A treatise upon wire, its manufacture and uses, embracing comprehensive descriptions of the constructions and applications of wire ropes

Front matter

A TREATISE

UPON

WIKE, ITS MANUFACTURE AND USES.

Preface

This Treatise is intended to convey to the average reader intelligible and practical descriptions of the history, manufacture, and uses of various kinds of plain and worked wire as occurrent in, or applicable to, innumerable industries and purposes of daily service to all classes of the community. Upon perusing the Synopsis of Contents, it will be apparent that each chapter relating to branches of the art or kindred matters, alone affords ample material for a separate work capable of occupying the available limits of this volume. The present treatise is therefore submitted as an elementary international dissertation, as reasonably exhaustive as the comprehensive nature of the title will permit.

As the production and manipulation of wire are mainly recognised under the style of ^Urade,” it has been endeavoured to treat the subject at issue with a practical subordination of commercial considerations involved. Costs of manufacturing and values of products, &c., have, however, been generally disregarded, owing to the wide and rapid fluctuations which occur in the prices of materials, &c., implicated in the industries described.

The writer is not aware of the existence of any other treatise upon the subject on similar lines to

VI

PREFACE.

the present effort, although some fragmeutary contributions have appeared in the form of papers, presented to societies, and articles in technical and trade journals. The substance of the present work is, however, largely based upon personal experiences, investigations and observations made by the author in various parts of the globe.

Many leading home and foreign manufacturers in the different departments of the industry, are impartially referred to, so that where information has been necessarily curtailed, or deemed advisable to omit, the interested reader may pursue his inquiries or studies in competent channels.

It is therefore hoped that some instructive and useful particulars may be gleaned from the following pages by those interested or engaged in the technical and commercial applications of wire or its products.

A few lines will now be devoted to the general plan of the treatise, after which some comments will be appended upon matters of interest which have transpired, or have come under the writer’s notice, since the work has passed through the press.

Considerable care and trouble has been bestowed upon the collection of the historical, and other data, given in the treatise, and in obtaining reliable confirmation as far as possible.

Upon perusing the Introduction, it is believed the reader will concur that sufficient has been written to demonstrate to a wide community some of the many serviceable applications of wire, and did space permit, the examples might be almost indefinitely extended.

To some, the title Wire ” may at first convey

PREFACE.

Vll insignificant associations, but upon brief acquaintance with the subject and reflection, it will doubtless be admitted that the chemical, physical, mechanical, and electrical considerations involved in the embodied industries, are almost as extensive and important as the applications of the manufactured products themselves.

The antiquity and history of the craft at issue are alone of prominent interest amongst the records of the early arts and manufactures, as also are its developments which have occurred with the progress of civilisation and mental culture.

Again, the physical considerations concerned in the properties of ductility and tenacity peculiar to different metals, and upon which their comparative ‘‘ drawing ” efficiencies depend, embody worthy material for instructive reflection.

Wire, composed of iron and steel, and described in the first Chapter, will be found to afford manifold opportunities for technical deliberations, whether in the chemistry of the billets, the molecular or physical changes which occur in the metal or its alloy during hot-rolling, cold-drawing, annealing, hardening, and tempering, &c., or in the mechanical arrangements or appliances employed in the manufacture.

Nearly half a century has passed away since the introduction of cast-steel wire, and which still marks a most important period in the career of the industiy. Now, by proper selection, treatment, and manipulation, cast-steel wire is daily produced which has fully three times the tensile resistance of any other known form of steel, whilst the degrees of elasticity

PREFACE.

viii

may extend to within some 7 5 per cent, of its ultimate strength. These and other extraordinary combined and unique properties have, from time to time, engaged the serious attentions of eminent physicists, chemists, and engineers, both at home and abroad. The serviceable applications of iron and steel wire are alone practically innumerable.

In the succeeding Chapter descriptions are given of the manufacture and uses of the more delicate productions in copper, bronze, brass, platinum, and other precious metals, some of which are to be met with in degrees of fineness which rival any human hair. The beautiful and economical manufacture of silver-gilt wire and its ornamental applications here afford a further interesting example of dexterous manipulation and utility.

The third Chapter deals briefly with gauges, past and present, for measuring the diameters or sizes of wire, and to which all readers practically interested in the industries at issue should bestow some earnest attention. The ambiguit}^ or confusion resulting from the use of old or obsolete gauges has been the cause of many costly and vexatious disputes, and for which, since the inauguration of the Imperial or Leo^al Standard, there are no valid excuses.

The following Chapter upon electrical conductors, only deals with bare or uninsulated wires, and is necessarily of a brief and elementary character. The greater purity, and consequent better conductivity of copper, obtainable of recent years, is here referred to, whilst passing attention is directed to the manufacture and applications of hard-drawn copper and

PREFACE.

IX silicium-bronze wires. Mattheissen’s well-known standard of electrical conductivity, supplemented by the able researches of T. C. Fitzpatrick, are also cursorily approached. Galvanised iron and steel wire for postal and railway telegraph purposes, then receive some share of attention consistent with the determined limits of the work.

The first two Chapters of the second section of this volume are devoted to somewhat exhaustive descriptions of the history, manufacture, and serviceable employments of wire ropes, and which it is hoped will be found acceptable to some class of readers. Practically all the different constructions or types of roping commercially known in Europe and America are explained and illustrated, and these are followed by some examples of the numerous substantial services rendered us by their daily use.

Many of the exemplifications here submitted are the results of personal experiences or investigations made by the writer in diverse parts of the world. Readers desirous of gleaning more exhaustive particulars concerning the countless applications of wire roping, may perhaps be assisted in their object by reference to different articles published by the author in the columns of Engineering during 1887 and 1888, The Colliery Guardian in 1887, The Mining Journal in 1888, and The Engineer in 1889.

