Specification of the Patent granted to JOSEPH HUddart, of Highbury Terrace, in the Parish of Islington, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire; for sundry new Improvements in the Manufacture of large Cables, and Cordage in general. Dated October 30, 1805.

With a Plate.

To all to whom these presents shall come, &c. NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I the said Joseph Huddart do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, as follows; that is to say: These improvements have for their object the laying of cables and cordage by the machinery exhibited in the annexed drawing, which will be intelligible on inspection by rope-makers, and others conversant in mechanism. Such persons will of course understand which of the wheels are intended to have teeth in them, and will suppose the necessary supports or frame-work for the machinery represented, these being omitted in the

VOL. VIII-SECOND SERIES.

I i

drawing

drawing with a view to the more clear and distinct exhibition of the other parts.

I do not allege that any single thing represented in the drawing above referred to is in itself new, or that the particular combination of any part or parts thereof, with any other part or parts thereof, is new, supposing the same to be separately taken and considered. But what I lay claim to as my invention in these improvements, is the ultimate combination of these several parts, as forming one intire machine, or system of machinery, tending to the laying of cables and cordage in a manner that is to all substantial and essential purposes new.

The following description will assist those who may want instruction beyond what the bare inspection of the drawing above referred to will furnish.

I propose to make use of some parts of the machine described in the specification of a patent, granted to Mr. Edmund Cartwright, about May 15, 1792, under the name of the Cordelier.

In the annexed drawing A, Fig. 1, (Plate X.) is the axis, B the top fixed to it as a gudgeon, with holes therein for the stands to pass through. C and D are circular planes or tables fixed to the axis, and connected together by three or more pillars, which are not expressed in the drawing. EE are two similar jacks, or spole-frames, of which as many are to be used as shall be equal to the number of strands of which the cable is to consist, being most commonly three. Those in the drawing are represented in different positions; by which means the several parts are the more distinctly seen. F is a dead or fixed wheel, within which the the axis re-, volves, and the teeth of which connect with those of GG, which are counter-wheels upon the circular plane or table D, and the said GG connect also with HH the jack or

spole

spole-frame wheels. The above-described parts, although not similar to Mr. Cartwright's construction, are intended to produce the same effect, and therefore may perhaps be considered as part of his invention. The strands I presume to be previously prepared by means of the register which I invented and described in the specification of a patent granted to me in 1793, which I call registering, in order to produce a more equal distribution of the strain upon the yarns, as without such preparation no machinery whatever can in my opinion lay the first strands of cordage so well as by the old or common mode. The strands are to be wound upon the reels RR. Friction blocks or clutches (a) (a), connected with the axis of each reel, are fixed to regulate the tension of the strand on its being drawn from the reel. The friction block or clutch is applicable to many useful purposes invented by me, and described in my inrolled specification, dated about the 28th of July, 1800. From the reel in each spole-frame the strand passes through a guide, to direct it into the plane of the groove of the two whirls b and c, which guide is provided with the friction-roller (n). Those whirls being grooved, and in all respects equal to each other, and having equal motion given to them by the two equal wheels ii, and by the strand winding round them, as represented in the drawing, will deliver equal * quantities in every revolution without slipping, and with-'

out bruising the strands. The counter wheels GG, above mentioned, are to give to the spoles, with the strands, a contrary motion to that of the axis A, and will thereby produce a relative motion between the plane or table C and the spoles; and, in order to regulate the motion of the whirls b and c, I have fixed to the wheels dd, in which the hollow gudgeons of E (the spoles) revolve, and those wheels communicate the motion to the planet

1

wheel ee, and the bevil pinions ff, and the wheels gg, and to the shifting wheels hh, which last may be varied in their dimensions and number of teeth, according to the size of the rope, to regulate the motion of the whirls b and c, which are carried by the shifting wheels, and which two whirls have, as before mentioned, equal motion, by reason of the equal wheels ii upon their shafts; or, instead of the shifting wheels hh being changed, the construction or size of the whirls may be varied according to the size of the rope. By these means, and by having the wheels, whirls, &c. respectively equal and similar in each spole, equal quantities will be delivered in every revolution from each spole. From the whirl c the strand passes in the line of the axis of each spole through the gudgeon, which is perforated as in the pole of a spinning-wheel, and through the wheel k, fixed to the axis A, and also through the perforated top or gudgeon B, where the strands are formed into a rope or cablet.

The application of the whirls 777, which are also carried by the equal wheels www, and a friction-block or clutch (m) upon the axis of one of them, are of peculiar use to regulate the tension upon the rope or cablet. And the shafts of those whirls being by means of the said friction block or clutch connected to a shaft from the power, the tension may be more accurately adjusted than by weights upon the sledge, as in the common mode of laying cordage.

In witness whereof, &c.

Specification