LAYING, TWISTING, OR MAKING ROPES OR CORDAGE OF ANY NUMBER OF YARNS OR STRANDS; OR ANY NUMBER OF THREADS, TARRED OR UNTARRED, FROM THE SIZE OF A CABLE DOWN TO THE SMALLEST LINE COMPOSED OF MORE THAN ONE THREAD
Year: 1797

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHAPMAN, of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Thirteenth day of September, in the thirty-seventh year of His reign,
did give and grant unto me, the said William Chapman, His especial licence
that I, the said William Chapman, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Chapman, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the termn of years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all His Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, my Invention of “LAYING, TWISTING, OR MAKING ROPES OR
CORDAGE OF ANY NUMBER OF YARNS OR STRANDS; OR ANY NUMBER OF THREADS,
TARRED OR UNTARRED, FROM THE SIZE OF A CABLE DOWN TO THE SMALLEST LINE
COMPOSED OF MORE THAN ONE THREAD;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Chapman, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, particularly 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 His said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and immediately after
the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereto had; will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Chapman, do hereby declare, that my said new invented method or
methods of Laying, Twisting, or Making Ropes or Cordage of any Nuniber
of Yarns or Strands, or any Number of Threads, Tarred or Untarred, from
the Size of a Cable down to the Smallest Line composed of more than One
Thread, is described in the several Plans or Drawings hereto annexed, and in
the following description.
It dispenses with the use of any or all of the things or apparatus made
use of in the common method of laying ropes, that is to say:-A rope
ground or space sufficiently long to stretch out the yarn to make the rope
or strand of the rope required, in which the yarns thus extended are twisted
from one
or both ends by hooks to which they are attached, and which,
being turned round their axis, twist the yarns in the inass through their whole
extent, and form what the ropemakers call a strand; and so many of these
strands as are requisite to form a rope, which are usually three, being joined
at one end to the same hook, and this being turned the contrary way round,
the three parts are thus twisted together and form a rope, which is kept
regular in its number of twists, proportionate to its diameter and length, by a
moveable block of wood called a top, with as many grooves in it as there are
strands. This top is held from turning round by a cross bar of iron or of
wood, and prevented from advancing too rapidly by pieces of rope usually
called tails, which are lapped round the rope that is making. And as by the
cwisting of the yarns and of the rope the length becomes shorter, the hooks
to which the strands are fastened (or that to which the rope is fastened) being
fixed upon an upright frame on a moveable platform, commonly called a
sledge, advance forward occasionally. This is the outline of the process
usually pursued in making what is called a shroud-laid rope, each strand of
which consists of a number of yarns twisted together. And if a cable or
cable-laid rope have to be made, the common process is, to stretch out so
many shroud-laid ropes as there are strands in the cable (usually three), and
to pursue the same manner in forming them into one rope as in the pre-
ceding instance. In the method I pursue, those parts that separately twist the
strands and rope (in place of being at the extreem ends of the rope and
strands, and approaching each other as the rope shortens) are at any deter-
minate convenient distance. The process of twisting consequently does not
-go-forward-through-the-whole_length_at_once, but only in the intermediate
space; and my Invention consists in combining with that circumstance a mode
of twisting rope or cord itself by an arbor or shaft perforated or open through
the whole or a portion of its extent, and revolving round its own axis, and at
the same time twisting its several strands or parts by separate arbors or shafts

page_text: either perforated or otherwise, each shaft revolving only round its own axis,
and, by the aid of such other machinery as will be described, performing not
solely the operation of making the ropes or cord, but also that of coiling it
up by the motion of the machine. The process of twisting the rope, and that
of coiling it up by the motion of the machine, keep pace with each other; and
are performed by the same shaft; or the coiling may, when more convenient,
receive its motion from any other part of the machine. Each strand occupies
another shaft revolving only round its own axis, and containing on one end of
it the yarn or threads wound up upon a reel or reels, or in any other manner.
This relates to the making of shroud-laid ropes; and in the making of cable-
laid ropes the difference consists principally in giving the described twisting
shafts contrary directions to what they had before, and different proportionate
velocities, and in coils of shroud-laid rope being substituted for coils or reels
of yarn for the forming of the strands. On each of the shafts that turn the
strands, these coils of rope are progressively uncoiling, and at the shaft form-
ing the rope the other end is progressively coiling in fakes or tiers of cable
on a rotative platform or otherwise, round a reel moving round with the axis
twisting the rope or cable, but with a distinct axis of motion, or upon a reel
that has the same axis of motion with the hollow tube or shaft that twists
the ropes, of each of which methods one example is given in the Plans.
Besides which, my Invention includes, as a principle, every other method of
coiling up the rope or cord progressively as it is made, by any motion from
the machine or its moving power. My Invention consists also in making a
strand or cord, by treating each yarn or thread as a separate strand, in the manner
already described, and consequently having as many yarn shafts as threads,
all of which may be turned by a belt. Strands made of any number of yarns
twisted together in the usual ways take some proportionate number of twists
ont of the yarns, and the strands are liable to untwist because of the accumu-
lated twist of all the separate yarns not being able to resist the untwisting
tendency of the strands; and upon that balance in a great degree depends
the excellence of the rope, because if the unwinding tendency of the strand
be not counterbalanced by that of the yarns, the due balance must be obtained
afterwards by giving the rope more than its due proportion of twists to those of the
strands, and consequently making the rope either too short laid, or the strands
of too loose a texture to keep out the water. Lest the principles I have
described, which admit of considerable variety in the execution, should not be
sufficiently plain to enable any mechanic to construct a proper machine,. I
have annexed Plans of one of the methods of application, both for shroud and
cable-laid ropes, of which the following is an explanation:―

