HAWSER-LAID ROPE.
CABLE-LAID ROPE.
What is called “laying” the rope consists in twisting a certain number of yarns together, so as to form a strand, and these strands into a rope. Large ropes are chiefly of two kinds, called respectively “hawser-laid” and “cable-laid,” the latter including only the very largest ropes. “Hawser-laid” ropes consist of a certain number of yarns (according to the size of the rope) twisted into a strand, and then three of these strands twisted together. The “cable-laid” rope is composed of nine strands, that is to say, three strands each composed of three others, and these composed of yarns, so that three “hawser-laid” ropes, twisted together, would make one “cable-laid” rope.
ROPE-MAKING BY MACHINERY.
Laying the ropes and twisting the yarns into strands are both accomplished by the same process. The yarns are attached—in sufficient quantity for the strands—to three hooks, each turning in the same direction, while the other ends are collected together and turned in the opposite direction; the three hooks twist the yarns into strands, and a hook at the other end twists the strands into rope.
Of course, machinery of various descriptions has been applied to rope-making, and ropes are frequently made entirely by machinery with great rapidity. The annexed cut represents one mode of rope-making by machinery, in which the yarn is shown being twisted into cord or rope from the reels or bobbins on which it was wound after spinning.