AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CABLES, HAWSERS, AND OTHER CORDAGE
Year: 1802

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
MITCHELL the elder and JAMES MITCHELL the younger, of the Hamlet of
Poplar and Blackwall, in the County of Middlesex, Rope Makers, send
greeting.
. WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, on the Ninth day of
March, in the forty-second year of His reign, give and grant unto us, the said
James Mitchell the elder and James Mitchell the younger, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said James Mitchell the
elder and James Mitchell the younger, during the term of fourteen years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within
that part of the United Kingdom. of Great Britain and Ireland called 'England,
the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention
of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CABLES, HAWSERS, AND OTHER
CORDAGE;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
us, the said James Mitchell the elder and James Mitchell the younger, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within oné calendar month next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent, as by the said Letters Patent, rélation being
thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear: And whereas we, the said
James Mitchell the elder and James Mitchell the younger, by frequent praç-
tice of the system of subdividing the strands of cables, hawsers, and other
ropes, for the Invention of which system, and for the sole use whereof, His
Majesty's Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bear-

page_text: ing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of July, in the Thirty-ninth
year of His reign, have been given and granted to the said James Mitchell
the elder for the term therein mentioned) have, by various exertions to make
improvements on that system or mode of manufacturing cordage, discovered
that the same principle of subdividing which effects a remedy for the error in
the usual and customary manner of making cables, hawsers, and other cordage;
may be carried into execution, not only by spirals, but also by parallels, by
confining or bedding the subdivided parts of strands or twists, so that they
shall keep in separate and distinct parts or columns without intermixing,
running into, or crossing each other, and shall act in a manner similar to the
salvage or spiral twists, and shall also retain the regular properties of a slow
and progressive reaction for combining the parts or strands, and shall cause
the cable or rope so made to have the requisites needful for nautical or
other uses.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
James Mitchell the elder and James Mitchell the younger, do hereby declare
that the nature of our said Invention and further improvements, and the
manner in which they are to to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in manner and form as follows (that is to say) :-
The yarns are to be spun and prepared as usual; then let the number
required for the twist or strand be ascertained and separated into so many
subdivisions as may be required. Let these subdivisions be attached to a neb
or fore-lock hook at the tackle board, and then stretched in parallels along the
rope ground over the stake heads to a sledge at the lower end or distance
required. Take a top or bedder; place it so as to receive each subdivision
separately; turn the hook as the top or bedder recedes from the tackle board
till it arrives at the place required. The contraction for placing or bedding
these subdivisions may be gained at pleasure within the space of from three
to five fathoms in 'two hundred fathoms, so that there will remain sufficient
length for contracting the strand by circular motion on it's axis to obtain a
gradual and progressive reaction. The strands thus formed or bedded are to
-be-finished-by-circular-motion-on-their-axis,-and-then-laid-and-united-to-each-
other, as usual; or, for the purpose of expedition, the said process may be
carried into execution by means of two tackle boards on the main posts, the
after one being perforated with holes formed in equal radii round a common
centre to receive the subdivided parts, and the foremost board to have a hole
opposite in a direct line with that centre coil each subdivision separate
above the after tackle board, and pass them separately through the circular
holes in the after board formed for that purpose, which holes are, as before

page_text: observed, to be formed in equal radii from a common centre; then pass the
whole of them through the hole in the foremost board placed in a line with
the center one of the surrounding holes that receive the subdivided parts; com-
press them moderately with a lever or slider over it; then attach each of them,
so pressed, to a neb or fore lock hook on a sledge, and draw the sledge back
gradually, turning at the same time the hook, so as to form or bed them.
Draw the sledge backwards to the extent required, when it will be found that
the contraction for placing or bedding these subdivisions may be gained at
pleasure within the space of from three to five fathoms in two hundred fathoms,
so that there will remain sufficient length for contracting the strand, and giving
it the necessary properties for it's formation into a rope, as is before described.
And furthermore, it will be found that the common extent of the tackle boards
will be sufficient to graduate and receive such a number of holes as will be
competent for the placing or bedding of three strands by the same process.
And furthermore it is found that, by means of the two tackle boards, as herein
described, the salvagee or spiral twist may be formed without rotation on the
axis by the simplest process of thorough putting the parts or subdivisions,
when coiled, above the boards, by passing them through the holes, and carry-.
ing on the operation, as before directed. The annexed Drawing will illustrate
and explain the process.
In witness whereof, wc, the said James Mitchell the elder and James
Mitchell the younger, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Seventh day of April, in the forty-second year of the reign of our
Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the grace of God of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and two.