page_text: In Figure I., a is a table or platform with or without, as occasion may require,
so many stanchions b, b, as may, be necessary to support the requisite number
of reels of yarn, each reel turning round its own axis, as in c, in Figures I..
and II, and all the yarn concentred at the head of the shaft.. The reels, may
also be placed in any other convenient manner according to their number,
and, if requisite, may be two or more teirs in height. Of these tables there are
to, be as many as there are designed to be strands in the rope. These tables
or, platforms, I call the strand tables, and each of them is to be fixed on a
hollow shaft capable, of revolving round its own axis, which shaft I call a
strand, shaft or an upper shaft, and which is shewn by: D in Figures I.
and III. The yarns, composing a strand; or, in the case of cables, a strand,
itself, passes through this shaft, in which there is a transverse opening of
sufficient.width, which in its best form will be rather more than that of the
longitudal orifice... In. the transverse opening, viz, between d and d, are,
to be inserted; two blocks. d and, d (one on each side) of hard wood or any
other, matter;, with their opposing.faces, as circumstances, may require, either
longitudinally, grooved, or flat, or, concave, or otherwise, so as,, when forced toge-
ther, by, springs, as, shewn in Figure, I., or in any other manner, or by weights,.
as in Figure, III., or by any other, means, they may sufficiently resist the
passage and twisting of the yarn or strand: These blocks should have their
inside, faces rather. beveled towards the upper, and lower, ends. I call them
press, blocks..or, compressors. Their,, use in, the making of, shroud-laid ropes is
principally to, give a resistance, equall to the stress, that would draw the sledge;
along in the common method. of. making ropes, and in cable-laid ropes,
both to retard the passage, of, the; strands and, prevent their turning round,
and thus perform the part of the, sledge itself, in the common method,
and of the hook on its face board, or, upright frame. Those purposes. of
holding the strand.from turning round, in the. strand shaft, and giving suffi
cient resistance to. its passage through, I occasionally answer; .by placing in the
transverse opening, two grooved, rollers or sheaves "d; d," Figure III., with axes.
large enough to occasion sufficient friction, and-held together in the same way.
as the press blocks.. These I call the holding. rollers, because of the office.
they are, to, perforin. The holding, rollers, may either move, round their own
fixed axes, or..upon axes inserted through them, of, sufficient diameter to occa
sion, the necessary, friction, I also produce, the effect, of preventing the yarns
from twisting round in..the strand shafts, by placing, within,, upon, or below,
each shaft an attached block.of wood; or plate of, metal; or.. other substance,
with a, number of notches or grooves round it, or perforated, with a number
of holes, through each of which any number of yarns, may be put; and

page_text: this implement I call a yarn guide. In small ropes the yarn guide, the
holding rollers, and press blocks may be dispensed with, and a pressure
applied according to Figure X, or in any other manner, either upon the yarn
itself or upon the rim of the reel, the former being preferable only because it
affords a uniform resistance, notwithstanding the decrease of the diameter of
the yarn on the reel. The press blocks and rollers may also be dispensed
with by à pressure upon the yarn or strand at its entrance into the hollow
shaft, or anywhere in its passage to it, of which one example out of the variety
that may be adopted is given in Figures XI: and XII: In Figure XI. the
yarn is stopped from going out too fast by a pressure applied at "u," which
is further explained by Figüre XII, which shews the plan of the table or
frame supporting the reel or reels. a; a, are the feet of the stanchions sus
taining the reel u, one side of the shaft rising above the platform over which
the threads pass, as at u; in Figure XI., and are duly compressed by the
closing of the bar "b, b," the forks of which pass under the ends of "u" in
the opening shewn in Figure XI. This bar is brought to its due pressure by
cementing it with the end of the spring s; s; and bringing it to its necessary
degree of tensión. n shews the hole down the shaft through which the threads
pass. If the number of yarns be very few, or divided into several parcels; it
will be necessary to place between the bar and part it presses against a' kind
of collar (round the thread or threads) of coarse woollen, clotli, leather; felt,
or other substance, which may also be applied various ways in the longitudinal
grooves of the press blocks, so as to occasion an equable resistance to the yarn's
in each groove. These methods may also be used for as many individual
yarns as form a strand, and motion may be given to any number of reels by .a
belt round the wheels g, g, Figures.X. and XI. It is, perhaps, barely neces
sary to say, that one press block or one holding roller may be made to answer
the proposed end by making the transverse opening to pass through only one
side of the tube in the strand shafts of Figures I. and III, and that the tables
or frames containing the reels or coils may be placed on the other ends of the
strand shafts, and consequently those shafts need neither be perforated or open
on one side, as the strands or yarns would neither have to pass through or
along them, but only to be compressed, so as to prevent their either twisting
or passing off faster than requisite. The strand shafts all turn: uniformly the
same way with each other, by means of an upright shaft-C and wheel 6 com-
municating with a whéél g on every strand shaft, as described in Figures:I.
and III., or by any other means. These shafts are placed as close to each
other as they conveniently can; and the strands from the ends of each are 'all
concentred to a proper point, and brought to a fixed unrevolving block of

