other metal wire in the making or manufacturing of cables, cords, and
ropes for mining and other purposes, and such like articles, instead or in
place of hemp, flax, or other fibrous or textile substances or materials now
commonly used, and which said fibrous substances or materials require
to be first prepared and spun or twisted into strands, and then combined
together to form the rope, cord, or cable, by twisting one or more strands
around the others; whereas by the use and application of malleable iron or
other wires, no such previous twisting or spinning of the material into single
strands is required, as the wire is drawn by the usual method in sufficient
length to allow of their being combined together in any number, either to form
the several strands of a large rope or cable, or to be coiled into a single rope or
cord composed of only one strand; my said improved ropes, cords, and cables
being more particularly applicable in situations where there is an excess of heat,
of damp, or of friction. I make these improved ropes, cords, or cables, in the
following manner:-I first take any number of lengths of wire, of size or
thickness according to the purpose for which the rope is intended to be
used, and combine them into a rope or cord by twisting them together
by any of the machinery commonly used for rope making or twisting
threads of fibrous substances together; and in order that any improved
ropes may not be liable to oxidation in damp situations, I prefer coating
or covering the wires with a solution of india-rubber, or some mixture
or compound of india-rubber and other material which will prevent oxida-
tion; or that the wires should be coated or covered with tin, or zinc, or
other metal not liable to oxidation, previous to their being used for this
purpose. After the wires have been twisted or combined into a rope or cord,
such rope or cord may be laid by the ordinary means into a thick cable; the
whole may then be coated or covered with strips of canvass, leather, or other
strong material, saturated in an india-rubber solution or other waterproof
composition as a further protection to the wires. I would here observe that,
in cases where the several lengths of wire are not of sufficient extent to
form the complete length of rope, the ends of two lengths of wire may
be joined together, by laying or twisting their ends together or overlaying
them a few inches; and in cases where this circumstance occurs I prefer using

page_text: lengths of wire of different extent, so that when they are combined to form a
rope the several joints may not come near together; also I would remark
that these lengths or threads of wire should not be coiled or twisted so hard
or close one upon another as is done with ropes made of hemp or fibrous
material, and that the strands of wire may be laid or coiled "cable ways" or
"hawser ways," as is well known in common rope making. And lastly, that I
do not claim as my Invention the making or manufacturing ropes or cables of
wire when the strands are kept in straight lines or nearly so, or parallel side
by side, as these have been already invented and patented by me; but that
which I do claim is the adaptation, application, and use of malleable iron or
other metal wire to the making of ropes, cables, and such like articles, the
said length of wire being twisted or coiled and laid one around the other after
the manner of ordinary rope making, when strands of hemp or other fibrous
material are employed, such strands or lengths of wire being protected from
rust or oxidation by coatings of india-rubber or other waterproof composition
or material, or tin or zinc, or other metals not so liable to be affected by rust
or oxidation as iron.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Smith, have hereunto set my
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.
ANDRE
(L.S.)
SMITH.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of September
in the third year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the said Andrew
Smith came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow
ledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and
specified in form above written. And also the instrument aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.