A METHOD OF FORMING AND MAKING A FLATT ROPE, INTENDED TO BE USED IN DRAWING COALS AND OTHER MINERALS AND WATER OUT OF PITTS OR MINES OF ANY KIND; AND BY THE SAID FLATT ROPE LAPPING UPON ITSELF IN A NICH ON THE ROPE WHEEL, THE DISADVANTAGES WILL BE OBVIATED ATTENDING THE USE OF ROUND ROPES
Year: 1798

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third hath by His
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britian, dated at West-
minster, the Seventeenth day of November last past, given and granted unto
JOHN CURR, of the Parish of Sheffield, in the County of York, Gentleman, His
Royal license, power, and authority, for the sole making, useing, exerciseing,
and vending, for the term of fourteen years, a certain Invention of the said
John Curr, of "A METHOD OF FORMING AND MAKING A FLATT ROPE, INTENDED TO BE
USED IN DRAWING COALS AND OTHER MINERALS AND WATER OUT OF PITTS OR MINES
OF ANY KIND; AND BY THE SAID FLATT ROPE LAPPING UPON ITSELF IN A NICH ON
THE ROPE WHEEL, THE DISADVANTAGES WILL BE OBVIATED ATTENDING THE USE
OF ROUND ROPES;" in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that if
the said John Curr shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
this said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by
an instrument in writing under his hand and seal, and cause the same to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar month
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the
said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby
granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, anything therein
contained to the contrary notwithstanding, as, by reference to the said Letters
Patent, may more at large appear.
NOW WITNESS THESE PRESENTS, that the said John Curr, by this
present Instrument in writing under his hand and seal, doth describe and

page_text: ascertain the nature of his said Invention, and the manner in which the same
is to be performed, used, and exercised, as follows (that is to say):-
The said flatt rope may be formed by connecting two or more small ropes
sidewise together, by sewing or stitching, lapping or interlacing them with
thread or small rope made with hemp, flax, or other fit materials, or with brass
or iron wire, in such manner as to prevent their seperating from each other,
so as to cause them to exhibit as nearly as possible a flatt form or flatt
pliable rope. The method to be taken of sewing or stitching these ropes
together may be effected by various ways; but the annexed plans of a machine
for the above purpose will be found useful and expeditious, wherein Figure 1
shews the flatt form or ground plan, Figure 2d a side view, and Fig. 3d a
front view, of this machine. Take six or any other plural number of ropes
S (which should be each of the circumference of about three inches), of a
length and number sufficient for the depth and weight they are intended to
lift, and, with the assistance of a man at the small end of the long lever L,
and the sliding rod m, which commands the instrument o, pierce a round hole
through the middle or center of all the ropes in a sloping direction with an
instrument or needle about five sixteenths of an inch in diameter if you sew
with rope or thread, and if with wire a smaller hole will be sufficient; then
draw back again, by the assistance of the said lever L, the pierceing instrument
o, and immediately draw the small rope, thread, or wire V (which may be cutt
into lengths of eight or ten yards each), tight through the said hole; then,
with the assistance of the lever K and the chain p, p, that works over the
roller a and round the shieve q, draw the ropes the length of half a stitch
through the side rollers f, fff (which are intended to squeese the ropes very
close sidewise together), and the upper and lower rollers g, g, which are
intended to hold the ropes, at even or equal height, and then by the moving of
the lever R another hole will be pierced in the opposite side of the ropes,
through which hole the said small rope, thread, or wire V must be tight.
drawn.. The first pair of rollers f, f, are fixed a little wider than the second
pair, to give a more easy and gradual squeese to the ropes sidewise, observing
that the lever K must again draw up the rope half a stitch further, when the
lever L will again be moved to take another stitch, and so on, until the rope
is finished (as described by r) from one end to the other, taking care to put
a knot upon the small rope, thread, or wire at the ends when you begin.
each length. The instrument which fixes upon the rope by screws is
drawn along by the lever K until it reaches the shieve q, and then it is
unscrewed and moved forward again and fixed near the rollers t, t,. as
often as occasion requires. The rollers t, t, shewn only in Fig. 2, through

