Rope maker

“ The uses that wire ropes are now put to, and the ways and occupations they are employed in, are so various, that it is almost a necessity for a man to be engaged in their manufacture to have a thorough knowledge of the different methods of handling them. For instance, it would be just as consistent to expect a sailor, used only to eye-splicing, to go to a colliery and put a long splice into a rope, to withstand the enormous stress there applied, as it would be to expect a colliery man to go aboard ship to splice the mainbrace, or any other brace. ”

“ When the machine is in operation the whole lower portion, from the tube down, revolves, either to the right or left as the goods require, and thus puts the twist into the rope. This twist being opposite, always, to that of the strands, the natural tendency of the latter as they are laid together would be to loosen up. To regulate this, each flyer is made to revolve on its own axis—in a direction opposite to the general direction of the machine. Each reel revolves also on its axis to feed out the strand—the effect of the changing load being met as before by a friction attachment. ”

“ The native Peruvians were good rope-makers, using a substance known as “totora,” as well as many other materials. The Island tribes of the South Seas, expert in making rope, are favored with some very good materials for its manufacture, obtained from the leaves of various palms and plantains, from the fiber of the cocoanut, etc.
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As, at the present day, the shipping and fishing industries are among the principal users of cordage, so it has been among all tribes and nations from earliest times. ”

“ The mechanism performs its work so accurately that at first glance the man feeding the fiber into the machine and all the other men, busy about their various duties, would appear to be playing very minor parts in modern rope-making. In reality, expert workmanship and watchfulness are very important factors. Good rope depends no more upon scientific machine processes than upon ceaseless attention to the little details. ”

“ The wonder of modernism in rope-making is nowhere more striking than in the preparation room. To pass from one end, where the raw hemp is received just as it left the hands of the native Filipino laborer with his crude methods, down through the long rows of machines to the draw frames from which the sliver is delivered in a form that can be likened to a stream of molten metal, is to cover decades of inventive genius and mechanical development. ”

“ Forming and Laying of Ropes—Factory Method, Single-Machine System Modern rope-making ingenuity reaches its high-water mark in the compound laying-machine where the two operations of forming the strands and laying them into a rope are combined. Up to a certain point this method is more economical than that in which the forming and laying are unconnected as already described. Fewer machines are required for a given output,—hence less floor space and fewer workmen. ”

“ Machine or Factory Rope-Making.—The most modern methods of rope-making are far superior to the foregoing, which, as stated, have been introduced to show the principle. One of the greatest drawbacks in the formation of a strand from a haul or chain, even for a small number of yarns, is the irregularity of the tension of the yarns at different parts of the strand. If a large number of yarns be required for each strand, it would be almost impossible to make a satisfactory rope by the above system. ”

“ In the case of a common right-laid rope, the forming twist is left hand. A change to right hand can be made simply by shifting clutches. The amount of turn or twist depends on the diameter of the drum, which is adjustable.
Behind the machine follows a man who swings out the stakes, placed at intervals along the walk, and throws the strands over them. When the process is completed the strands are cut away at either end and transferred to the laying ground, the stakes being pushed back to allow the return of the forming machine for another trip. ”

“ FITTING THE ROPE TO ITS WORK Of the tricks in making ropes, there is no end. They are fitted for their work like a soldier or a gymnast, and built for it. A tiller rope must be flexible to the last degree, but it must be strong enough so it will stand up under the swift tensions of a storm or in the lightning manœuvers of a race. Therefore, like a few ropes built for other purposes, the composite parts are not mere strands of wire, but little ropes in themselves, complete in all parts. ”

“ This “top” thus placed prevents the strands from twisting, except in the direction of the smaller end; while a man stationed immediately behind, compresses the rope by a simple piece of apparatus, and causes the twist to become hard and firm. The “top” as the rope closes behind it is slowly urged on from one end to the other—if small it is managed by a top-man, but if large it is supported on a carriage, as in the engraving. No difference exists in making a larger or smaller rope, so far as the principle is concerned. ”

“ As already explained, the laying-machine is used in the same way when three ropes are made into a cable. When a four-strand rope is to be turned out the machine89 has four strand-reels. If the strands are to be laid around a heart rope, as in transmission goods, the heart feeds directly into the twist tube from a smaller reel placed on the top-piece previously mentioned.
All the foregoing machines are equipped with ingenious devices for measuring the strand or rope as it is made, so that the attendant can tell instantly from the gauge how many feet have been run. ”

“ From two old tin pails remove the handles and bend the wires around so that a rope may be passed through the eyes at the ends, as shown in Fig. 26. At a hardware store purchase a pair of five-pound sash-weights, and pass the rope ends through the eyes. They should then be spliced or bound with fine line. When the ropes are reeved through the pulleys, a knot should be made in each one, so that it will chock in the top of the pulley and allow the weights to just reach and lightly rest upon the foot-pad. ”

“ It is not as durable as round rope and is heavier for the same working strength. As the sewing wires soon begin to break, a flat rope must usually be ripped apart and resewed every six or eight months. Numerous patent ropes, some having wires and strands of special shapes, have been introduced with the idea of improving the wearing properties. Such, for example, are the Lang-lay, locked-coil and flattened strand rope. Hoisting ropes are weakened by deterioration and breakage of the wires, due to corrosion and, repeated bending, and should be kept under careful inspection. ”

“ So highly perfected is the apparatus that by machine work entirely66 the separate hanks of fiber are combed and elongated into a soft, continuous sliver of any size desired and of convenient length, glossy in appearance, perfectly clean, and with each fiber lying as nearly as possible in the straight position which gives it maximum strength. These operations, in which the entire character of the comparatively short vegetable fiber changes seemingly, are wholly a development of modern rope-making, since in the days of hand spinning no sliver was necessary. ”

