AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fowler, junior, of Havering, in the County of
Essex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
WIRE ROPES."
Sealed the 15th May 1857, and dated the 2nd December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fowler at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd December 1856.
I, JOHN FOWLER, junior, of Havering, in the County of Essex, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE
OP WIRE ROPES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in the manufacture of
wire ropes.
For this purpose, in place of having all the wires which are around the
central core one size or diameter as heretofore, and in place of all the wires
being of iron, one of the wires in each strand is of larger size or diameter than
the others, and this larger wire in each strand is made of steel; hence each
strand of wire will have a spiral ridge around it, and when such strands are
laid together, the projecting ridges of the strands which are outwards rest on
or against any surface on which the rope is moved, and the steel projecting
wires are the ones which are first worn away.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fowler in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FOWLER, junior, of Havering, in the County of Essex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Fowler, Her special licence that I, the said John Fowler, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Fowler, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF WIRE ROPE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Fowler, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the sanie was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months, next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Fowler, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in the manufacture of
wire ropes. For this purpose, in place of having all the wires which are
around the central core one size or diameter as heretofore, and in place of all
the wires being of iron, one of the wires in each strand is of larger size or
diameter than the others, and this larger wire in each strand is made of steel;
hence each strand of wire will have a spiral ridge around it, and when such
strands are laid together, the projecting ridges of the strands which are out-
wards rest on or against any surface on which the rope is moved, and the steel
projecting wires are the ones which are first worn away.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.

page_text: In making each strand of a rope, in place of having all the wires laid
around the central core, as heretofore, of one size, I employ one, or it may be
more, of a larger size than the others. I have found that about three sizes
larger is a convenient size for the larger wires, though I do not confine myself
thereto, as the size may be varied; and I make such larger wires by preference
of steel, in order that they may wear better and longer, and preserve the
others from wear.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fowler, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness.
S. CARPMAEL.
JOHN FOWLER, Jun. (L.s.)