It was not io Boston alone that the early industry of rope-making was confined, however. Nantucket, in the old days of her prosperity, had three large rope-walks, all of which long ago disappeared; there was one at Castine, Me., one at Portland, Me., and several in other of the country, including one on Broa= New York. In 1810 there were 173 rope-walks in the United States.
The large business which is now conducted on the Pacific Coast was instituted by A. L. Tubbs of California, sometime in the fifties, who purchased the machinery of one of the old Boston plants and shipped it to California, where two or three large factories now stand as monuments to his enterprise.
Prior to about 1850, nearly all the spun yarns used in the malting of cordage were Imported by the American manufacturers. As such yarns were the product of Russian serf labor, they could be brought to this country and sold for less money than similar yarns could be produced in America, so it was not until the introduction of improved machinery reduced the cost of local manufacture that the impor tation of this raw material ceased.
The modern factory system began to take the place of the more crude and pritnitive methods of malting rope soon after 1830, and from that time until 1850 the conflict between the two modes of manufacture was waged with considerable bitterness. By the new system it was possible to spin a rope several thousand feet long upon an upright apparatus that occu pied but a few feet square, the necessary twist being imparted by a rapidly rotating machinery which was not unlike that which is used in cot ton and woolen mills. At the same time, while its cost was cheaper, the factory-made product was not an entire success. There were pur poses for which the rope made by the rope walk method was far superior, and the makers of the old-fashioned article used the words *patent cordage') to disparage the factory-made product. As time passed, however, the inven tion of improved machinery tended to put an end to such rivalry. The most important in ventions are those of John Good, of New York. It was his spreaders and breakers that did away with the use of lappers, and his nipper and regulator on spinning-machines that gave such universal satisfaction until the perfection of the °preparation machinery* . evolved methods that superseded his process.
The rope-forming machine has a gage-plate through which the threads pass, a capstan on which the first cord is twisted, a right-and-left hand screw to guide the cord back and forth on the winding-reel, and the necessary driving mechanism. It delivers accurately twisted
strands or cords which go to the laying machine. This draws in the cords, with a ten sion-regulating device, twists them by means of a capstan, and winds them on a large reel. Ropes are commonly marketed in coils of 1,200 feet length. A 10,000 foot rope has been made without a single splice.
Cotton is used for making string, and some cord and rope. It makes a neat white string that can be readily dyed. It is a useful mate rial for bands, as in cotton spinning, but cotton rope costs more and is less durable than hemp. The great bulk of the manufacture in the cord age industry is of either imported Manila fibre or sisal (Mexican hemp). The Manila hemp is from the herb Musa textilis of the banana family. Sisal is from the Agave 1stli, of Yuca tan and Mexico. The best hemp fibres are 6 to 12 feet long, and test ropes of PA inches diameter have been made to withstand a tensile strain of 50,000 pounds. The twisting has to be done scientifically not to weaken the fibre. In modern practice the strands are often flat tened so that they will lie closely in the rope or cable.
It was the invention of the self-binding har vester that played an important part in further ing the interests of the industry, and, about 1878, the mills of the country began to increase their size and output to a noticeable degree. Among the most prominent factories started prior to or during that period, one may mention the establishments of Sewall, Day & Company, of Boston; the Pearson Cordage Company, of Boston; J. Nickerson & Company, of Boston; Weaver, Filter & Company, of Philadelphia, afterward, as at the present time, Edwin H. Filter & Company ; the Plymouth Cordage Com pany, of Plymouth, Mass.; the Hingham Cord age Compan3r, of Hingham, Mass.; the New Bedford Cordage Company, of New Bedford, Mass.; Baumgardner, Woodward & Company, of Philadelphia; J. T. Donnell & Company, of Bath, Me.; William Wall & Sons, of New York; Lawrence Waterbury & Company, of New York; Tucker, Carter & Company, of New York; the Elizabethport Steam Cordage Com pany, of New York; Thomas Jackson & Sons, of Easton, Pa.; J. Rinek's Sons, of Easton, Pa.; and John Bonte s Sons, of Cincinnati.