IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR WIR IRE ROPES AND IN THE PREPARATION OR WIRE FOR SUCH PREPARATION OR FOR SUCH
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Bedson, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OR WIR
IRE ROPES AND IN THE PREPARATION OR WIRE FOR SUCH
of Lancaster, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANHRACTURE OR WIRE ROPES AND IN THE PREPARATION OR WIRE FOR SUCH
MANUFACTURE"
Sealed the 3rd October 1862, and dated the 15th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Bedson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
April 1862.
I, GEORGE BEDSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPES, AND IN THE PREPARATION OF WIRE FOR SUCH
MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the employment of flat wire, as distinguished
from round, in the manufacture of what are commonly called wire ropes. In
preparing wire for ropes I cause it after it passes hot from rollers to be wound
upon a drum thus affording two points of suspension, between which, or other
points of suspension, I cool it, and so cause a contraction, by which the
material becomes straightened.
5
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said George Bedson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE.
BEDSON, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Bedson, Her special license that I, the said George Bedson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Bedson, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF WIRE ROPES, AND IN THE PREPARATION OF WIRE FOR SUCH PURPOSES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Bedson, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 George Bedson, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
My Invention consists in the employment of flat wire, as distinguished from
round, in the manufacture of what are commonly called wire ropes, also in a
method of preparing wire for wire ropes. In manufacturing ropes from flat
wire or ribbons of metal a variety of combinations of separate wires, or
strands, may be employed; I will however point out certain methods as
illustrative of my Invention.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a face view of a rope con-
structed according to my Invention, and Figs. 2 and 3 two sections thereof.
In the latter the black lines shew the thicknesses of metal, and these would
in reality lie close together, but they are drawn a distance apart in order to
render them distinguishable. In this case there are five strands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
placed side by side, and interwoven up and down with cross pieces 6, which
cross pieces are turned over at their ends alternately on each side of the
longitudinal strands as at 7. At Fig. 4 another combination is shewn, Fig.
5 being a cross section thereof. In this instance four strands 8, 9, 10, 11,
are placed side by side, each strand being composed of four flat wires, around
these strands are placed bands 12, to unite them, and these bands are rivetted

page_text: to longitudinal strips 13. Figs. 6 and 7 represent another method of com-
bining the component parts; in this instance four strands 14, 15, 16, 17, are
placed side by side, and a flat wire 18 is coiled spirally around them; after
the same manner many other combinations may be adopted, and which will
readily suggest themselves to all competent persons. In using these ropes it
necessarily follows that when they are caused to pass over a drum the wires
on the inside of the strands will lap around a smaller diameter than the outside
thereof, and a slight "buckling" will therefore take place; to allow for this
a certain construction of shackle may be used, which I will now describe by
reference to Figs. 8 and 9. The wire rope constructed according to any of
the above methods is shewn at 19, passing between the rollers 20, carried
by the side plates 21. At this point the rope is divided in the middle so that
one half of its thickness passes onward at 22, and the other at 23, and in
that divided state around a pulley 24. With this arrangement that portion of
the rope which would otherwise be compelled to buckle will slip over the
pulley 24, and will be taken up on the other side thereof.
In carrying out that part of my Invention which relates to the straightening
of wire for wire ropes, I cause it after it passes from the rollers, by which
it has been rolled, to be wound upon a drum, and between those two points
which hold it, I cool it, and thus cause a contraction, or I hold it when heated
between other apparatus, and in like manner cool it.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited
Letters Patent,―
Firstly, the use of ropes constructed of flat wire or ribbons of metal.
Secondly, the method of straightening wire for such purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Bedson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
GEORGE BEDSON. (L.S.)