IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OR METHODS OF MANUFACTURING ROPE OR CORDAGE, AND IMPROVED MODES OF FITTING AND USING THE SAME
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
SMITH, of Saint James', in the City of Westminster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of
May, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Andrew Smith, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Andrew
Smith, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Andrew
Smith, my exors, adññors, 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
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and. vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR OR METHODS OF MANUFACTURING ROPE OR
CORDAGE, AND IMPROVED MODES OF FITTING AND USING THE SAME;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Andrew Smith, should
cause a particular description of the nature of iny said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an'instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: 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, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained
in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:—
Firstly, my Invention, in so far as it regards machinery for or methods of
manufacturing rope or cordage, has relation to the means employed to give
motion to the reels or bobbins in laying the yarn or wire into strands, or in
laying strands into rope or cordage, and consists in the improved arrangements
for that purpose represented in Figures 1 and 2 of the annexed Drawings, the
former of which is a plan of the machinery on the line y, x, and the latter a
side elevation thereof. The bobbins or reels g, 9, (of any convenient number)
are mounted in a circular frame A, which is upheld by screw rods v, v, within
an outer framework A³ consisting of a basement k, four pillars p, p, an enta-
blature y', spandrills a³, x', and. conical apex w. The principal parts of the
frame A are three, six armed rings R, R, R³, which are connected vertically
together in the manner to be presently explained, and two laying plates t, t,
at top of all. The undermost ring R' is connected by a series of cranks
C, e, e, with the second ring R2, and R with the third ring R³ by straight
vertical rods s, s. The centre crank C is stationary, and stepped by its short
arm in a pedestal N attached to the basement of the outer framework As,
while the undermost ring R' is attached to a loose boss r slipped over the
short arm of the crank C, so that, on a rotating movement being given to the
ring R', it carries round with it the ring R by means of the side cranks e, e;
that is to say, the side cranks e, e, which may be called live cranks, are made
to revolve round the centre or dead crank C, while the ring R' in its turn
imparts, through the medium of the vertical rods s, s, a simultaneous rotary
movement to the top ring Rs. The long arms of the connecting cranks e, e,
carry the reels or bobbins 9, 9, on which the yarn or wire is wound, and as
they revolve at fixed and invariable distances round the centre or dead crank
C, any twist of the yarn or wire which is in the course of being laid is effec-
tually prevented. The requisite rotary motion is given to the machine by
means of a pair of bevil wheels B' and B³, the former of which (B¹) is
attached to the loose boss r on the short arm of the dead crank C, and the
latter (B) to a shaft S, which is turned by a steam engine or other first
mover through the medium of the riggers a, a. The long arm of the dead
crank C carries at top a reel or bobbin u, from which the heart or core for

page_text: the rope or cordage (of whatever material such heart or core may be) is
supplied. The yarns or wires from the different bobbins pass through guide
holes in the topmost ring R, and meet and unite with the core at the laying
plates t, t. To the revolving shaft S, and at a little distance from the riggers
a, a, there is attached a worm wheel h, the threads of which take into a
tangent wheel i, and thereby give motion to a whelp wheel ; keyed to the
axis k' of i. The whelp wheel; serves to receive or take away the strand or
rope as it is delivered from the twisting or bobbin frame A over the pulley Q.
The whelps 1, 1, of the wheelj are moveable to and fro in slots as usual, so
that they may expand or contract (as it were) in proportion to the lay of the
strand or rope. On the axis k¹ of the wheels i and j, and outside of both,
there is keyed a flat-grooved rigger m, which is connected by a band n to a
similar full-grooved rigger o, keyed on a separate shaft P, which carries a
double whelp wheel 7, by which the strand or rope is carried along as it is
completed.
And secondly, my Invention, in so far as it regards the fitting and using
rope or cordage, has special relation to the application of wire rope or cordage
to the standing rigging of ships, and consists in the improved contrivance for
the purpose represented in Figure 3 of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
a represents the side of a vessel; B, the chain plate; D, a spring lanyard
of the ordinary form; f a tube in which the lanyard is enclosed; c, a slip
shackle; e, a stud attached to the front of the tube f, and having an orifice in
it through which the forelock e' is passed. By taking out the forelock e¹, and
pulling down the tube f, the shackle slips up and opens out, whereby the rope
can be instantly disengaged, as may be required.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the improvements which
I claim, as constituting my said Invention, are as follows:-
First, I claim the improved mode of giving motion to the reels or bobbins
in the manufacture of rope or cordage before described, in so far as regards
the employment of a central stationary crank C, and of other cranks e, e,
carrying the reels or bobbins, and made to revolve round the same at fixed
and invariable distances; and,
Second, I claim the combination of the slip shackle with the elastic screw
5 lanyard, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
ANDREW (L.S.) SMITH.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of Novem-
ber, in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Andrew Smith came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.