page_text: wood or other substance of a conic or other form, and with as many grooves,
holes, notches, or guides as strands in the rope, to answer the end of the top
in the common method of laying ropes. This block "h" I call the laying
block;
between it and the yarn guide, the holding rollers, or the press blocks
(accordingly as they are used), all the strands receive their proper twist, and
below it (the same as between the top and the single hook. in the common
method of laying ropes) they unite and become a complete shroud-laid or
common rope by the turning of the shaft immediately below the laying block,
viz, E, which I call the rope shaft or lower shaft, and which, by its apparatus,
performs the part of the single hook at the end of the rope in the usual
method. Between the rope shaft and the laying block I occasionally place a
short hollow cylinder of wood or metal, viz, i, of the size of the rope to be
made. The head of this may be trumpet-mouthed to receive the lower end
of the laying block. In this cylinder (which for ease of placing may be com-
posed of two parts) the strands first unite and become a rope. The rope
shaft is perforated or open in its upper part, and has no press blocks or hold-
ing rollers to retard the progress of the rope, but, on the contrary, a pair of
sheaves or wheels moving easily on their axes, to admit the rope a free passage,
and at the same time compel it to twist equally round with the shaft. These
sheaves or wheels which ought, like the holding rollers, to be grooved in such
a manner as to hold the rope from turning sideways, I call the twisting sheaves.
Between these and the hollow cylinder I occasionally insert in the head of the
e shaft hollow tubes of metal or other substance suited to the size of the rope,
which I call guage tubes. When proper guage tubes fill up the space between
the cylinder and the twisting sheaves, the latter may be forced round by the
action of the rope pushing from the laying block, in the same manner as the
top in the common method is forced onwards notwithstanding the great resist-
ance made by the. tails or tail ropes. But in other instances these twisting
sheaves may receive such a progressive motion as, in every revolution of the
rope shaft (which makes one turn of the rope), the groove of the sheave shall
move such a space as may be equivalent to the length of the rope that is
designed to be made by every turn, which will be in proportion to its diameter,
and also accordingly as the rope is designed to have more or less twist, or in
the usual phrase be long or short laid. The method of performing this will be
seen by Figure III., and is described in the explanation of the rope shaft of
-that-Plan-and-its-appendages. The rope from below these twisting sheave
passes out so far made, and, amongst other methods, is disposed of in the
following ways: If not too unweildy, I coil it up on a reel, as at m in the
shaft E of Figure One, which is more particularly described in Figures IV
rope
rope

page_text: and V., and in 'their explanation, where it is shewn that ropes of different
sizes may be made to coil upon the reel so closely as to require tying up only,
and thus supercede the necessity of any further operation. For the making of
all ropes thus coiled upon a reel, either weights or springs may be made use
of to tighten the twisting sheaves and the press blocks or holding rollers, and
consequently the position of the shafts may be in any direction at will, whether
horizontal, vertical, or oblique, the axes all pointing the same way or nearly
so, the best position being for the strand shafts to concentre a little towards
the head of the rope shaft. The strand shafts and tables may either stand
round one common centre, as in Figure II., which will in general be the
most convenient for ropes, or they may stand side by side in a right line, or
with such a degree of curvature as may accord with the number of sets that
may be moved by one great wheel or belt, which latter mode will be the
most convenient for small lines and cords, and also for small ropes. The
ropes that are too large to coil upon a reel I coil upon a rotative platform,
as in Figure III., F, F, which is fully described in the explanation of
the rope shaft of that Figure and its appendages. The outlines of making
shroud-laid ropes being now made apparent, there remains to be shewn.
the process for making cables or ropes of that description. It consists as
above in strand shafts and a rope shaft, the principal difference being, that
they are to move contrary ways to what they did before, and make a
similar or nearly similar number of revolutions in place of the considerable
disparity of twists that are requisite for the strands of the rope itself when
laid as a shroud. This disparity admits of variety from the causes I shall
afterwards mention; but for the purpose of explanation I shall at present>
assume it at two to one in three strand ropes (which is nearly the average),
and then the proportionate revolutions of the rope and strand shafts should be
three to one, because every revolution of the rope shaft takes out one twist
from the strands. If the yarns be so hard twisted as to do more than counter-
balance the untwisting tendency of the strands, then the proportionate twists
of the rope may generally be less than I have stated; but if the yarns be
unable to resist the untwisting of the strand, or even be twisted the same way
as the strand, which frequently is the case in common ropes of a small number
of yarns, then the twists of the rope to those of the strands should be more than
I have stated. What they precisely should be can be no object of this Patent,
and I shall ouly observe, that a small deviation on either side of the proportionate
number of turns of the rope will be attended with no inconvenience but what will
be remedied on its being stretched and used a short time, when it will assume
that proportionate twist which will balance the counteracting power of the strand.

