NEW-INVENTED MODE OF MAKING ROPES AND CORDAGE
Year: 1806

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RALPHI
WALKER, of Black wall, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Ninth day of August, in the forty-sixth year of His reign, did give
and grant unto me, the said Ralph Walker, my exors, adñors, and assigns,
Ilis special licence, full power, solo privilege and authority, that I, the said
Ralph Walker, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in
all His Colonies and Plantations abroad, my "NEW-INVENTED MODE OF MAKING
ROPES AND CORDAGE;" in which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said Ralph Walker, under my hand and scal, to cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within one calendar month next immediately after the date of the
said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto
had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Ralph Walker, do hereby declare that my said Invention of a New Mode
of Making Ropes and Cordage which is applicable to the making of
ropes and cordage of every dimension or size, from a small line to the
largest cable, is performed by the machinery which I have invented for

page_text: the purpose, and which is described by the Plans or Drawings hereto
annexed. Those Plans or Drawing, and the explanation, description, and
particulars herein-after set forth, as particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed.
Figures 1, 2, and 3, are Plans shewing the construction of the machinery
for making ropes from the yarns by one and the same machine at one time
and by one operation.
In Figure 1, A is the main shaft. B, B, flyers upon which the
bobbins T, T, T, T, round which the yarns are wound, are placed upon
moveable axes. As many bobbins wound round with yarn on each flyer are used
as the number of yarns that are wanted in each strand. These flyers move
upon their pivots on the arms E, E, and there must be as many such flyers as
there are strands to make the rope. C, C, are sections of a fixed wheel, with
teeth on its inside. D, D, are wheels fixed upon the axes of the flyers. I, is
a wheel fixed upon the main shaft. W, shows the centre (or king's) yarn.
Now, if the main shaft be put in motion by the shaft and wheel G and II, or
otherwise, it will turn round the flyers. The teeth of the wheels D, D, acting on
the wheels C, C, will give the flyers a contrary motion to the main shaft, and twist
the yarns into strands at E, E. The motion of the main shaft will then lay
the strands into a rope. The flyers may receive their aforesaid motion either
by the means aforesaid or from machinery similar to that described at
Figure 8, or by such other ways as the mechanist may think fit. The motion
of the main shaft, with its pinion I, will give motion to the wheel K, and turn
round the small wheel L. On the axis of the wheel L is fixed a grooved
roller, which presses upon the rope between the two wheels M, M, over which
wheels the rope lays, and by that pressure acts so as to draw out the rope,
strands, and yarns from the bobbins. N, N, are pullies to guide tlie strands
to the end of the shaft A, where they meet, and are formed into the rope.
The small wheels Q and X may be made to move further up or down upon
their axis, to act in wheels, larger or smaller, which may be put on in lieu
of L and R, so as to draw out the rope with less or greater velocity, as may
be requisite; or instead of drawing out the rope in manner aforesaid, the rope
may be drawn out from the machinery by the wheelwork and shafts P, P, P,
Qand R. The wheel R, which is fixed upon an axis having an universal
joint, may be moved further up or down, so as to place the teeth of the
wheel Qinto one of the larger or smaller circles of teeth upon the convex
wheel R. These circles of teeth appear more plainly upon the face of the
wheel, see S.

