SPINNING HEMP FOR THE MAKING OF ROPES OR CORDAGE
Year: 1806

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third hath, by His Royal
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, dated at Westminster,
the Eighth day of March last past, given and granted unto John Curr, of
Belle Vue House, in the Parish of Sheffield, in the County of York, Gentleman,
His Royal licence, power, and authority, for the sole making, using, exercising,
and vending, for the term of fourteen years, a certain Invention of the said
John Curr, of "SPINNING HEMP FOR THE MAKING OF ROPES OR CORDAGE;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if the said John
Curr shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of this said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
writing under his hand and seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, all liberties and advan-
tages whatsoever thereby granted should utterly cease, determine, and become
void, any thing therein contained to the contrary notwithstanding, as by
reference to the said Letters Patent may more fully at large appear.
NOW WITNESS THESE PRESENTS, that the said John Curr, by this
present instrument in writing under his hand and seal, doth describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and manner in which the same is to
be performed, used, and exercised, as follows; that is to say :-
To the axis of the spinning wheel usually applied for spinning hemp for
cordage, annex a small drum made of tin, wood, or other fit material, about
twelve inches diameter, which may be about twenty inches or two feet long,
upon which small drum a small cord, wire, or chain, or other fit material must be
wound of the length at least of the thread proposed to be spun; and by turning
round the spinning wheel which commands the spindles, the small cord, wire,
or chain, or other fit material (which should be annexed or fastened to one of

page_text: the spinners) will at the same time turn off the drum and give the speed the
spinners must go. If the spinners want to go a quick speed, the spinning
wheel will require to be turned quick; and if slow, the wheel must be turned
slow. And it will be necessary to proportion the drum herein explained to the
wheel and spindles in such manner as to give the desired twist to the yarns;
and when once ascertained all the yarns will have a regular number of twists,
which, for the making of a rope, is of very considerable importance; and if for
different uses it is required to have the yarns spun harder or softer, the intro-
duction of larger or smaller whirls will produce the desired effect. It will be
advisable to have all the whirls of one and the same size that are in use at the
same time, and all the spinners employed upon one wheel to begin and end
their threads together, and keep the same speed, as near as may be, with the
person to whom the cord, wire, or chain is attached, to produce in all the
threads the most regular twist possible. By more complicated machinery the
cord, wire, or chain that points out the speed to the spinners may be used and
applied in a different manner, or a distinct person may carry the cord, wire, or
chain to give them the speed..
But what I lay claim to as my Invention is, a cord, wire, or chain, or
other fit, material, connected or applied in any way with the spinning wheel
and the spinners of the yarns, which may to any convenient distance keep up
a regular connection between them. All the yarns being spun with one twist
will make them stretch nearly alike during the operation of using the rope, as
well as that of laying the rope; and where the yarns are not equally twisted,
and the strands are twisting up during the operation of laying, the yarns are in
part untwisted again, which generally produces the effect of giving an equal
tension to the strands, which defect the rope maker generally remedies (in
order to make the strands lay well in the rope) by twisting up or untwisting
one or two of the strands; but if the strands that compose a rope have an equal
number of twists, they cannot when applied to use take an equal share of the
burthen.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Carr, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this First day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being
first duly stamped) by the within
named John Curr, in the pre-
JOHN CURR. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same First day of April, in the
year above mentioned, the aforesaid John Curr came before our Lord the
King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification 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 Third day of April in the von shove written