page_text: From these circumstances it follows that cable-laid ropes must either be made
on separate machinery, or the shafts must assume contrary turns and different
proportions to what they had before, the means of doing which will be
described in the explanation of the rope shaft of Figure I. If the cable-laid
rope be small so that its strands were made upon reels, as at m, in the rope
shaft of Figure I., then these reels, as they come. from the rope shaft, may be
fixed upon stanchions, as the yarn reels at c on the strand table of Figures
I. and II., or, as must be the case in large ropes, they may be laid on the upper
tables in coils, as at c, on the strand table of Figure III., and their ends
passed through the strand shafts, and united below the laying block, and
brought down between the twisting sheaves n, n, a short piece of rope being
then attached to their ends and brought out of the opening below the sheaves,
and passed over the coiling wheel "p," and made fast to the coiling stage
F, F, so as to draw it round, the whole process will go on as described in the
explanation of the rope shaft of Figure III. According to my Invention,
when the rope is drawn forward for the twisting sheaves, or other means, the
top or laying block and its appendages may be dispensed with, because, at
some given point, according to the proportionate twists of the threads or strands
to those of the cord or rope, the rope and its strands, or the cord or line and
its threads, will balance themselves. If the strand or yarn shafts be set so as
to form a wide angle with the head of the. lower shaft, the point of junction
will be at the head of that shaft, but if the strand shafts form an acute angle,
from their foot to the head of the lower shaft, then the point of concentration
will be above the head of the latter; and no very material inconvenience will
even then arise, provided the pressure retaining the separate strands or threads be
quite equal, but if otherwise, the rope or cord will appear with a strand higher
or lower than the rest, accordingly as it may be longer or shorter, by receiving.
too little or too much resistance in passing from its shaft. What have
called shafts are, under this denomination, principally applicable to the manu-
facturing of rope; and when suited to the making of cord, they will be more
properly denominated spindles, which, of course, must be understood throughout,
the whole description. And what I have called upper and lower shafts will,
in the application to cord, be upper and lower spindles. In the lower spindles,
and even in the lower shafts for small ropes, there will be no necessity for any
part of them being perforated or open, provided the spindle or shaft be retained
in its position by collars.below the reel on which the cord or rope winds up as
it is made. All these-shafts-and-machinery may receive their motion from
steam engines, from water, from wind, or from the power of animals, which
may communicate the respective direction and velocity to the separate parts

page_text: by means of upright and lying shafts with cog wheels, or by belts, or chains, or
any other methods practiced by millwrights or others, my Invention not con-
sisting in any particular or limited mode of giving motion to the machine, but
in all or any of the following things, viz:-The application of a fixed
unrevolving top or laying block of perforated or open strand shafts, and of a
rope shaft, and in the use of hollow tubes or cylinders at the lower end of the
top, and of guage tubes; and in using press blocks or rollers, and sheaves or
wheels pressed against the strand or the rope by weights or by springs, or
anything elastic, or otherwise; the giving any determinate regular motion to
the rope, or cord, or line, so as to give it any number of turns that may be
desired in a given length; and in coiling up the rope, cord, or line, in any
way during the process of its making, by means of any machinery connected
with that employ in making the rope, cord, or line, or with its moving power;
also in giving the contrary and differently proportioned motion to the same
machine, so as to adapt it either to shroud-laid or cable-laid ropes or lines, and
in such other particulars as will be more clearly described in the following
notes, or have been previously noticed, in which I include the placing of more
reels than one upon any single shaft or revolving platform. In fine, my
Invention goes to the described methods or principles of twisting or laying, and
as a constituent part in the process of making, that of coiling or winding up
ropes, lines, or cords of hemp, flax, wool, cotton, hair, silk, or other fibrous
matter, where the chief component parts and the combined whole are, during
the process of manufacturing, separately twisted at the same time the contrary'
ways to each other, but, with the following exception, does not extend to the
making of twine or worsted, or other yarn composed of separate threads, and
the contrary twist which are made by twisting the whole constituent parts
conjoined without separately twisting their threads at the same time. The
exception I speak of is the application of rollers, which I call regulating rollers,
to the manufacturing of twine made of hemp, flax, or tow, the use of which
rollers is to give any determinate number of twists in any given length of
twine, for which purpose they are to be intervening between the reels con-
taining the separate threads of which the twine is composed; and the spindles.
making the twine which (like the spindles used in the making of thread),
must have belonging to it a flyer and a bobbin, the former twisting, and the
latter reeling up, the twine as it is made, which it may do by its resistance to
motion from the friction of weights drawing or pressing against it, or other
similar causes, and by the effect of that friction it would draw the threads from
off their reels, but it would be in a manner materially irregular without
constant attention in increasing the weights as the twine increased in thickness

