The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

1900. } MARINE REVIEW. 27 MAKING ROPE AT CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD. Making rope by hand is almost a lost art in this country. There are only two tope walks in the United States where it is practiced at present. One of these is at the Charlestown navy yard, which, by the way, is the only rope walk owned and operated by the United States government. The products now made by hand are used principally for Serving wire rope, rigging and other ropes needing protection from the weather or from rubbing. They are all tarred. Included in the so-called serving cords are marline, houseline, hambroline, round line and two and three-yarn spunyards. The Charlestown rope walk uses three kinds of hemp--Russian, Manila and Kentucky. At present rope is being made from all three. The variety which comes from our newest possession is the lightest in color and of fine quality. Recently a cargo of 400 tons was imported from the Philippines by the government. Com. John E. Pillsbury, head of the equipment department, who has charge of the rope factory, and Superintendent Fred A. Jenks, one of the most expert rope- makers in the country, are both enthusiastic over results obtained from this importation. The Russian product is a medium in color between the light Manila and the dark Kentucky hemp. The former is finer than the latter in quality, but is not nearly so strong. Kentucky hemp is tough and coarse. The raw product is delivered at the factory in great bales weighing nearly 300 lbs. The first step in the manufacturing process is taken when the bales are broken open and the "heads," or bunches, of hemp are taken out to be hackeled, or topped. Only a few of the old hands can do this work, as it requires a thorough knowledge of the amount of combing different qualities of hemp need in order to be ready for the spinners. A hackel is simply an immense iron comb with long teeth which stick up several inches from its back. The man who does this work takes a head of hemp and, standing some 2 or 8 ft. from the comb, tosses the fibers upon it and draws them through the sharp teeth. This is kept up until all the short fibers are culled out; then the bunch is reversed and the other half put through the same process. When the head of hemp leaves the hands of the hackeler it consists of only the long, strong fibers, and is ready to be spun into rope... The heads of fine, long, hemp fibers are passed along to the spinners' loft, where the actual ropemaking com- mences. The manufacture of rope is a picturesque art, and the almost extinct hand spinner is the quaintest and most interesting feature of it. The hand spinner's loft is in the attic of the main building, and is a room some 400 ft. in length. At one end is "the wheel," a large balance wheel used for furnishing power to turn four hooked spindles which are set in a frame nearby. A boy turns this wheel. At intervals down the length of the "ground," as the loft floor is called, are racks with pegs that guide the turning threads and keep them in place. When the spinners have wrapped a bundle of hemp fibers about their bodies they look not unlike men with life preservers on. In his right hand the spinner holds a woolen cloth to aid him in guiding the strands as they slip between his fingers. With the inner part of his hand he gathers the threads and regulates their bulk as they unwind from the bunch around his waist; with his thumb and forefinger he shapes them. Slowly he walks backward as the threads are spun, the wheel giving them the necessary turn. Each of the threads is sixty fathoms long. The coil of fibers about the spinner's body is sufficient to make forty-eight threads, and in doing his day's work the spinner walks eight miles, four ahead and four backwards. When three threads have been spun they are put together between a new set of pegs, and a man holding in his hand a cone-shaped piece of wood having three grooves cut the length of it, and called "the top," placing a thread in each groove, walks rapidly up the ground toward the wheel. As they pass through the grooves, the wheel gives the required turn to the three threads of the cord. After the cords are finished they are put in a rack and kept there until seventy-five or eighty have tbeen collected and a turn put in them. Such a bundle of cords is called a "junk" and weighs from 350 to 400 Ibs. The "junk" is now sent down to the tar house and immersed in a trough filled with hot tar. On being removed from the tar it is passed through a curious mechanical device called a horseshoe nipper, which squeezes all the surplus tar from the bundle. The nipper derives its name from the fact that it is shaped almost like a horse shoe. The "Sunk" now goes to the yarn house to season. This seasoning or drying process re: quires from five to six weeks, but oftentimes, when there is a rush order on hand, it is allowed much less. After the "junk" has seasoned it is spread on the ground and the turn taken out of it, Finally the cords are strapped up into coils. "Strapping," as it is technically termed, is winding the cords on a reel. The man who does this holds in his hand a short piece of tarred rope which he twists several times around the cord that is being wound on the reel, thus giving a purchase that enables him to wind it very tight. This piece of tarred rope also serves to smooth the surface of the cord, giving it a glossy appearance obtainable in no other way. So compact has the bundle now become that it retains its shape when removed from the reel. When the strapping is finished and the reel removed the bundle of cord is ready for shipment. It is thirty years since hand rope making was in its prime in the United States. One man can now do the work which it formerly took eight men to perform; a machine does about the same amount of work as a hand spinner, and one man can tend eight machines. -- e A young man who has learned something of the world and has con- siderable maturity of judgment can get more benefit from a school between the ages of 25 and 28 than between 18 and 20. This is especially true of professional training. Few can determine what profession they are best qualified for until they have tested themselves and found what they can do best. It is next to impossible for a man who is learning a trade and is supporting himself by it to take the time or spare the money for a college course, but thousands of such men are studying successfully by mail. The average age of students taking correspondence courses, as shown by the records of The International Schools, Scranton, Pa., is over twenty-five years, and the greater number of men actually engage in the trade or profession they are studying. BELLEVILLE GENERATORS Grand Prix 1889 Hors Concours 1900 Originated 1849 Latest Improvements 1896 Number of Marine Leagues made each year by Steamships of the Messageries Maritimes Co., Provided with Belleville Generators--Since their Adoption in the Service. Year. Australian|Polynesien oe ee aes ae Chili |Cordillere| Laos Indus Tonkin | Annam~ 16908 eee. 22,576 820 POO1 ick eee ee 22,749 D2 tTT 68 992. ee. 22,749 | 22,801] 23,274] 7,753 N98 oe elas sen ene 22,793 22,781 22,762 22,749 (eae ke 22,813 | 22,789| 22,858] 22,813 12,567 1695. i a. 22,891 22,922 22,913 22,936 13,629 9,571 B96 6S 23,178 30,906 23,232 23,183 20,735 21,051 13,572 1997.5. 655k 22,750 23,202 30,912 23.185 20,745 25,370 21119 14,382 PS9GU.. 6 eee 23,646 23,178 23,184 23,199 20,842 21,080 21,080 20,851 21,318 7,569 1699 3... 23,178 23,205 |- 22,477 30,135 20,082 20,926 20,956 17,448 18,285 14,669 7,628 MOT os. oases. 229,323 | 215,381 | 191,680 | 175,953 | 108,600 | - 97,998 76,727 52,681 39,603 22,238 7,628 ATELIERS ET CHANTIERS DE L'ERMITAGE, A ST. DENIS (SEINE), FRANCE. WORKS AND YARDS OF L'ERMITAGE, ST. DENIS (SEINE), FRANCE. TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS: BELLEVILLE, SAINT DENIS, SUR SEINE.