CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TARRING AND MANUFACTURING OF CORDAGE
Year: 1800

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TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HUDDART, of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, on or about the First day of July, in the fortieth year of His reign, did
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Huddart, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Joseph Huddart, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, the Invention therein mentioned, to wit, "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TARRING AND MANUFACTURING OF CORDAGE," within that
part of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said Joseph Huddart, my
executors, administrators, and assigns should seem meet; to have, hold, exer-
cise, and enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges, and advantages therein
granted or mentioned to be granted unto me, the said Joseph Huddart, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, for and during and unto the full end
and term of fourteen years therein expressed; in which said Letters Patent
there is (among other things) contained a proviso, that if I, the said Joseph
Huddart, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in
the High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly
cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the said recited Letters Patent,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Huddart, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, as follows,
that is to say:-
In my Specification for Improvement in Ropemaking, by registering the
strands, and thereby acquiring greater strength, by a proper ratio between the
length of yarns, and more equal distribution of the strain, inrolled under
Letters Patent granted me on or about the Twenty-fifth April One thousand
seven hundred and ninety-three, and also by performing the registering in a
more convenient way, by a machine described in the Specification of other
Letters Patent granted me on or about the Twentieth day of August One
thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, a considerable expence is attached
to having the tarred yarns wound upon bobins; and also the tar (especially
when the rope is laid in cold weather) is not sufficiently incorporated amongst
the yarns to render it compact for durability, whether registered or laid in the
common way. In order to obviate those inconveniences, I have invented a
method of registering the strands of ropes or cordage during the operation of
tarring the yarns, which may be effected in the following manner; and these
are the improvements which I am now to specify, according to the proviso
above recited, that is to say:-.
The white yarns intended to compose the strand must be wound singly
upon reels or bobins and placed upon a frame or otherwise, so that the
yaris may be delivered from them with as small and equal a tension as
possible, and to pass under rollers, or through holes, or between separating
rods of wood or metal, to be guided into the tar (when sufficiently-heated
in the kettle), and from thence to the register, separate from each other
to prevent entanglement, until they enter the tube. This register and
tube has been particularly described in the Specification to my first-men-
tioned Patent, to which I beg leave to refer, which must be placed near
the opposite end of the tar kettle to that where the frame of bobins are
which contain the white yarns. The registering tube must now act in
à double capacity, viz, to form the strand fair and free from cockling,

page_text: as in the performance of registering, and also as a nipper to force out the
superfluous tar which may return into the kettle. The tube described in my
last-mentioned Specification will, answer the intended purposes; or it may be
made in two parts, to compass the strand more uniformly, as it may vary in
its size by the action of a spring or weight, &c. The strand being drawn from
the bobins and passing separate through the tar and register to the tube or
nipper, must there receive a proper turn to form the angle in registering, and
give the required ratio to the yarns in the strand, which is most accurately
performed by the registering machine described in the Specification and
Drawings to my last-mentioned Patent, to which I also beg leave to refer.
But the turn or twist in the strand between the tube and machine will con-
tinue to force out more superfluous tar (being still warm and fluid) to the surface
of the strand, which must be cleared off by another press or nipper. This
may be done by surrounding the strand by hemp, cloth, or any other soft
substance; but I have found the nipper plates (which, being used in common,
need no further description) that form a circular hole the size of the strand,
and allow compression as may be found requisite, will best answer the purpose.
The strand, when thus tarred, will contain a less ratio of tar to the quantity
of hemp in the yarns then when tarred in the haul by the usual method,
unless more time is allowed for, the tar to escape at the nipper; and yet the
strand will be sufficiently tarred is evident from the tar oozing out at the
surface of the strand between the tube and last-mentioned nipper,. which
finishes the tarring and registering of the strand, and may be laid into a rope
after hardening up to the required angle in the ground by the common
method. Note.-In compactness, durability, and in preventing the water
from penetrating into the strand (to attain which is the intention of tarring),
I conceive my present Invention is an improvement upon all the modes
hitherto in use. The tar kettle must be sufficiently long to allow the yarns
to be thoroughly satturated with tar during their passage through it. And it
will be a farther improvement to fit it with a head flue, and a damper in the
flue, to retain the heat and evaporating matter from the tar flying off so
quickly, which renders the tar pitchey or too hard for the intended purpose
when the operation is carried on or continued for a length of time. A
thermometer should be used to shew the heat of the tar, for if too high, will
tender the yarns, which has too often been the case by the common method
of tarring.
I have also invented a friction block or clutch, which may be usefully
applied to various parts of machinery, as wheels, riggers, &c., when a heavy
body is required to be put in motion, or the contrary, without stopping the

page_text: power, or in communicating a part of the motion. This Invention consists of
a hoop of metal cut open at one side, but nearly surrounding a cylinder of
wood or metal, which is fixed upon either of the revolving axles between which
it has to communicate a motion. The open part of the hoop is connected by
a spring to draw or tighten the hoop round the cylinder, and a screw to
increase the force of the spring. At near one end of the hoop. it must be
pinned or secured to the wheel, rigger, &c., and give motion to it by friction
between the hoop and cylinder. The wheel rigger or clutch being at liberty to
move round upon the axis or cylinder, can only be carried by the above fric-
tion; and in order that it may act more uniformly, that end of the hoop
must be pinned to the wheel, &c., which; by the working; will tend to open
the hoop, or against the action of the spring, being contrary to the fixing of a
curb to stop a windmill, for the intention is not to clamp or to be too rigid,
but to apply a required force to be regulated by the screw and spring. I have
applied it to the rigger of the registering machine which carries the reel, to
prevent the rubbing of the band round the riggers, or a shaft may be applied
to carry the reel with the desired force by this Invention..
"
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In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Huddart, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand and eight hundred.