page_text: Figure 2 is a section of Figure 1.
the flyers and bobbins, with the yarns.
the inside, and is fixed in its place. D,
of the flyer, which act in the wheel C.
round the flyers.
A is the centre or shaft. B, B, B, are
C is the large wheel with the teeth in
D, are the wheels fast upon the axis
E, E, the arms and rim for carying
Figure 3 is a top view of Figure 1. The small wheels a, a, a, a, a, a, act
upon the pullies N, N, (see Figure 1,) which bring all the strands equably to
be laid into the rope.
Figures 4, 5, and 6 are Plans showing the machinery for making the ropes
by different machines and operations.
Figure 4 shews the machinery for laying the strands of large ropes or cables,
and may be put in motion in the same manner as Figure 1. The strand is
drawn out also in the same manner as Figure 1, and wound upon a reel, pre-
paratory to its being laid into rope, which will be shewn by Figure 6; or the
strand may be drawn from the machinery, and wound on the reel, by the two
dead pullies and strap or strope A, A. C is the centre (or king's) yarn.
Figure 5 is a section of Figure 4.
ropes from the strands.
B, B, are the flyers for
must, as in Figure 1, be
Figure 6 shews the machinery for laying large
A is the main shaft, moveable on its pivots at I, I.
carrying round the reels with the strands. There
one flyer for each strand nsed in the rope. C, C, C, C, are the arms fast
upon the axis A, on which the flyers move upon their pivots. D, a wheel fast
upon its shaft, having two circles of teeth (see K). E, a wheel fast upon the
axis A. F, a wheel fixed upon the lower side of the wheel G, which is
moveable upon the axis A. H, II, are the wheels fast upon the axis of the
flyers B, B. If the shaft wheel D be put in motion it will turn round tho
wheel E, which is fast upon the shaft A, and carry round the arms with
the flyers B, B, the same time that the outer or longer circle of teeth on the
wheel D will act on the wheel F, and will turn round F and G, which are
moveable upon the shaft A, with an increased velocity. The wheel G, acting
upon the wheels H, H, will also give them motion in a contrary direction to
the shaft A, with an increased velocity (their diameters being less than those
of the wheels G, G,) sufficient to keep the twist in the strand, which otherwise
would be taken out by the laying of the rope, and also to give a small increased
twist to the strand, in order to bring the centre yarns to an equal bearing
with the yarns on the outside of the strand. L, L, L, L, are rollers to keep
the strand steady in passing from the reels, M, M, to C, C. N, N, N, N, are
straps acting upon the dead pullies, which are at the ends of the reels, to give
the strand a requisite tension in passing from the reels to form the rope.

page_text: These straps are slackened or tightened as may be requisite by means of
screws a, a, a, a. The rope is drawn from the machinery in the same manner
as is described in Figure 1 and 4.
:
Figure 7 shows the machinery for laying small ropes, and is similar in
every respect to Figure 1, excepting that the flyers receive their contrary
motion to the main axis by means of dead pullies with straps or ropes, and
may be turned by hand by the crank B.
Figure 8 is a section of Figure 7, for tarring the yarns previous to their
being wound upon the bobbins, to be used in mauner aforesaid. I have
used steam, and done by the following machinery, which I have found useful,
and therefore describe it. But I do not claim or consider this as a part of my
Invention secured to me by the above Letters Patent..
Figure 9, 10, 11, and 12 shew the method of tarring the yarns by means
of steam, which is conveyed into the case of the tar boiler A (see C, C,
Figure 9 and 10), which. are sections of the boiler and roller, for keeping
down the yarns in passing through the boiler. The rollers B, B, may be
constructed 'so as to be, raised or lowered according to tho quantity of tar in
tlo boiler. The yarns on the bobbins D, D,-áre drawn from the boiler, as
represented in Figures 10, 11, and 12, by means of pullies fixed upon thic
shaft and in the; frame for holding the bobbins.. The bobbins D, D, are
equably filled by means of à frame or rack F, F, which rises or falls by means
of a heart wheel or counteracting screws, or by any of the other means in
uso for producing an alternate counteracting motion. The proportion of the
different apparatus may be ascertained by the scale upon the Plan, but tho
-different parts of thio wheelwork may be increased or diminished, as may be
thought necessary, for laying hard or soft rope. That the machinery may
appear mere distinct, and as plain as may be, the framing for supporting the
different parts of the apparatus is not described in the Plans.
By my said Invention of a new mode of making ropes and cordage, tho
yarns are all laid so as to bo made to bear an equal proportion of the strain
in the strand and rope, and the strands are laid uniformly in the rope, and
each strand and rope receives throughout an equal degree of twist, by which tho
rope is rendered stronger than otherwise it would be, and of an uniform degroo
of strength throughout, and the same is either wholly done by one machine and
operation, or seperately by different machines and operations, in manner above
described. These beneficial effects, however, has been produced by others,
and publickly used, for some of which Patents have been obtained, but
this has only been done by modes, or machinery different from my said
Invention.

page_text: My said Invention, therefore, is the discovery as well of the above mode of
laying the rope immediately from the yarn by one and the same machine and
operation as of the above mode, which is different, and one that I conceive is
simpler and better than any other yet discovered, of laying the strands, as
described in Figures 4 and 5, so as that the yarns shall all bear an equal
proportion of the strain in the strand, and by which, as above described in
Figure 6, I twist the strands uniformly together.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ralph Walker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and six.
Inrolled the Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and six.