page_text: on its reel or bobbin. The use of the regulating rollers therefore is, that the
separate threads shall pass from their reels between rollers that have some
given determinate motion to any number of turns in the spindle, and conse-
quently be delivered precisely as wanted. For instance, if the twine be to have
fifty turns in the length of one foot, then the faces of the rollers between which
the threads pass must move one foot during fifty revolutions of the spindle; the
mode of giving which proportionate velocity is unnecessary to be explained, as
being known to every mechanic. The reels containing the separate threads
composing the twine are put upon pins, or other axes, round which they sepa-
rately turn as required to unwind. Their position is fixed, and their threads
lead off to a conductor or opening to guide them to the rollers, between
which and the spindle they receive their twist, and are formed into twine.
I also claim as my Invention the use of the regulating rollers for the
manufacturing of worsted, and likewise of cotton, yarns, or threads of
any denomination composed of more than one thread.
Explanation and description of the coiling reel in Figures I., IV.,
and V. For ropes not exceeding four inches girth (or as much more or less
as may be found convenient), I propose the lower shaft to be as in Figure I.,
where the two sides are spread out so as to receive a reel, which may receive
its motion on the following manner:-On the end of the axis of one of the
twisting sheaves "n," may be affixed a pulley wheel o of the same diameter,
which, by means of a belt, may communicate with another pulley wheel d, on
the end of the axis of the recl on which the rope is to wind, and of the
diameter of the part on which the rope begins to wind; consequently, as the
twisting sheaves move with the same velocity as the rope is laid, it will be
capable of winding it up in the beginning, and as the rope increases the
thickness of the reel, the belt must slip in the proportion of that increase, or
otherwise the pulley "p" at the end of the axis of the reel may be composed
of two concentric wheels, the one so much less than the other, as to afford only
a proper degree of friction to lay the rope tight on the reel. If wanted to
wind regularly upon the reel so as to supercede the necessity of coiling it
again, the rope must pass through a collar as at "a," Figure V., and be guided
from side to side as each layer is completed, moving the width or diameter of
the rope on every revolution of the reel, which may be effected in the following
manner, which I shall exemplify in the coiling of a four-inch rope :-" b, c,” in
Figure V., is an iron bar passing through the two sides of the frame holding
the reel of the rope shaft of Figure I. The end "6"-is-square, flat, or angular,
and passes through a suitable hole to prevent it from turning; the end "c"
is a continuous screw, with its threads so far distant that one revolution of the

page_text: nut "d," Figures IV. and V., or some proportionate revolution of it, shall
move the collar "a" the precise diameter of the rope. Then, if the reel be
suited to take twelve turns of a four-inch rope on the length of its axis,
the following explanation will be sufficient:-One revolution of the nut
"d" (which contains a female screw), moving the collar "a" one diameter
of the rope, and twelve diameters being equal to the length of the recl,
the nut must reverse its motion at every twelve revolutions; then if the
nut "" have eight teeth, and be in geer with the wheel e of thirty-two
teeth, which is on the same arbor with the pinion i, the latter will make one
revolution whilst the nut "d" makes four. The two wheels ƒ and g are
constantly in geer with each other, and turn contrary ways; and besides, the
teeth working into each other, and with the pinion h, they have on the same
axis with them two half wheels (coloured red in the Plan), each of which have
twenty-four teeth that alternately work into the pinion "," of eight teeth, and
thus giving three revolutions to it, give twelve to the nut d, which is the number
required. It may be necessary to notice that the wheels termed half wheels
must be so much less than semicircles as to prevent the possibility of both
being in contact with the pinion i at the same time. From what has been
said it follows that the wheel g only makes one revolution during the time
that the collar a moves backwards and forwards, and lays on two complete
layers of rope on the reel, which, in the present instance of a four-inch rope,
requires twenty-four revolutions of the reel which, by the little pinion / on
the end of its axis, gives motion to the whole. If this pinion have sixteen
teeth, and the wheel k four times as many, then the pinion h on the same
arbor having eight teeth, and the wheels g and f forty-eight teeth each, the
latter must make only one revolution for twenty-four of the rope wheel, which,
in the present instance, is the number required. If the rope in place of four
inches girth should only be three inches and three quarters, then in place of
the pinion being of sixteen teeth, another of fifteen teeth is inserted on the
end of the axis of the reel, and thus any rope down to an inch and an half or a
pinion of six teeth may, by the same machinery, be closely coiled on the reel.
In lesser ropes lighter machinery may be used, and all the proportions of
reeling be obtained in a manner similar to that above described. m is a screw
raising or depressing a collar in which the axis of the reel and the pinion
turns, so that be
diameter of the latter either increased or reduced,
it
may still be in a geer with the wheel "k."
Explanation of the rope shaft of Figure III. with its appendages, and of
the Figures VI., VII., and VIII.—E, the rope shaft; n, n, the twisting
sheaves, one of which (being confined in its position) receives its progressive

