Manufacture of Ropes.Hemp is a plant belonging to the same species as the moss and nettle, and the quantity used in Great Britain is prodigious. Latterly a large quantity has been grown in Ireland, and one of the chief objects of the Irish Industrial Exhibition of last year was to promote the indigenous growth of Flax and Hemp. An acre of land in Ireland produces on an average thirty-six or thirty-eight stone of hemp, and the season for sowing it extends from the 25th of March, to the 15th of June.What the muscles and sinews are to the human frame, and what wings are to birds, ropes and sails are to ships. Their manufacture is at all times of the greatest consequence to our country, and the celerity with which they can be produced, is one of the wonders of this mechanical age.The materiel for a great deal of our cordage comes from Russia, and more than a million of pounds, of which sixty-three make a ton, are annually imported to this country; their value is estimated at something more than half-a-million sterling. It comes over in large bundles weighing nearly a ton each, which are separated into heads or layers, each containing twelve or fourteen pounds of hemp.The qualities of good hemp are a long, fine, and thin fibre, free from woody particles, and possessed of strength and toughness. The first process it undergoes is that called heckling. This is performed in the following manner:—On the surface of a small bench before him, each heckeller has before him a stand on which are situated, point upwards, a number of sharp steel spikes, sixty or seventy in number—these constitute what is technically called the “heckle.” The workman then taking a head or layer of the hemp in his hand, strikes it on the points of the heckle and draws it between the spikes, repeating the operation several times with each head, by which the fibres are straightened, and the thicker ones split by the sharp points of the wires, and all the loose fragments are loosened and fall to the ground.The fibres now drawn out into long parallel threads, have to undergo the process of twisting. The fibre has to be twisted into yarn, the yarns into rope. A rope consists of several parts, and in most cases, is a twisting within a twisting,being built up by threes. In the subjoined figure we have a ship’s rope or cable. A. B. B. B. shows the three smaller ropes which forms it. C. the three ropes called strands, and dissecting one of these, D. we find it to be composed of a number of threads called yarns, and if we untwist one of the yarns, we arrive finally at the hempen-fibres themselves.Figure showing a cableThe first stage, therefore, of making hemp into rope, is spinning it into yarn, and this brings us at once to what istechnically called the “rope-walk,” a long narrow space of ground, at one end of which is a wheel, three or four feet in diameter, round which a band passes in such a manner as to give rotation to a small number of hooks or whirls disposed round a semicircular frame above the wheel. Each spinner has a bundle of hemp round his waist, the double or bight being in front and the ends crossing each other behind. With his left hand he draws out a few fibres and fastens them on one of the hooks with his right, which holds a piece of thick woollen cloth—he grasps these fibres, a boy then turns the wheel and the spinner walks backwards—the man draws out more and more fibres from his bundle as he recedes, and the twist which is given to them by the rotation of the hooks on the wheel makes each length of fibre entangle itself among those previously drawn out; while the pressure of the right hand regulates the hardness or closeness of the twist. The spinner, by his long practice and skill, is enabled to make any description of yarn, either fine or coarse, by the manner in which he supplies the hemp to the revolving wheel, and can produce with the greatest nicety, any given length of yarn from a given weight of hemp. Each spinner can make about a thousand feet of yarn in about twelve minutes.Hemp SpinningThis process is in many manufactories performed by machinery, but the hand-made yarn is decidedly the best. When a spinning walk is in full operation, there are twelve spinners at different parts of its length, in three groups, each group being distant three or four hundred feet from the next adjoining, and all the twelve hooks or whirls of the wheel being engaged at once. As the yarns are twisted, they arewound in large bundles upon reels, each reel containing about two-hundred-and-fifty rounds of yarn.If the hemp should be used for the manufacture of tarred rope—the yarn is now tarred—the reels of yarn are first warped into a haul, that is, the yarns are unwound from the reel and stretched out straight and parallel, and assembled together in a large group, called “a haul,” consisting of between three and four hundred yarns, each a hundred feet long. The haul is dipped into a copper of hot tar, and, being dragged through a grip or gauge, the superfluous tar is squeezed out; by the aid of a capstan the haul is gradually drawn forward until the whole has passed through the tar kettle.The next process in the formation of a rope is the making of the strand. This may be composed of any number of yarns—in a cable twelve inches in circumference there are eighty yarns in a strand, and in the very largest rope cables three hundred and sixty; however, few if any ropes are now made of the last dimensions, as chain cables have superseded hempen cables of large size; the latter being, in the present day, seldom more than twelve inches in circumference, except for Her Majesty’s navy.The making of the strand of a rope is now performed by machinery. A frame consisting of a great variety of bobbins, each loaded with yarn and posted upon a pivot so as to rotate easily, occupies one end of the factory; the ends of all these yarns, from twenty to eighty, are made to pass through an equal number of small holes in a convex plate attached to the central machine, and then combined into one close group. This group next passes through a tube, whosediameter is such as to compress the yarns into close contact, and lastly is wound on a large reel attached to the machine. Meanwhile the twist is given to the strand by a remarkable arrangement—the whole of the machinery from the tube to the reel rotates round a horizontal axis, and in so doing imparts a twist to the strand, which is passing round the various wheels. The different arrangements are very beautiful. In the first place each bobbin rotating separately on its axle, gives off just as much yarn as the strand requires, so that all become equally strained by the outer yarns being somewhat longer than the inner. Then the arrangement of the holes in the plate and of the tube bring all the yarns to their proper position in the strand, and lastly by changing the wheels in the machine, the strand becomes more or less hard by twisting at a more or less acute angle. 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. At the other end of the walk all the strands are fixed to one hook, which revolves in an opposite direction to the others. To equalize the hardness of the twist or lay, a conical or rather bee-hived piece of wood called a “top” is inserted between the three strands—groves being cut in the surface of the “top” fortheir reception. 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. The three strands are twisted round each other in the same manner by an apparatus more or less powerful according to the size of the rope.TwistingFrom three such ropes as these a cable is formed in precisely the same manner, the three being fixed to three revolving hooks at one end, and one at the other, and a travelling top being used to regulate and harden the twist. In the twisting process it is natural that the rope should gradually shorten as it is formed; provision is made for thisshortening in the arrangement of the apparatus. The wheels to which the three strands are fixed on three separate hooks is a fixture at one end of the walk, but the other ends of the strands are fastened to a moveable sledge, which is so weighted as to travel gradually up the walk just as fast as the rope diminishes in length.Home spinning
Hemp is a plant belonging to the same species as the moss and nettle, and the quantity used in Great Britain is prodigious. Latterly a large quantity has been grown in Ireland, and one of the chief objects of the Irish Industrial Exhibition of last year was to promote the indigenous growth of Flax and Hemp. An acre of land in Ireland produces on an average thirty-six or thirty-eight stone of hemp, and the season for sowing it extends from the 25th of March, to the 15th of June.
What the muscles and sinews are to the human frame, and what wings are to birds, ropes and sails are to ships. Their manufacture is at all times of the greatest consequence to our country, and the celerity with which they can be produced, is one of the wonders of this mechanical age.
The materiel for a great deal of our cordage comes from Russia, and more than a million of pounds, of which sixty-three make a ton, are annually imported to this country; their value is estimated at something more than half-a-million sterling. It comes over in large bundles weighing nearly a ton each, which are separated into heads or layers, each containing twelve or fourteen pounds of hemp.
The qualities of good hemp are a long, fine, and thin fibre, free from woody particles, and possessed of strength and toughness. The first process it undergoes is that called heckling. This is performed in the following manner:—On the surface of a small bench before him, each heckeller has before him a stand on which are situated, point upwards, a number of sharp steel spikes, sixty or seventy in number—these constitute what is technically called the “heckle.” The workman then taking a head or layer of the hemp in his hand, strikes it on the points of the heckle and draws it between the spikes, repeating the operation several times with each head, by which the fibres are straightened, and the thicker ones split by the sharp points of the wires, and all the loose fragments are loosened and fall to the ground.
The fibres now drawn out into long parallel threads, have to undergo the process of twisting. The fibre has to be twisted into yarn, the yarns into rope. A rope consists of several parts, and in most cases, is a twisting within a twisting,being built up by threes. In the subjoined figure we have a ship’s rope or cable. A. B. B. B. shows the three smaller ropes which forms it. C. the three ropes called strands, and dissecting one of these, D. we find it to be composed of a number of threads called yarns, and if we untwist one of the yarns, we arrive finally at the hempen-fibres themselves.
Figure showing a cable
The first stage, therefore, of making hemp into rope, is spinning it into yarn, and this brings us at once to what istechnically called the “rope-walk,” a long narrow space of ground, at one end of which is a wheel, three or four feet in diameter, round which a band passes in such a manner as to give rotation to a small number of hooks or whirls disposed round a semicircular frame above the wheel. Each spinner has a bundle of hemp round his waist, the double or bight being in front and the ends crossing each other behind. With his left hand he draws out a few fibres and fastens them on one of the hooks with his right, which holds a piece of thick woollen cloth—he grasps these fibres, a boy then turns the wheel and the spinner walks backwards—the man draws out more and more fibres from his bundle as he recedes, and the twist which is given to them by the rotation of the hooks on the wheel makes each length of fibre entangle itself among those previously drawn out; while the pressure of the right hand regulates the hardness or closeness of the twist. The spinner, by his long practice and skill, is enabled to make any description of yarn, either fine or coarse, by the manner in which he supplies the hemp to the revolving wheel, and can produce with the greatest nicety, any given length of yarn from a given weight of hemp. Each spinner can make about a thousand feet of yarn in about twelve minutes.
Hemp Spinning
This process is in many manufactories performed by machinery, but the hand-made yarn is decidedly the best. When a spinning walk is in full operation, there are twelve spinners at different parts of its length, in three groups, each group being distant three or four hundred feet from the next adjoining, and all the twelve hooks or whirls of the wheel being engaged at once. As the yarns are twisted, they arewound in large bundles upon reels, each reel containing about two-hundred-and-fifty rounds of yarn.
If the hemp should be used for the manufacture of tarred rope—the yarn is now tarred—the reels of yarn are first warped into a haul, that is, the yarns are unwound from the reel and stretched out straight and parallel, and assembled together in a large group, called “a haul,” consisting of between three and four hundred yarns, each a hundred feet long. The haul is dipped into a copper of hot tar, and, being dragged through a grip or gauge, the superfluous tar is squeezed out; by the aid of a capstan the haul is gradually drawn forward until the whole has passed through the tar kettle.
The next process in the formation of a rope is the making of the strand. This may be composed of any number of yarns—in a cable twelve inches in circumference there are eighty yarns in a strand, and in the very largest rope cables three hundred and sixty; however, few if any ropes are now made of the last dimensions, as chain cables have superseded hempen cables of large size; the latter being, in the present day, seldom more than twelve inches in circumference, except for Her Majesty’s navy.
The making of the strand of a rope is now performed by machinery. A frame consisting of a great variety of bobbins, each loaded with yarn and posted upon a pivot so as to rotate easily, occupies one end of the factory; the ends of all these yarns, from twenty to eighty, are made to pass through an equal number of small holes in a convex plate attached to the central machine, and then combined into one close group. This group next passes through a tube, whosediameter is such as to compress the yarns into close contact, and lastly is wound on a large reel attached to the machine. Meanwhile the twist is given to the strand by a remarkable arrangement—the whole of the machinery from the tube to the reel rotates round a horizontal axis, and in so doing imparts a twist to the strand, which is passing round the various wheels. The different arrangements are very beautiful. In the first place each bobbin rotating separately on its axle, gives off just as much yarn as the strand requires, so that all become equally strained by the outer yarns being somewhat longer than the inner. Then the arrangement of the holes in the plate and of the tube bring all the yarns to their proper position in the strand, and lastly by changing the wheels in the machine, the strand becomes more or less hard by twisting at a more or less acute angle. 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. At the other end of the walk all the strands are fixed to one hook, which revolves in an opposite direction to the others. To equalize the hardness of the twist or lay, a conical or rather bee-hived piece of wood called a “top” is inserted between the three strands—groves being cut in the surface of the “top” fortheir reception. 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. The three strands are twisted round each other in the same manner by an apparatus more or less powerful according to the size of the rope.
Twisting
From three such ropes as these a cable is formed in precisely the same manner, the three being fixed to three revolving hooks at one end, and one at the other, and a travelling top being used to regulate and harden the twist. In the twisting process it is natural that the rope should gradually shorten as it is formed; provision is made for thisshortening in the arrangement of the apparatus. The wheels to which the three strands are fixed on three separate hooks is a fixture at one end of the walk, but the other ends of the strands are fastened to a moveable sledge, which is so weighted as to travel gradually up the walk just as fast as the rope diminishes in length.
Home spinning