|
Description: |
| Most of the patents prior to 1836 were lost in the Dec. 1836 fire. Only about 2,000 of the almost 10,000 documents were recovered. This patent was found in the Treadwell Papers located in the Harvard University archives.
Description:
For a new Machine to be used in Rope Making, and which is denominated an Iron Tail; Daniel Treadwell, Boston, Massachusetts, February 5.
In the business of rope making, what are called rope tails are used for the purpose of holding back the top, so that the proper quantity of turn may be given to the lay. In the instrument before us, the strands to be laid are pressed upon by iron bolts, which move in suitable slides upon a flat disk, so that their ends are directed towards the centre of the disk, through which the strands are to pass. The bolts have grooves, or hollows, on their ends, to embrace the strands with sufficient force, which force is regulated by screws, fixed upon bow springs, and bearing against the outer ends of the bolts.
The patentee observes, that various modifications may be made in the different parts of the machine, or instrument; but declares the character of this invention to be comprised in the construction and use of rubbers formed of some solid body, by which they are capable of preserving their own figure, and of constraining the rope over which they pass, to assume the figure defined by them.
Journal of the Franklin Institute, Sept. 1834, pg. 183
The last operation in rope-making is the twisting and combining of the yarns into a large cord. It is necessary that the yarns should be laid side by side, and twisted together in a regular spiral. This is effected by a conical piece of wood called a top; it has equidistant grooves along its sides, into which the yarns are laid, and by which they are directed as they come together at the smaller end of the top. To hold back the top and increase the hardness of the rope, two or more cords or " tails" are attached to its sides, which the workman grasps, and, by winding them around the rope already made, regulates by their friction the hardness of the twist given it by the twisting-wheel. The success of the lay, its evenness and firmness, depend upon the judgment of the workman. For improving this process, Mr. Treadwell invented the instrument which he calls an "Iron-tail," the character of the invention being comprised in the construction and use of rubbers formed of some solid body, by which they are capable of preserving their own figure, and of constraining the rope over which they pass to assume the figure defined by them. Combined with the top, it is intended to hold it back in a more equable manner than the rope-tails, and thereby give a more equable hardness to the rope.
The figure represents a tail to make a four-stranded rope. A A is a disk of wood or iron, having through it the hole or opening B B. c c are four blocks screwed
upon the face of the disk A A. D D are four solid cylinders, or rubbers, which pass from the centre to the circumference of the disk, each having on its inner end a ridge to fit the crease between the strands. F F are springs, which, with the thumb-nuts G G, press the rubbers against the strands at E E. n H are holes in the disk, through which pass rods or ropes to keep the tail at a proper distance from the top. To use the instrument, the strands of which the rope is to be made are passed through the disk between the rubbers; if the top is then put in place, and secured at the right distance from the tail, which is so held that it cannot turn round with the rope, it will lay the strands even and smooth one upon another, without starting the tar.
In 1831, after Mr. Treadwell had observed the working of his machines for six months he declared, in answer to the inquiries of one of the Commissioners of the Navy, Commodore Charles Morris, that the same amount of cordage from the same material which by hand-spinning would cost $30 a ton could be made for $15.62 a ton. "After a full consideration of these subjects, I have concluded that I will furnish any number of Gypseys, from fifty to one hundred, with all the roving and preparing machines, at $1,000 for each Gypsey." It was also shown that the rope produced is of a better quality, and stronger, than that made from hand-spun yarns. Inasmuch as no spinning grounds will be required, the cost of buildings will be much less; and, again, the work can be carried on at all seasons, which is not possible with hand-spinning. The offer to furnish the machines for the Charlestown Navy Yard was accepted. In 1832, a factory was also established by Mr. Treadwell on the Mill-dam, in Boston, capable of manufacturing nearly 1,000 tons annually.
Previously to this, a joint stock company was formed, under the name of the Spinning Company, by Francis C. Gray, Horace Gray, and Daniel Treadwell. This continued until 1833, when another and larger company was organized, the Boston Hemp Manufacturing Company, which carried on the work of making cordage until 1858, about thirty years.
During the whole period of the early manufacture of rope by this machinery, Mr. Treadwell had met with determined opposition from the trade of rope-makers, and was often insulted, and threatened with violence. After it was learned that an offer had been made to the Government to furnish machines, and that rope was in process of manufacture with them by the Government, the opposition took a different and more organized form. The rope-makers outside of the Government works were strenuous opponents of machinery, and had been zealous in promoting the designs of some rope-makers from New York and elsewhere in getting up a remonstrance to Congress against machine-spinning.* There were then eighty machines at work at the Charlestown Navy Yard.
Memoir of Daniel Treadwell, 1888, pgs. 375-377 |
|
){kind=link}
){kind=link}