IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPE AND OTHER ROPES."
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Smith, of Princes Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of." IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPE AND OTHER ROPES."""
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by, the said Archibald Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
February 1857.,
I, ARCHIBALD SMITH, of of Prince's Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the 'said Invention" for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPE AND OTHER ROPES,"
to be as follows:
My said Invention consists in an arrangement of machinery for laying wire
rope, by means of which the defect called 'the "bend " is avoided, and a better
circulation for the turn of the several wires obtained; and the same machinery
is also applicable for the manufacture of hemp and other ropes.
My improved machines have a revolving frame, composed of 'a series of discs
kept equidistant by means of' rods or bars forming distance pieces, and each
space so obtained carries a bobbin frame placed at an angle to the axis of the
machine. Each disc is perforated near the edge to receive one end of the
bobbin frame in a suitable bearing, while the other end of the frame works in
a bearing on the within side of the opposite disc, thus retaining' the frame in an
angular position, and each has a balance weight. The peripheries of the
discs rotate on friction rollers. The discs are so arranged in the frame that the
.

page_text: perforation near the edge of one disc, intended for the passage of the wire from
the suspended bobbin, shall not interfere with the passage of the wire or wires
from each of the other bobbins in the frame; and at the end of the frame any
required number of perforations are made in the terminating disc for the
passage of the several wires, being one perforation for each bobbin. When
the machine is to be used for manufacturing hemp or other ropes I provide
that the bobbins shall have the required reverse motion given to them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Archibald Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th August 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARCHIBALD
SMITH, of Prince's Street, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send
greeting.
my
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Archibald Smith, Her special licence that I, the said Archibald Smith,
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Archibald
Smith, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
.with, and to 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 MACHINERY
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE ROPE AND OTHER ROPES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Archibald Smith, my executors or adminis
trators, 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
anonths next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE; that I, the said Archibald Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
... My Invention refers to a horizontal rope-making machine, in which the

page_text: T
bobbins or reels containing the wires or strands to be formed into strands or
ropes are placed in frames turning on pivots within a revolving skeleton
cylinder, and so arranged that the wires are subjected to a less number of
bends than heretofore in passing from the reels to the "laying plate" previous
to their being united into a strand or rope by being laid" together, thereby
lessening the tendency of setts or bends being put into the individual wires, as
also avoiding injury to the wires by useless friction.
'occur.
66
+
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 shews a general outline elevation of
a machine containing six bobbins or reels; Fig. 2 is a plan or horizontal view
of the same; Fig. 3, represents an elevation of the right-hand end; Fig. 4, a
cross section of A, B, showing one bobbin frame, supported in its revolving
ring and cross bar; Fig. 5 shews the angular or polar position of the axis of
the reel frames as respects each other; Fig. 6, a view, of the left-hand end;
and Fig. 7 shews the manner in which the rope is drawn off. The same
letters, figures, or marks of reference denote the same parts wherever they
The machine stands upon longitudinal timbers represented by C, C,
which are bedded upon and bolted to cross beams D, D. On the longitudinal
timbers are fixed the 'standards E, E, E, E, E, and on the cross timbers, the
wheels F (see end views), forming the supports for the revolving cylinder.
G are seven rings united together by three longitudinal stretching bolts
a, a, a, with a distance tube on each bolt in each compartment screwed up
tight.by a nut at each end; II, H, are wheels or rollers, running on pivots
fixed in.the standards, for keeping the before-mentioned rings concentric with
the standards. These pivots are adjustable in slot holes to provide for wear or
unequal settlement.
In Figs. 1, 2, and 4, the letter I represents a bobbin frame, its long.end.
being supported and turning in a socket attached to and near the outer edge
of the end ring (left hand), and its lower end in a bearing in the cross bar J,
which is fixed on two of the before-mentioned longitudinal stretching rods.
The reels or bobbins b, b, are supported by arms projecting from the under side
of the.bobbin frame, by which means the centre of gravity of the reel is so
much below the general centre of the reel frame and also of the machine as to
prevent its being carried around with the machine, but remains in this respect
stationary, or with its axis horizontal, as shewn by Fig. 4, whilst the long end
of the frame is carried around in the circle d, d, d,. and the short or cross bar
end describes the circle e, e, e, see Fig. 5.
The direction of the axis of the bobbin frames, as seen in elevation and plan,
is farther illustrated in transverse section at Fig. 5, where, the axis of the reel
fraine in the compartment K is represented by the line g,g; that of L, by the