page_text: which the rope is drawn after it is sewed or stitched, is intended to flatten the
rope, and prepare it the better for use. The rollers 0, 0, support the small
end of the long levers L and R, and the frame of wood N, N, N, is fixed for
the rollers to move upon. One pair of the side rollers f, f, that squeese the
ropes together as well as the frame in which they are placed, are fixed in the
frame d, and the other pair, with the frame c, c (in which they work), are
moveable, to accommodate ropes of sundry breadths; and the iron h, which is
screw'd at both ends, regulates the moving side rollers and their frame c, c.
The upper and lower squeesing rollers g, 9, as well as the frame b, b, in which
they are placed, require a variety of sizes of them to suit the sundry breadths
of flatt ropes that may be wanted, and require also to be held steady sidewise
by means of the small chain and rectifying screw w, to prevent the rollers
ff, and g, g, from touching each other; and these rectifying screws and chain
w, w, is shewn only on the platt form, Figure 1, as to shew it also on the
end and side view would only serve to confuse the Drawing. The rectifying
screws i, i, and u, u, are to fix the frame which contains the upper and lower
squeesing rollers at proper widths to accommodate ropes of different thick-
nesses. The coller and screw e, which goes round the squeesing frame c, c, is
intended to draw and hold the frame c, c, close together at the point near
where the piercing takes place; and in the part of the frame b, b, over and
beneath where the piercing needle or instrument goes through, a little hollow
must be made, otherwise the hole so pierced will close up before the small
rope, thread, or wire can be got through. 1, 1, 1, 1, are thimbles with recti-
fying screws, which move occasionally to suit the sundry breadths of ropes, and
guide the sliding instruments m and n; and there is a double chain fixed to
the working head of the long levers R and L, one of which chains is to send
the instruments forward, and the other to draw it back again. The small
holes marked on the back frame N are for fixing regulating stops for the
long levers R and L.
Figure 6 shews a contrary view of the sliding instruments m and n, and
also of the aforesaid double chain. By this mode of sewing or stitching,
the thread, small rope, or wire goes through the middle or center of the rope,
and by taking the stitches very short is not much exposed to wear. The
corresponding capital letters in the platt form, side and end view, in the
annexed Plans, will sufficiently shew and explain the mode of fixing up the
wooden frame to which the squeesing rollers and apperatus are annexed..
If the rope is proposed to be sewed or stitched with thread or small rope, it
will be well to have it laid softer than ordinary by the rope makers, and to
fix a needle to the working end of the thread or small rope used for sewing

page_text: to guide it the better and more expeditiously through the hole of the rope
after it is pierced. To lap or interlace a rope (as distinguishable from sewing
or stitching) with thread or small rope, or with. brass or iron wire, may be
done by the hand, without any apperatus, excepting only that it would be
well to draw it through a pair of rollers after the lapping or interlacing is
done,, to flatten it for use.
A view of Figure 4 which shews the platt form, and Figure 5 which shews
an end view, will sufficiently explain the method of thus lapping or inter-
lacing. By this mode the small rope, thread, or wire is exposed upon the
outside of the rope, and of course is more liable to wear, which seems to give
a preference to the former explained method of sewing or stitching.
Having fully explained the nature of the new Invention of manufacturing
a flatt rope, it will be proper to observe, that when it is applied to use, it must
lap upon itself in a nich or groove that must be fixed upon the rope wheel of
the machine which draws the coals or other minerals or water out of the pitts
or mines, and by such application a great advantage will be obtained in the
powers to be applied for lifting the minerals, as a counterbalance will be
thereby procured, which in deep shafts is of considerable importance.
Witness the hand and seal of the said John Curr, this Fourth day of
December, One thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
before-named John Curr, in the
presence of
GEO. PARKER.
JOHN (L.S.) CURR.
Inrolled the Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight.