THE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN SUBSTANCES, EITHER SEPARATELY OR COMBINED, AS A PRESERVATIVE FOR CORDAGE, WHICH SUBSTANCES BEING INSOLUBLE IN WATER, OR VERY IMPERFECTLY SO, WILL, WHEN USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CORDAGE, BE THE MEANS OF MAKING IT MORE DURABLE THAN IT HATH HITHERTO BEEN, PARTICULARLY WHEN EXPOSED TO THE WEATHER OR IMMERSED IN WATER
Year: 1801

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHAPMAN, of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gentleman, send
.greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His most
gracious Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Fifth day of June, in the forty-first year of His reign,
did give and grant unto me, the said William Chapman, His especial license
that I, the said William Chapman, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Chapman, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times 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 in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plan-
tations abroad, my Invention of "THE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN SUBSTANCES,
EITHER SEPARATELY OR COMBINED, AS A PRESERVATIVE FOR CORDAGE, WHICH
SUBSTANCES BEING INSOLUBLE IN WATER, OR VERY IMPERFECTLY SO, WILL, WHEN
USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CORDAGE, BE THE MEANS OF MAKING IT MORE
DURABLE THAN IT HATH HITHERTO BEEN, PARTICULARLY WHEN EXPOSED TO THE
WEATHER OR IMMERSED IN WATER;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso, obliging me, the said William Chapman, by an instrument
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to

page_text: 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
recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that the principal substance, of those which I have
invented, the application of to cordage is any resinous matter whatever,
deprived of its mucilage and superabundant, acid either wholly or in part;
and as the cheapest of all the resinous matters is tar, I shall explain the appli-
cation of them by having reference to it :-
Tar, whether in its original or in its more inspissated state, in which it is applied
to cordage (by the white yarns being passed through it and the superfluous
quantity expressed), contains a considerable portion of mucilage, which causes
the tar with which the ropes are impregnated to be dissolved in that fluid,
against which it is intended to preserve them. Tar also contains a considerable
portion of acid, easily separable from it, which redundant acid injures the
strength of the yarn. Both these inconveniences may be very much, if not
wholly done away, by the use of tar or pitch deprived of their mucilage
and superabundant acid, which may either be done purposely by the rope
manufacturer, by methods easily practicable, for its component parts may be
purchased of the distillers of tar, viz, in essential oil of tar and in pitch, fa'düe
Combination of which will form a substance similar to the tar used 'in the
manufacture of ropes as to inspissation or approach to the state of pitch. This
substance may, when the yarns are passed through it, either be cold or infa
moderately warm state, or of any degree of heat, at the will of the operátor.
A great degree of heat is however to be avoided, botli as unnecessarily wasting
a quantity of essential oil, 'and inducing such degree of injury to the yarn'as
arises from its exposure to great heat. If the 'described "résinous matter
be used either cold or of a moderate heat, it will be adviseable to deprive the
yarn of moisture, and give it a degree of heat previously to its entering into
the resinous substance designed to impregnate and coat it, viz, by laying
the yarn upon the floor of a kiln, or by any means to produce the desired
effect. The essential oil of 'tar, which may be used to the greatest advantage
in mixing with the pitch, is that of the first distillation, sometimes called
brown spirit or brown oil, of which about five or six gallons will be required
to the hundred-weight of pitch; also the residuum of the second or subsequent
distillations will answer, combined with a small quantity of depurated pitch.
The cause of this pitch, made by the distillers, being in a great degree 'depurated
from the mucilage and from the superabundant acid of tar is, that in its
distillation it is mixed with water, which in 'the act of ébullition separātēs

page_text: much of the mucilage and acid from the pure resinous matter, and during its
distillation the essential oil and an acid spirit are thrown off together.
I shall now, advert to various measures which may be used by the rope
manufacturer, viz. He may pursue the processes of the tar distillers and
the methods before described; or he may wash the tar, by agitation of it for a
due continuance, in cold, warm, or hot water; or he may boil it with water,
(which in the act of ebullition will agitate and wash the tar); and after it has
parted with a sufficient portion of its essential oil, he may separate it from the
water, and afterwards pass his yarns through it in such a degree of temperature
as he may see expedient; or, he may combine any of the methods, herein
mentioned; and if he chuses to save that portion of essential oil which is
necessarily thrown off in inspissating the tar, he has only to clap upon his
kettle the head of a still with its apparatus. The greater proportion of water
the tar is boiled with, and the greater number of times the water is drawn off
from it and renewed, the more perfectly it will be cleansed of its mucilage
and acid; two or three times the quantity of water as of the tar will answer
After it has boiled for some time, which ought not to exceed, but
very well.
rather be short of, the period in which the tar will become of sufficient in:
spissation for use (which will depend on the quickness of the boiling, and must
be regulated by the opinion of the manufacturer), the fire may then be slackene!!
or put out, and the water and tarr may be suffered to separate in the kettle, or
they may be drawn off into a vessel for that purpose; the tar will quickly subside,
and leave above it a yellowish brown water, of an acid, empyreumatic taste,
charged with the mucilage, and having an oily scum on its surface. The
vessel, into which the tar and water are drawn, ought to be of a conical shape,
with its narrow end downwards, at the bottom of which should be a cock, and
another about a foot higher; through the lowest of the cocks the tar should
be drawn off whilst yet warm, and through the other (or by any cock above it)
the acidulous mucilaginous water may be let off. The tar thus purified should,
after pouring off any water which may have risen to its surface, be put into
the tarring kettle, and after boiling a little time it will throw off any water
which may remain mixed with it; for which cause it was that I have
recommended the previous washing and boiling to stop short of the
period of due inspissation of the tar. If the process chance to have been
continued too long, the due addition of essential oil of tar will effect a remedy.
The above operation of once boiling. will improve the tar greatly and extract
most of the acid; but if the mucilaginous acid water be drawn off, and a
fresh quantity of water be added, and a second boiling take place, the
resinous matter will become more pure, and although quickly, separating

page_text: from the water, it may part of it float in one or more masses, and in
this case will require more attention in drawing it off from the separating
vessel, or further delay, until the whole of the tar have subsided. Tarred
corlage, when old or kept in a hot climate, becomes rigid, from the flying off
of the essential oil of the tar, which will still more rapidly take place when
used in the depurated state I have mentioned. To remedy this inconvenience
in cordage, and consequently make it more durable, as well as more pliable and
useful, the expressed oils of vegetables or animal oils or fats may be added to
the more or less inspissated tar, whether it be or be not deprived of its
mucilage; and to render their application more perfect, the oils may be
cleansed of their mucilage by processes similar to those described for cleansing
the tar; whale oil, rape oil, and linseed oil, are, from their cheapness and
abundance, the most eligible of the oils. A small proportion of them, at the
will of the manufacturer, may be used, according to the ductility wanted, or to
the heat of the climate. Suppose the quantity wanted for the particular
purpose to be one-fortieth, the tar ought then to be a little more inspissated
than if the oil were not used. The oil (of which I prefer that of animals) may
be mixed and incorporated with it during any time of its boiling or simmering.
This lubricating compound of resinous matter and oils is particularly useful in
the manufacture of twice-laid cordage, which from the rigidity of the yarns can
seldom be so far compacted in the strands as to keep out water, and therefore
soon decays. By the proper use of the aforesaid compound, twice-laid tarred
cordage will in all cases be very much improved, and if proper care be taken
in the selection of the yarns will be nearly as good as new roap. The methods
which I deem most eligible are, either to apply to the yarns a thin solution of
depurated tar and oil laid on with a brush after the usual manner or in any
other way, or to pass the yarns drawn from old cordage through a second
process of tarring, and expressing the superfluous quantity by nippers,
attending also to the peculiarity of the circumstance of the yarns about to be
used, which having lost much of the essential oil of the tar formerly applied,
will so far require a thinner solution of the substance afore-mentioned than is
eligible to be used in the first process. The residuum of the second distillation
of the tar oil distillers, or brown oil of tar, may more or less in quantity be
added to the afore-described purified tar, according to its degree of inspissation,
and if the yarns be drawn from cordage tarred in the common way it will be
adviseable to use a larger proportion of animal or vegetable oils than for new
cordage. If, in place of inspissating the tar, for any of the uses before mentioned,
recourse be had to the pitch and essential oil of the tar distillers, the essential
oil ought not to be mixed with the pitch, or pitch and oil, until the latter be

page_text: melted and brought to such a degree of coolness as is consistent with it's
-proper fluidity, at which time the essential oil may be progressively added and
stirred up with it, without which precaution much of the essential oil will be
wasted; the animal or vegetable oils may then be added, if not done before.
As to the consistency either of the pitch and essential oil or of their mixture
with animal or vegetable oils, it must be judged of and determined by the
opinion of the manufacturer, which he may readily form by taking a small
quantity out of the kettle and letting it cool. The using of animal fat, suet,
or tallow as a constituent part of the substance for preserving cordage is
similar in its process to that before described; the quantity of it must depend
on the degree of inspissation of the tar; it may, in my opinion, be advan
tageously used to one-tenth of the whole, and considerably higher, were it not for
the comparative dearness of it, from wliich cause it may be eligible to reduce
its quantity to a thirtieth or fortieth part. One advantage, no further noticed
than by implication, attendant on my method of using oily or greasy substances,
is, that the ropes will be limber and pliable in all climates, which every seaman
knows is of the utmost consequence in the working of a ship, as well as in
addition to the durability of the rope. For cold climates I would recommend
whale oil, and for hot climates suet or tallow, which should not be rancid, as
there is then a disengaged acid, for which cause fresh suet is in general
preferable to tallow. For the preservation of the bolt ropes of sails, or of
any other cordage in which it may be deemed expedient to incur the
charge, I make use of drying oils, brought to any degree of inspissation
or of heat, according to the opinion of the manufacturer, (who must be
careful to stop short of that degree of heat in which they will inflame):
The ropes or their separate strands may be passed through any of these oils,
or the yarns themselves may be passed through, and the superfluous oil
expressed by nippers, as in the process of tarring resinous matter; essential oil,
or any other ingredient may be used with the drying oil according to the
views of the 'manufacturer.
My Invention also goes to the carrying forward the before-recited im-
provement of the rope immediately previous to or during the putting
of its strands together. In the usual method, the top (an instrument.
which separates the strands until the instant of their combining into a rope)
is made to slide uniformly and without jerks, by previously rubbing a piece
of tallow along each of the strands. Now, in place of the tallow I make use
of any of the following compositions, viz, tallow mixed with a due quantity of
resin or of depurated pitch, the former of which is only preferable on account
of its brighter colour, and as the process is the same in both, I shall in explain-

page_text: ing it speak of the former. The two ingredients of resin and tallow should be
melted together and run into a cask, from which, if the resin be not super-
abundant, the substance thus.formed may be cut out like tallow, applied in a
similar manner, by a piece being rubbed along the strands. A mixture of two
parts tallow and one of resin is nearly as slippery as tallow, and in warm
weather particularly a larger proportion of resin may be used, which will
make the coating of the rope more durable. In place of either pitch or resin,
the partly inspissated tar, either.purified or not, but the former is preferable,
may be used mixed with tallow. Also the inspissated tar or resin or pitch,
mixed with animal or expressed oils, laid on the strands with the hollow of the
hand, or with a brush, will answer the end. And both as to duration and
colour, with an attention likewise to cheapness, a useful compound may be
made by the addition of a sufficient quantity of brown oil of tar to a due
proportion of resin and boiled linseed oil, or any other drying oil prepared with
litharge or otherwise. The following proportion will answer the end, viz³,
resin, four parts; boiled linseed oil, four parts; and brown oil of tar, three parts;
the result will be that they will coat the roap with what will shortly become
a dry and moderately elastic varnish. With this coating, and all of them
except that containing tallow, it will be adviseable to let the ropes lie on the
štake head posts until a due desiccation take place.
I do not confine myself to any of the before-mentioned proportions as they
may be varied according to the opinion of the manufacturer, to the climate, and the
use the rope is designed for, and to the degree of economy which may be expe-
dient. Resinous substances depurated or otherwise may be mixed with any
others capable of answering the purposes described, but as those I have
mentioned are comparatively both cheap and abundant it appears unnecessary
to enlarge further.
In witness whereof, I the said William Chapman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of June, in the forty-first year of the
reign of His said Majesty King George the Third, and in the year of
our. Lord One thousand eight hundred and one.
WILL (L.S.) CHAPMAN.
Sealed and delivered, being first duly stamped

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Thirtieth day of June,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Chapman came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And
also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Thirtieth day of June, in the year above written.