METHOD OF LAYING AND TWISTING THE YARNS THAT COMPOSE A ROPE, BY WHICH METHOD THE YARNS OF A ROPE HAVE A BETTER AND MORE EQUAL BEARING THAN THEY HAVE IN A ROPE HADE IN THE COMMON WAY
Year: 1806

page_text: CURR'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL 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 Britain, dated at.
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of August last past, given and granted
unto JOHN CURB, of Belle Vue House, in the Parish of Sheffield, in the
County of York, Gentleman, His Royal licence, power, and authority for
the sole making, using, exercising, and vending, for the term of fourteen years,
a certain Invention of the said John Curr, of a "METHOD OF LAYING AND
TWISTING THE YARNS THAT COMPOSE A ROPE, BY WHICH METHOD THE YARNS OF A
ROPE HAVE A BETTER AND MORE EQUAL BEARING THAN THEY HAVE IN A ROPE HADE
IN THE COMMON WAY;" in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that if the said John Curr shall not particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, 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, 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
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and manner in which the same is
to be performed, used, and exercised, as follows, that is to say :—

page_text: In order to give a better and more equal bearing to the yarns of which a
rope is composed than they have in a rope made in the common way, my
method is, to take only a part of the yarns of which the strands of a rope are
intended to be composed, and to twist them with a certain degree of hardness
into the cores of strands, and upon these said cores of strands to twist or lay
the remainder of the yarns of which the strands are intended to be composed,
and then to twist the strands to the usual degree of hardness, and form the
said strands into a rope. The method of performing this operation so as to
give a bearing to the yarns may be varied, but the following will be found
simple and commodious :-I take one third of the number of yarns (more or
less, at discretion) that the strands of a rope are intended to be composed of to
form the cores of the strands, and fix or attach them upon the hooks or
spindles of the wheels or engines used for making ropes, and twist them into
the separate cores of strands to such a degree of hardness that they are
somewhat shorter than the yarns when laying in a straight line. I then fix
the instrument Fig. 1 upon the said cores within a short distance of the wheel
or engine at the bottom end of the ropery, and take the remainder of the
yarns that are intended to be twisted or laid upon the said cores to form the
strand, and fix or attach one end of the said yarns upon six immoveable hooks
or eyes, more or less, two of which hooks or eyes may be fixed one on each side
of each spindle of the wheel or engine for making or laying ropes used at tho
top end of the ropery, which being done, and each yarn being drawn equally as
tight as the cores, by one, two, or more at a time, and being put in or passed
thro' the holes of the instrument b, b, b, b, &c., so as not to entangle the yarn
or yarns of one hole with the yarn or yarns of another; and being fixed or
attached to the corresponding spindles of the wheel or engine used at the
bottom end of the ropery, to which the respective cores belonging to each
particular yarn are attached, and the spindles of the wheel or engine at tho
bottom end of the ropery being turned round, and the said instrument being
at the same time moved or conveyed along the cores of the strands to the
wheel or engine at the top end of the ropery, the yarns will be laid and
twisted in a regular manner round the cores, and the strands will be formed,
which may then bo twisted up to the usual hardness, and laid into a rope. If it
should be found, in twisting the yarns upon the cores, that any of the cores are
either tighter or slacker than the yarns, the said spindles of the wheel or
engine at the top end of the ropery, to which the cores are respectively attached,
may be turned round, so as either to lengthen or shorten the said cores or any
of them, and thereby make them of an equal length and stretch with the
yarns. In order to prevent the yarus from being entangled or entwined with

page_text: the cores during the operation of twisting, it will be proper to let the yarns
rest upon the stake-heads generally used in a ropery, and to let the cores rest in
grooves or notches to be cut in the top of the pins commonly fixed in tho said
stake-heads. In forming the strands of a rope, my Invention does not require
that the strands shall be made at two operations only, but may in making a
large rope be done at three or more operations, at discretion, in which case it
will be proper to take a less proportion of the yarns than one third thus to
form the core.
The instrument Fig. 1 is so constructed that the circles c, c, c, are each
divided diametrically into two parts, for the convenience of fixing the instru-
ment upon the cores, which may be made of wood, iron, or other fit material.
d, d, shew two small ropes or cords, which are intended to drag the instrument
along the cores.
Fig. 2 is a detached edge view of one of the circles.