A NEW KIND OF CORDAGE, MADE BY A PROCESS ENTIRELY NEW, PROX OLD ROPE OR JUNE, OR SUCH SHORT ENDS OF NEW ROPE AS ARE COM- MONLY CONVERTED INTO OAKUM OR-COARSE PAPER, BY MEANS OF WHICH PROCESS THE OBJECTION TO CORDAGE USUALLY TERMED TWICE-LAID CORDAGE ARE TOTALLY OBVIATED, AND THE NEWLY INVERTED CORDAGE IS MADE NEARLY EQUAL TO CORDAGE MADE FROM NEW MATERIALS
Year: 1806

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD.
FORD, of the City of Bristol, Rope Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, tho Thirtieth day of August, in the forty-sixth year of His reign,.
did give aud grant unto me, His especial licence that I should and lawfully
might, during the term of years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and.
vend, within that part of His Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain,
and Ireland called England, His Dominion of Wales, and tho Town of Berwick-..
upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "A NEW KIND OF CORDAGE, MADE BY A PROCESS ENTIRELY NEW,
PROX OLD ROPE OR JUNE, OR SUCH SHORT ENDS OF NEW ROPE AS ARE COM-
MONLY CONVERTED INTO OAKUM OR-COARSE PAPER, BY MEANS OF WHICH PROCESS
THE OBJECTION TO CORDAGE USUALLY TERMED TWICE-LAID CORDAGE ARE
TOTALLY OBVIATED, AND THE NEWLY INVERTED CORDAGE IS MADE NEARLY EQUAL
TO CORDAGE MADE FROM NEW MATERIALS;" in which said Letters Patent there
there is contained a proviso that the said Letters Patent should cease, deter-
mine, and become void if I should not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled
in the High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in complianco with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Ford, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained
in manner following; that is to say:-
Having observed that the defects of and objections to twice-laid cordage,
made in the customary mode, arise from the yarns being joined to each other
by knots, and not sufficiently refreshed, by reason whereof the rope soon becomes
rough, stretches, and easily imbibes water, and likewise that many short ends
of rope, although very good and even new, cannot be used for that purpose, I
have been induced to direct my attention to the production of new kind of
twice-laid cordage, in which all those defects and objections will be removed,
the manner of making which is as follows:-Immerse in boiling water about
eight or nine inches of the extremities of the yarns or strands of the rope
about to be remanufactured, until they become sufficiently softened to be
redressed; when taken out of the water give them a few strokes on a block
with a mawl or mallet; then dress them in a hackel (of the description com-
monly called a keg) till every end of yarn has a fine point; then lay them by to
dry. Or a much more expeditious method of dressing the ends of the yarns,
and which I shall principally make use of, is by a machine made in the
following manner, videlicet:-A cylinder of about two feet diameter, and four
feet and an half in length, with a spindle through the centre, is to be placed in
a frame so as to be turned round by a winch fixed to one extremity of the
cylinder. On the circumference of the cylinder are to be inserted six rows of
teeth with very sharp points projecting about three inches beyond the surface,
and placed at equal distances from each other. On the other extremity of the
spindle is to be fixed a small grooved wheel, round which, and also round
another wheel of five times the diameter of the first, runs a strap or string
crossed thereby, communicating motion to the second or larger wheel, and like-
wise to a cylinder or roller of about four inches in circumference affixed to the
second or larger wheel, which cylinder or roller, by means of a crossed strap
or cogged wheels, is to give motion in an opposite direction to another cylinder
or roller of equal size with itself, the surfaces of which rollers are to be in
contact with each other, or nearly so, like rollers for flatting or rolling metals.
The ends of the yarn are to be introduced between these rollers and thus
to be drawn by the revolution of the main cylinder towards the teeth,
which will dress the yarns much faster and in greater quantities than
can possibly be done by a hackel. After the yarns have been thus
prepared by either of the modes above mentioned, they are to be joined
together by means of a ropemakers' spinning wheel, inserting the point
of one yarn into the middle of the end of another, and twisting them as
much as they are twisted when new, in order to do which I have prepared a
wheel made in the same manner in which rope yarn wheels are generally mado,

page_text: excepting the werrows, my werrows being so constructed as that the iron shall
have a hook at the end, and shall project beyond the front of the wheel head
about eleven inches, ten inches of which are made square, and small receivers
or reels are adapted to go on the square. Over the iron is fixed a piece pro-
jecting from the wheel head, with several small pullies attached to it; and
when about to begin joining the yarns together a réel is placed on the iron;
to the reel is fastened the end of the first yarn, which is brought over to the
hook; then by turning the wheel the reel revolves with the werrow, and twists
the yarn. After joining the yarns to any length which may be convenient,
they are to be taken off the hook, and put up in one of the pullies; then, by
turning the wheel the same way as before, the yarns which have been joined
together will be wound on the reel; then, by bringing the end of the last yarn
so wound up over the hook, you may proceed with joining more yarns, and so
continue until the reel be quite full, which must then be replaced by an empty
reel. Each reel will contain about eight pounds of yarn, in the whole length
of which there will not be a single knot, and it may be made in a place not
more than thirty or forty feet long. The parts where the yarns are joined will
be as strong, or perhaps stronger, than any other part of the yarn. It may be
proper to remark, that the yarns may be joined by any twine or rope yarn
wheel, but not in so commodious a manner as by the wheel above described.
Afier a number of the reels have been filled, take two, or four, or more
of them, according to the number of the yarns it may be necessary to wind
together or the size of the rope intended to be made, place the reels or bolts
in a frame for them to run round on, and wind the yarns together from off the
reels on a large winch or reel (the same as is commonly used for winding
white rope yarn on), and as they are winding up draw them through some thin
tar or prepared varnish, and when several reels or winches have been filled, by
putting them into a stove for a few hours, the tar or varnish will penetrate into'
the yarns, and make them fresh and supple, and they may then made up into
cordage in the same manner as new cordage is usually made. The yarns when
warped out will bear stretching, so as that each yarn shall have its proper
bearing before the strands are twisted (which is not the case with yarns
joined by knotting), so that this cordage, having no knots in it, will, wear as
smooth as new. Every yarn having been brought to its proper bearing before
the strands are twisted, it will stretch no more than new, and having been
refreshed with tar or varnish, it will resist the water as well as new.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Ford, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and six.
RICHARD FORD. (L.S.)

page_text: A Minster Ext in Ch.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-sixth day of
September, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Richard Ford camo
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and everything 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-ninth day of September, in the year above written.