“ If the strand be drawn more swiftly through, while the machine is revolving with a given velocity, the intensity or closeness of the twist is diminished, if less swiftly then the twist is increased. Such are some of the beautiful results of machinery.
To twist the strands into a rope is called “laying” a rope. In the laying walk a revolving wheel placed near the end is provided with hooks, whereon the three strands to form the rope are fixed. These hooks are made to rotate by the action of the wheel, its prime mover being horse or steam-power. ”

“ Ropemaking is a trade carried on in many places, but there are few establishments that can equal the Universe Works in Garrison Lane, where, in addition to hundreds of tons of twine and cord, there are manufactured all sorts of wire and hemp ropes for colliery and other purpose^, ocean telegraph cables included. Messrs. Wright introduced steam machinery early in 1853, and in the following year they patented a rope made of best hemp and galvanised wire spun together by machinery. On a test one of these novelties, 4|in. circumference attached to two engines, drew a train of 300 tons weight. ”

“ One type of tackle will give great mechanical advantage, but requires an excessive amount of rope or requires frequent overhauling to complete the job, while another type, [9] using the same equipment, will not give such great mechanical advantage but does not require overhauling so often during the progress of the load.
Rope is coming more and more into favor for the transmission of power—replacing gears and heavy leather belts. It is important that the proper sized sheave wheel be used with a rope of given diameter in order to secure the longest service from the transmission. ”

“ Large ropes are very liable when new to give considerable trouble by their disposition to kink. It is therefore often necessary to take the extra twist out of them by fastening one end high up in a conveniently grown tree, and suspending a spare waggon wheel from the other, as shown in the illustration (p. 791) . The use of tar in the manufacture of rope tends to impair its strength, but adds to its power to resist deteriorating influences. ”

“ The fibre cores, for this reason, are usually treated with some lubricant. In the majority of ropes hemp is used for a core but in those intended for stationary service the core may be of steel. This will add from seven to ten per cent to strength and very largely to rigidity.
When we speak of wire rope most of us have a mental picture of a round fabric, but there are flat ropes as well, for use in mines or quarries where the haul is from great depths and twisting is to be avoided. ”

“ The manufacture of rope is carried on on a very extensive scale. A building 1,360 feet long, contains a rope walk where a length of upwards of 1,200 feet of rope may be made. There are also the means of making 24-inch cables.
Machinery is used for making sheaves for ship blocks. An ingenious machine is employed for boring the sheaf, and recessing it on both sides for receiving the bush. Two lathe headstocks are mounted on a frame, and carry the small revolving cutters for making the recesses. ”

“ Cotton rope is seldom used save for small hand-lines, clothes-lines, twine, etc., while wire rope is largely used nowadays for rigging vessels, derricks, winches, etc., but as splicing wire rope is different from the method employed in fibre rope, and as knots have no place in wire rigging, we will not consider it. ”

“ In this way, the ropes counteract one another in the twist, hanging like a ribbon down the shaft; and are stitched strongly together by a small cord. Such rope bands are not only very pliable for their strength, which protects the heart of the rope from breaking, but as they lap upon themselves, a simple sheave serves as a rope-barrel. They possess the additional advantage, that by so lapping, they enlarge the diameter of the axle in which they coil, and thus make a compensation mechanically against the increasing length of rope descending with its corve. ”

“ I measured them against the length of the rope. There was a desperate coil yet unwound. Moreover, as I grew the more weary, there grew the need of my greater, activity; for there were already signs that the great groaning windlass was casting its rust of ages, and was beginning to turn quicker in its sockets. If it had only stuck—paused one minute in its eternal round, I might have swung, gradually and cautiously, till I could seize with one hand, then another, upon the brick rim that was otherwise beyond my effective reach. ”

“ The apparatus referred to is known as a chain hoist. These are built to use chain instead of rope and are designed to operate slowly, but with great mechanical advantage. Different types embody different design of movements, some being merely a train of gears attached to a sheave wheel and driven by a worm gear. Others employ the differential principle in which the hoisting chain is double, one end running over a small pulley and the other end running in the opposite direction over a larger pulley on the same shaft. ”

“ Each group revolves as the yarns are drawn off the bobbins, and thus the threads are formed into three strands. As the strands emerge from the guides, they converge towards three other guides, are laid together, and finally the finished rope is wound on to the reel.
In principle the vertical machine is the same as the horizontal machine, and the rope is, consequently, made in one operation. Any number of bobbins, from 24 to 128, may be twisted at the same time; the machine in fig. 18, Plate IV., is for making a rope of three strands, each with 12 threads, or 36 threads in all. ”

“ Hemp yarns, especially the finer kinds, are sometimes treated in the same manner, but Manila hemp, New Zealand hemp (Phormium) , and similar fibres, are invariably spun on bobbins by special machinery. The strands for light ropes may then be made on the twisting frames, and the rope finished on what is called a “house machine.” When a large rope is desired, at slightly different method is usually employed. ”

“ This length of rope I threw over the beam of the beam-engine in the bite where it sustains the rod, and paid one end down the shaft, till both were at the bottom: in this way I could come up, by tying one rope-end to the rope-ladder, hoisting it, fastening the other end below, and climbing the ladder; and I then set to work to light the pit-mouth engine-fire to effect my descent. This done, I started the engine, and brought up the cage from the bottom, the 300 yards of wire-rope winding with a quaint deliberateness round the drum, reminding me of a camel's nonchalant leisurely obedience. ”