page_text: motion from the endless screw o on the axis of the small wheel r, which
receives its motion by revolving against a fixed or stationary concave wheel S, S.
Different velocities may be given to the twisting sheaves by adding sheaves pro-
portioned to the different ropes, as to the number of teeth in their periphery,
having the greater number for the smaller ropes, and screw wheels of a
correspondent interval of thread to fix upon the axis of the wheel r. I shall
exemplify this in the instance of a sixteen-inch cable, which ought, if very
hard laid, to come forward a foot or little more or less in, every revolution,
and sixteen inches if rather slack laid. Let the general proportion of the
little wheel be 12 of the fixed concave wheel S, S, which it works within,
and the teeth of the twisting sheaves as much more than an inch as the
extremity of the sheave is beyond its gripping point; then each revolution
of the cable shaft must lay a foot of rope, and so proportionably in all smaller
ropes, reducing the pitch or space between the teeth accordingly, (viz¹) by.
increasing their number, and, in ropes of equal size, decreasing their number
if designed to be slacker laid. In the making of small lines or cords both
these wheels may be dispensed with, as the twisting sheaves may then bear
such a proportion to the diameter of the line or cord that one tooth of that
sheave may be equal to the length of line or cord made by one revolution of
the lower shaft or spindle, and consequently a fixed concave wheel containing
an endless screw of one thread, equal to the space (and vacancy) of a tooth, or
to the pitch of the teeth of the sheave, will answer the purpose required.
F, F, the cable stage supported on the rollers, and cut through to shew the
tiers and fakes of the cable; G, the cable passing out of the side of the cable
shaft and over the coiling wheel p, which, by means of the iron shank t, is
drawn in and out so as to lay on the fakes or different turns of the cable, one
within or without the other, as it winds in or out, after finishing every tier
or layer of rope. In this instance the utmost diameter of the cable stage
is sixteen feet, and the innermost part (of where it is proposed to coil)
eight feet. This in a sixteen-inch cable will admit of nine fakes in a tier, and
the mean length of each fake will be little above six fathoms, and of the
whole tier about fifty-six fathoms; consequently, the coiling wheel p must
move inwards or outwards four feet in the time or in less time than fifty-six
fathoms of cable are laying, which, according to the standard of hard twisting
already assumed, would be done in three hundred and thirty-six revolutions
of the cable shaft, that is, it would move one inch in seven revolutions, moving
inwards or outwards in less time, will be attended with no further incon-
venience than leaving a space between the fakes, and sooner completing a
tier. As the length of the fake. increases or decreases, the wheel p ought to

page_text: be moved slower or faster inwards and outwards, but this would be attended
with unnecessary complication of machinery, and, therefore, the medium
motion may be sufficient, as it will only occasion the cable to incline a little
inwards or outwards. One mode out of many of giving this motion is as
follows: The shank-t may be formed as a screw for the necessary lenghth,
and have the space of a revolution of thread to be half an inch, and pass
through a nut u containing a female screw; then, in the instance of a sixteen-
inch cable; the nut would have to make two revolutions in a period not
exceeding seven 'turns of the cable shaft, but say in six turns; then let there
be two small wheels v, v, Figure VI., each with an endless screw w or upon
its axis, and the wheels of the same diameter as the wheel Y on the foot of
the axis, of the wheel r, Figure III., and connected with the same wheel Y,
Figure VI., consequently performing similar revolutions. These wheels. v, v,
must be on a frame capable of moving a short space in the curved dotted
line w, x, whose center is in the axis of the wheel Y, therefore never losing
their connection with it, and accordingly as the shank t is to move inwards or
outwards, the endless screw 2 or the endless screw a is to be acting on the
nut "u," which nut is to be supplied with different numbers of teeth and fineness
of pitch capable of being easily affixed and taken off, as also must the axes of
the wheels v, v, be supplied with endless screws of correspondent space of thread.
The nut wheel u, in the instance in question, having to make one revolution
in three turns, and the wheel r making thirty-six revolutions in that time, it
follows that the nut wheel should have thirty-six teeth. In a cable of half
the size, to coil it close it should have twice the number of teeth; but as no
material inconvenience will arise from its loose coiling, the same wheels and
screws may be dispensed with. As to the change of motion, I propose to
give it in the following or any other manner, viz, that when the coiling
wheel "p" has proceeded to its extremities, either inwards or outwards, its
axis shall then set in motion what in steam engines is usually called à
spanner, which, being connected with the frame supporting the wheels v, v,
shall put the screw on the axis of one wheel out of geer with the nut u, and
throw the other in, so as to give the contrary motion. Also all or part of this
machinery may be dispensed with, because, in large cables, the stage will move
so slowly, that men may stand in it to coil it away, as in a ship's cable
stage. By means of the rollers; or by wheels affixed to the coiling stage, it
will move sufficiently easy. Some resistance to motion is necessary that it
may recede as the rope advances. If sixty fathoms of sixteen-inch cable be
made in one hour, the rope shaft, according to the above premises, need only
make six revolutions in a minute, and, if not hard twisted, only five turns, or

