IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR UNMAKING ROPE OR CORDAGE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Michael Henry, of 77, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR
UNMAKING ROPE OR CORDAGE."-A communication.
Sealed the 9th April 1858, and dated the 19th October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Michael Henry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
October 1857.
I, MICHAEL HENRY, of 77, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR UNMAKING ROPE OR CORDAGE," communicated to me by a
foreigner residing abroad, to be as follows:-
This Invention refers to machinery for effecting the separation of the strands
of rope or cordage, which is the first stage in reducing it to its original fibre.
According to the present Invention, a rotating roller head carrying two feed
rollers, having their axes arranged perpendicularly or transversely to and on
opposite sides of its own axis of rotation, is combined with a pointed mandril
arranged in line with such axis of rotation. The rope being conducted between
the feed rollers is driven by their rotation upon the point of the mandril, while
the rotation of the head upon its own axis gives the rope a rotatory motion in
contact with the mandril in the opposite direction to the lay of the rope, by
which combined operation the strands are parted in an easy and effectual
manner. Rotary motion is communicated to the head and transmitted to the
feed rollers by suitable means; several such roller heads and mandrils may be
mounted in one machine.
In carrying this Invention into effect, the feed rollers may conveniently be
fitted so as to have an elastic pressure given them (to accommodate them-

page_text: selves to the varying size of the rope), and formed with grooves having teeth
at bottom (the more firmly to bite it), and the shaft of the head made hollow
for feeding the rope in.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Michael Henry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MICHAEL
HENRY, of 77, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the year.of: our Lord
One thousand eight, hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Michael Henry, Her special licence that I, the said Michael
Henry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Michael Henry, 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY
FOR UNMAKING ROPE OR CORDAGE," (communicated to me by a foreigner residing
abroad,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Michael Henry,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and. seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next. and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I,' the said Michael Henry, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly. described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, as communicated to me, reference being had to the
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :--
The object of this Invention is to perform the first stage of the reduction of
old rope to its original fibre, namely, to effect the separation of the strands.
It consists in a rotating roller-head carrying two feed rollers, having their axes

page_text: arranged-perpendicularly to and on opposite sides of its own axis of rotation,
combined with a pointed mandrel arranged in line with the said axis of rotation.
The rope being conducted between the rollers, the rotation of the rollers in
the head drives the rope upon the point of 'the' mandrel, while the rotation of
the head upon its own axis gives the rope a rotary motion in contact with. the
mandrel-in the opposite direction to the lay of the rope, by which combined
operation the strands are parted in an easy and effectual manner.
To enable others to make and use this Invention, I will proceed to describe
it with reference to the Drawings.
'
Figure is a central longitudinal vertical section of the machine; Figure 2
is a transverse vertical section of the same on the line x, x, of Figure 1.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both Figures.
A is the framing of the machine; B. is the rotating, roller head, keyed or
otherwise firmly secured to one end of the: hollow shaft C, which is fitted to
rotate in bearings D, D, on the top of the framing A; E, 'E, are the feed
rollers, which have their axes arranged parallel with each other, and
transversely or perpendicularly to the axis of the shaft C, at about equal
distances from the centre thereof; F, F, are two sliding pieces of metal fitted
to the head B, and each containing the two bearings for one of the rollers.
These sliding pieces F, F, have springs a, a, and set screws b, b, applied to
their backs to give an elastic pressure to the rollers, to make them bite upon
and accommodate themselves to the varying size of the rope to be unmade.
The rollers are grooved, and have short teeth c, c, in the bottom of the grooves
to bite the rope firmly; I is the pointed mandrel, which is placed in line
with the axis of the shaft C, with its pointed end entering or nearly entering
between the feed rollers E, and is held stationary by set screws i, i, or their
equivalents in two standards J; J, erected upon the top of the framing A;
G is a sleeve fitted to the exterior of the shaft C, and working in a bearing H
on the top of the framing A, and in one half of the foremost bearing D. This
sleeve carries a bevel gear .d; which gears with two bevel gears e, e, on shafts
ff, which are arranged within the rotating roller head radially to the centre
thereof, and on opposite sides thereof. To the two bevel gears e, e, are attached
two spur pinions g, g, which gear with two other pinions h, h, one upon each
of the feed rollers E, E; K is the driving shaft of the machine, intended to
have rotary motion imparted to it in any convenient manner, and carrying a
spur pinion L, which gears with a pinion M on a shaft N, and also with a
pinion O-of-similar size to M on a shaft P, and thus serves to drive both the
shafts N and P. The shaft N is furnished also with a pinion Q, which gears
into a spur gear R. fast upon the shaft C, and the shaft P.is furnished with a

page_text: pinion S smaller than Q, which gears with a spur gear T of the same size as
R, which is fast upon the sleeve G, and by these means the shaft C and the
sleeve G are caused to receive rotary motion both in the same direction, but
the sleeve G more slowly than the shaft C, and in consequence of the difference
of velocity between the said shaft and sleeve, the bevel gear d is eaused to
give motion to the bevel gears e, e, which, through the pinions g, g, impart
motion to the pinions h, h, and thus drive the feed rollers.
The operation of "unlaying" or separating the strands is as follows:-The
rope, which is shewn in red colour in Figure 1, being cut into proper short
lengths, is conducted through the shaft C to the rollers E, E, and the shaft
with the roller head rotating in the opposite direction to the lay of the rope,
and the rollers E, E, rotating in the proper direction to draw the rope through
the shaft and force it upon the point of the mandrel I, cause the opening and
perfect unlaying of the strands by the entry of the mandrel into the centre of
the rope while the rope has a rotary motion.
It is proper to remark that the relation between the velocity of the motion
of the feed rollers and the rotation of the shaft C should approximate in some
degree to the twist of the rope, but by adjusting these relative velocities to
suit rope having an average amount of twist, a sufficiently near approximation
to the less and greater degrees of twist will be obtained.
The machine illustrated represents this Invention fully, but in practice I
propose to have in the same machine several roller heads and mandrels, the
motion to be imparted from one shaft C and sleeve G to another throughout
the whole series by intermediate gearing.
I disclaim the Invention of the revolving roller head itself, and its use for
any other purpose than that of unmaking rope; but what I claim as the
present Invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is, the combination
of the rotating roller head and pointed mandrel to operate in the manner and
for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michael Henry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
C. H. LANGMEAD,
77, Fleet Street.
M. HENRY. (L.S.)