On the Art of Rope-making.

Manawatu Herald, 1 December 1896, Page 3

On the Art of Rope-making.

(Continued.) IBS VARIOUS PBOO£SSES BATCHING. Let us now follow in a steam factory some Manila hemp from the bale to the finished coil of rope. To make this purpose all the more easy, j it would be well to bear in mind the several processes. These are, batch* ing, preparing/ spinning, forming, j and laying, and in a subsidiary way warping and tarring. Ist, Ba'ching —The hemp arrives in well-pressed bales ; the rattans and matting round the bale are quickly got rid of, the open bale usually presenting itself in regular layers of hanks. The operative seizes one of these hanks, untwists it, freeing the fibre to its full length. The hemp is then spread on the floor, or in a special bin, the space occupied being usually about 8 feet x 4 feet. As the hemp is being piled up in a criss-cross way, there i§ sprinkled over it an emulsion of oil, and it is thereafter left in the batch for some hourg. It is important to note that the hemp must be properly lubricated, so that the fibres will submit freely to the hackling operations that are to follow. PREPARING. Having determined what size of yarn is to be spun — and this requires i an accurate knowledge of the ma ! ohinery, and involves numerous cal» onlations — the hemp from the batch !b passed through the softener. This machine is a series of pairs of heavyfluted rollers, their action being to roll or mangle the fibre, thus making it limber and soft. Should the hemp be dirty it is next treated at the " scutcher ; " this machine is an enclosed revolving drum, with blades fixed in rows on its circumference. The dram goes round at a great speed, the worker takes a handful cf hemp and through an aperture throws it into the machine. The knives of the scutcher dash through the hemp and quickly rid it of any dirt. The scutched hemp is next taken to the first spreader. On a table at the hack of the spreader the hemp is placed in regular quantities, and fed into a pair of rollers, which guide the fibre to the slow chain. The chain is endless, and is comprised of a series of bars linked together, with pins fixed in and protruding about 4 or 5 inches of their length. The chain runs for about 7 feet of its length on a parallel frame-work, the distance between the sides being about 3 feet. The reason why such a length of bristling steel linked together is required in the different machines is that the length of the fibre muafc be preserved. If the chain or " reach," as it is technically called, were reduced the fibre would be broken and its strength injured. Returning to the spreader, the fibre has passed through the feed rollers and has been passed by hand well into the machine, so that there is something to work on. The slow chain rises and the " pins " dash into the hemp, hackliugjt, and carrying the full load on to "the fast ohain. The latter does the same amount of work as the former, but it doing so it makes from three to four revolutions to one made by the slow chain. The fast chain has the greater hackling power, and pours its reduced load through a pair of rollers into oans, the hemp being now called M Bliver." Silver may be defined as a continuous ribbon of fibre of varying widths and weights, aooording to the machine from which it is drawn. All the subsequent preparing operations deal with silver as their basis. From the first spreader we pass on to the second, whioh is a maohine of almost identical appearance, but with this great difference, the pins of the second are muoh finer and closer than those of the first, consequently the hackling is more thorough. The Bilver, after leaving the second spreader, is 'far from being fit for the spinners ; it has to be gradually reduced in size, j must be haokled and rehackled ere a satisfactory spinning can possibly follow ; all this coaxing into the needed condition is done by a series of machines called drawing frames. These frames diner entirely from the ' spreaders, having only one endless chain, each of varying degrees of fineness, and the number of operations through them is entirely de- > pendent upon the quality of yarn to be produced. It is called a drawing frame because the machine has power to reduce ox draw the load of silver fed into it from that bulk, and deliver the load into reduced slivers, varying from one-third to one-twelfth of the original bulk, as may be required. The object of all this is to thoroughly hackle the hemp. Having passed through the finishing drawer, the silver is now of the requisite fineness needed for spinning. (To be oonoluded.)