page_text: as low as four and a half. Smaller ropes, to be laid in the same time,
must make a number of revolutions inversely as their sizes.. In Figure I. a
method of giving motion to the strand shafts and rope shaft is shown, adapted
to the contrary and different motions of shroud and cable-laid ropes. In this
instance A represents in section a shaft that may give motion to, as many
sets of machinery as requisite. 1 is a cogged face wheel on the lying shaft,
working into the spur wheel 2, which, by a small movement, must be capable
of being disengaged from the wheel 1, and be put into geer with another
wheel (on the same lying shaft A) similar to wheel 1, and with cogs opposite
to it so as to move the spur wheel 2 the contrary way round. The double
bevel wheel 3. is on the same axis with 2, and works on one face into the
wheel 4 on the. upright shaft B, and on the other face of the opposite side
of the wheel works. into the bevel wheel 5 on the shaft C; therefore, the
shafts B and C move the same way round. The wheels 4 and 6 being of
equal diameters, and both faces of the wheel 3 being alike, it follows that the
shafts B and C must move with an equal number, of revolutions as the
wheel 6, on the shaft C, works into the wheel g at the foot of each strand
shaft, and is of the same diameter with them; and as the wheel 7, on the
shaft B, works into the wheel 8 on the rope shaft, and is but one third of its
diameter, it follows that their revolutions will bear the same proportions with
each others as that which has been mentioned to be nearly the medium in
shroud-laid ropes. Any other proportion, at the option of the manufacturer,
may be obtained as easily. To adapt the same machinery for making a cable-
laid rope, the shafts in the first instance must all move the contrary way.
This is effected by disengaging the wheel 2 from the wheel 1, and putting it
into geer with the opposite face wheel already described; the remaining part is
to make the revolutions of the strand shaft and rope shaft equal. This will be
obtained by lowering the wheel 7 so much down the shaft B as to disengage
it from the wheel 8 and bring the wheel 9 into geer with 10, which, being of
equal diameters, and having the same proportions to each other as the wheel 6
has to those on the foot of each strand shaft, will consequently give equal
revolutions to the strand shafts and rope shafts, which, combined with the
contrary motion to what they had, is all that is requisite to form cable-laid
ropes with the same machinery.
In Figure III. a cable motion only is shewn, and the spur wheels of the
-shafts-B-and-Care.only_half_the_diameter of the wheels of the strand shafts and
rope shaft that they work into, and they of course move with revolutions equal
to each other, as in the preceding instance. If found necessary to give different
proportionate revolutions to the strand and rope shafts in making shroud-laid

page_text: ropes of a greater or lesser number of yarns, the disparity will be trivial, and
the effect desired may easily be produced by having the wheel 7 to take off in
two or more parts, and substituting in its place another wheel of greater or
lesser diameter, which will be brought into geer with the wheel. 8 by shifting
the foot of the shaft B a little inwards or outwards.
Figure VI. is a horizontal plan, on an enlarged scale, of the coiling reel,
with its supporting rails and machinery for reverse of motion, which are
shewn in elevation in Figure III..
Figures VII. and VIII. are also on an enlarged scale. The former of them
shews the above apparatus in elevation, similar to Figure III.; and the latter is
likewise in elevation, but transversely to Figure III. and VII. The following
letters of reference are common to all those Figures, so far as they are. to be
found.in any of them, viz:-E, the rope shaft, through which passes t, the
shank of the coiling wheel p; z,, are the rails on which the coiling wheel is
supported by trucks or rollers a 1, a 1; a 2. is a forked bar of iron, fastened
at one end by a pin to the bar a 3, which moves on a center at a 4, and is
charged with a sufficient weight at its head to force the endless screw w into
geer with the nut u when assuming its present position, or to force the screw x
into geer with u when acquiring the position of the dotted line as at a 5; a 6
is an upright bar with a pin through it to support the bar a 2 at such height
us it will not rest against q, the axis of the coiling wheel. I shall here observe
that the lower limb of the bar a 2 may be dispensed with. a 7 and a 8 are
moveable slides, to be fixed so far short of the innermost and outermost range
of the coiling wheel as nearly the length of the opening in the bar a 9, which
passes over 61, a shank connected with the moveable frame of the wheels v, V.
According to the position of the bar a 3 the coiling wheel must be moving out-
wards. When q arrives at a 7 it will carry forward with it the bar a ? until it
brings the foot of the bar a 3 past the perpendicular under the centre a 4, and
the opposite end of the groove on a 9 near to the shank 61, at which time the
weight on the head of a 3, preponderating the contrary way to its former position,
begins to assume that of the. dotted line a 5, and consequently carries along
with it the shank 61, which, disengaging the endless screw w, and putting
the endless screw x into geer with the nut u, gives the contrary motion
required.
Explanation of Figure IX.-The principle of coiling the rope here is nearly
the same as in the coiling stage, the reel making, so many revolutions less than
the rope shaft as there are coils of the rope upon it. The difference chiefly
consists in this mode admitting the shafts to be horazontal, if that position
should be deemed eligible. To enable the rope to be coiled in a sufficiently