page_text: line h, h; that of M, by the line i, i;. N, by k, k; O, by 1,1; and that of P, by
the line m, m. To the left-hand ring of the machine is firmly fastened what
is usually denominated the "laying plate" n by the three rods p, p, p. This
laying plate being a part of the. machine revolves with it, and is kept steady
and in a central position by running between antifriction rollers attached to
the standard QBy T is represented a pair of grooved rollers, for the purpose
of keeping the strand or rope in a central position, as also to prevent any
irregularity in the external shape of the rope; S is a grooved.wheel running
on a pin fixed in the standard R; and above this grooved wheel there is a box r
fixed for measuring and indicating the quantity of rope made as it is being
drawn off around the wheel S..
a
9
By Fig. 3 it will be perceived that the right-hand standard:Ex is cast with
bridge across it to form a bearing in the middle, and that the adjoining ring
Gx is furnished with arms; and has a spindle projecting.in: the centre supported
by and turning in the bearing of the standard. On this spindle is fixed the
bevil pinion t, for giving motion to the train of wheels u, v, w, a, for drawing
off. On the side of the tooth wheels w, x, there are grooved'rings formed, see
Figs. 2 and 7, around which the finished rope passes. Z represents.a grooved
roller, mounted on a lever having a heavy weight at. the other end, causing the
roller to press hard against the rope and wheel x, producing sufficient tension
to the rope to draw it off, after which it will be coiled away by hand or by any
of the mechanical means at present in use, driven by the rigger Rx. To
provide for proportioning the amount of "lay," the wheels w, x, the weighted
lever, and roller are all united to a sliding bar or frame, so that the pinion v
may be changed for one of a different diameter, thereby regulating the amount
of "lay" given to the rope or strand. Although six bobbins are shewn
and described in this machine the number may be more or less according
to the number of wires. or strands or any other consideration. To use a
core of hemp or any other suitable material the machine may either contain
a bobbin for that purpose, in addition to the number required for the strands
or wires, that is to say, a six-strand machine to have one reel for the core
and six for the strands; or the core reel may be detached, standing at the
right hand, and as at dx, the core passing through a hole in the spindle of
the before-mentioned ring Gx, and passing over the pulley ax along by the side
of stretching bar through holes in the rings to the front or left hand, end where
it will be brought to and pass through the centre hole of the laying plate.
The bobbins or reels being filled with wires or strands, either by hand winding
of by mechanical means, are put into the projecting arms of the bobbin frames,
and are there secured from getting out, as also screwed up slightly between thic

page_text: arms to prevent them unwinding faster than the wires or strands are required.
The ends are then passed through a hole in the centre of the long end of each.
bobbin frame, then taken along by the side of the stretching bar through holes
in the rings, and from the last ring into the holes of the laying plate; as, for
instance, the wire or strand from the reel in the compartment K will be drawn
in the direction of the dotted lines 2, 2, 2, 2, to the laying plate; that from the
reel L, denoted by the line 3, 3, 3, 3, see Fig. 1; that from M, by the lines
4, 4, 4, 4; from N, by the lines 5, 5, 5, 5; from O, by 6, 6, 6, 6; and from P,
by the lines 7, 7, 7, 7. These last four compartments refer to Fig. 2.
The machine, as herein described, may be driven from a steam engine or
other first mover by a strap around the ring of a strap drum or rigger
attached to the side of one of the rings forming the revolving cylinder, or by a
tooth wheel fixed in a similar way driven by a longitudinal shaft and pinion,
or by any other means if more convenient.
In the accompanying design I have delineated the bobbin frame forming an
angle of about 23° degrees with the central axis of the cylinder, and which I
believe will be the best position generally, as the angle of the wire from the
reel to the centre hole of the frame will be nearly uniform in every part of the
revolution; nevertheless I do not confine myself to any particular angle of
the bobbin frame, nor to any definite proportionate distance of the journals
of the bobbin frame from the general centre of the machine, as these matters
are susceptible of various modifications; but I claim as my Invention, the use
of inclined or polar bobbin frames, as herein-before described, by which means
the wires or strands are carried in the most direct manner to the outside of
the revolving machine, and from thence to the laying plate with the least
possible number of bends.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
ARCHIBALD SMITH. (L.S.)