page_text: small space, it is necessary that either the pulley wheel a should move inwards
and outwards, as in the plan for the coiling stage, or that the reel (or wheel
on which the rope is to be wound) should change its relative position with the
wheel a, by shifting its place on the axis of the rope shaft, the latter of which
may be done various ways, and amongst others by the following method, viz*:
-The outer rim of the wheel b, b, should move through the notch of a
moveable block c,. that travels backwards and forwards for a space nearly equal
to the length of the axis of the reel. This block c should have such a com-
pressure upon the rim of the wheel b as to be equal to the pulling it round
ás tlie twisting sheaves give out the rope; and it may be moved backwards
and forwards by a crank "d," the crank being rather shorter than half the
length of the axis of the coiling. reel, because of its slower motion towards cach
extreme. The wheel e; upon the same arbor with the crank, should move with
different velocities according to thickness of the rope to be coiled up, which (as
it must receive its slow motion by the intervention of other wheels, to which
a belt may be applied in the rapid part of the movement) may be done by
having drum wheels of different diameters, and consequently any velocity may
be given proportionate to the size of the rope. This description, even without
the aid of the previous examples I have given, is sufficiently plain to any mill-
wright,. or persons versed in. mechanics, to whom alone a description of
mechanical subjects can be made clearly obvious, even with great prolixity.
Explanation of Figure XIII-B is the transverse section of a sliaft similar
to: B, in Figure I.; 6, 6, is a spur wheel at the upper end of it, to perform the
same operation as the wheel 6, on the shaft C, in Figures I and II. This
wheel 6 is:connected with as many wheels g, g, as may be convenient to place
round it, each of them turning a strand shaft D, the same as in Figures I.,
III., and XI. In the present instance the wheel 6, 6, is of six feet six inches
diameter, and the. wheels g, &c. two feet, making thirteen révolutions for four
of the shaft B; and there are twelve strand shafts consequently applicable to
three lower shafts for four strand ropes, or four shafts for three strand ropes.
This plan is drawn to correspond with the latter. E represents one of the four
rope shafts,, and 8; 8, the wheel upon it, similar to 8, in Figure I.; 7, 7, is a
correspondent wheel on the lower part of the shaft B, and gives motion to all
the rope shafts. The diameter of 7 is three feet nine and a half inches,
and that of the wheels 8, 8, is three foot six inches, viz, in the proportion
of-thirteen-to-twelve;-consequently, as-the-wheels-6-and-g-are-as-thirteen-to-
four, the strand shafts will make three revolutions to one of the rope shaft. In
the same manner as described, any number of machines may be placed round
the same.shaft or arbor, and any proportionate velocity given to the strand and

page_text: rope shafts. Also, if found necessary (which oan only be in ropes of a small
number of threads) to twist the yarns during the process of making a strand, it
may be done by a number of small shafts placed as D, D, round the whole
or round a portion of the circle, and giving motion to them by a belt. A reel
with a single yarn may be placed, as in Figure X. and XI., on as many of
them as there are yarns in the strand, and all these concentring about a top
or laying block, may join at a proper distance in one shaft, as at B, similar to
the rope shaft E, Figure I. This shaft also, like the small shafts with single
threads, may receive its motion from a belt, and move with the same number
of revolutions, its use (with yarns properly twisted, being only to prevent the
twist from being taken out of the yarns by the contrary twisting of the rope,
which may equally be effected by giving the yarns for small ropes a more than
ordinary twist.
Observations on the Scale of the Plans, &c.-The Drawings themselves are
not meant to give any decidedly fixed or relative proportions of the different
parts of each machine; but as they may be carried into execution on the
dimensions that are delineated, I shall observe that all the Figures, excepting
IV., V., VI., VII., and VIII., are drawn on a scale of half an inch to a foot,
and the Figures mentioned on the scale of an inch and a half to a foot. It
must likewise be noticed that the teeth or cogs on the wheels are in general
omitted, the description and Drawings combined being deemed sufficiently
explanatory without them.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Chapman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of September, in the thirty-
seventh year of the reign of King George the Third, and in the year of
our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven.
(L.B.) CHAPMAN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-second day of
September, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Chapman
O came before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Spe-
cification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year above written.