The two concluding chapters of the treatise relate to the manufacture and utilities of wire netting and woven fabrics, &c., and fencing

X

PEEFACE.

materials, with their necessary adjuncts, &c., and it is hoped will be found to incorporate matters of agricultural and commercial interest.

Since the treatise has passed through the press, the author is indebted to the editor of The Electrician for directing his attention to the question of the comparative efficiency of stranded electrical conductors, a matter that appears to have largely escaped the notice of electricians and engineers, and concerning which correspondence appeared in the following numbers of the journal mentioned : YoL XXYI., January 23rd, 30th, and February 6th. Upon reflection it will be evident that the electrical conductivity of wires laid into strands, is not directly proportional to that presented by solid straight conductors, firstly, because the contact of the wires is more or less imperfect, and secondly on account of the component wires being laid in a spiral or helical form.

Keadverting to Chapter III. on Wire Gauges,” it may be mentioned that Mr. A. P. Trotter has recently published in The Electrician (Yol. XXI Y., page 8), an able article and diagram concerning the ambiguity and variation of obsolete gauges still sometimes unnecessarily quoted and used in the electrical industries.

Referring to Messrs. Glover & Co.’s table of particulars, re copper conductors, given on the folding sheet opposite page 150, it may be of interest to some to know that Mr. W. S. Boult, of Liverpool, has recently issued a series of comprehensive international tabulations, giving the sizes, areas, weights,

PREFACE.

XI current densities and resistances, &c., of electrical wires.

Towards the close of last month a Paper was read on “ Wire Popes,” by one of Her Ma-jesty’s Inspectors of Mines, before a Midland Society of Engineers, and which, according to a report given of the same in one of our leading industrial journals on the 27th of March, appears to embody some egregious mistakes. The author of the Paper in question is reported to have advanced that wire ropes ‘'are divided into three great classes, viz., iron, steel, and plough steel,” the average breaking strengths of which are given as “ 20, 35, and 50 tons respectively, per square inch of sectional area.” These alleged ultimate tensile resistances of the materials specified are erroneous, hence some deductions following are misleading. The average quality of mining rope wire is composed of “ improved cast steel wire,” of about 80 tons resistance, whereas “plough steel” usually ranges from 100 to 120 tons quality, and as defined and explained on pages 42, 58, 174, and 214 of this volume. Again the statement, “ steel wire should withstand twenty-eight twists,” conveys nothing tangible. To those practically acquainted with the subject, the questions naturally present themselves, to steel wire of wliat quality, temper, gauge, and length does this remark refer ? However, with regard to broad averages in mining practices, the torsional efficienc}' of the wire miofht be about double that above mentioned, and as will be better understood upon reference to pages 68, 81, 209, and 214 of tliis treatise.

Further, the method advocated for ascertaining

XU

PREFACE.

the ultimate tensile strengths of rope wire, and consistinof in the attachment of a tub at the lower end” of a piece to be tested, and into which water is steadily poured until the wire ruptures, does not appear to be a practical or convenient arrangement. The examples of steel mining rope wire given on page 68 of this treatise are average qualities for the construction of running ropes of from about 2 to 3 in. in circumference, and it will be seen that some of these individual or component wires will withstand a strain of fully 1200 lb. The average diameters of these wires range between 14 and 15 S.W.G., and which sizes will be understood upon reference to the Table and diagram given on pages 72 and 73 respectively. Now take a winding rope, say 4 in. in circumference, composed of larger sized wires (say of Nos. 11 or 12 S.W.G.) of plough steel, and we shall find it is quite feasible to encounter individual wires which may take fully a ton to break them, f.e., say, 2500 lb. Therefore the capacity of a hogshead (54 gallons or 540 lb.) or even a butt (108 gallons, 17.3 cubic ft., or 1080 lb.) would not be equal to the possible requirements even if they were the most convenient things in the world to handle. The tensile testing machines illustrated on pages 77 and 80, &c., are capable of exerting a strain equal to from, say, 30 cwt. to 2 tons on the specimen. When the breaking strain of any wire has been ascertained, the proportion that it bears to tons per square inch of sectional area may be readily calculated by the Table given on page 76 of this volume.

It is admissible that however careful an author

PREFACE.

Xlll may be, errata and discrepancies do sometimes creep into a work, but one hardly expects to find the accuracy of accepted fundamental principles overlooked.

Since the remarks were written concerning the probable federation of the Australian Colonies, on page 222, the Constitution of the Commonwealth ” has finally passed the Session ; let us hope that the next measure to be adopted will be some arrangement for a special rate of Imperial duties for supporting our own manufacturers and for facilitating a preferential commercial reciprocation with the mother country.

In conclusion the author has pleasure in acknowledging the valuable assistance he has received from numerous leading manufacturers and others both at home and abroad, and in mentioning that comments or criticisms made concerning any considerations at issue are impartially and courteously intended.

J. Bucknall Smith.

London, April, 1891.

SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTOKY.

PAGE

Antiquity of Wire Manufactures — Early Egyptian Productions — Wire Relics from Herculaneum, &c., Wiredrawing, Its Invention and Origin — Early Wiredrawing Processes in Germany and France, and Introduction of the Industry into Great Britain — First Mill in England — ^Hand and Machine Drawn Wire — Lancashire and Yorkshire Industries— Early Manufacturers of Wire in Britain, Europe, and America — Descriptions and Uses of Various Kinds of Wire — Electrical Applications —Wire Ropes and their Services — Wire Netting, Gauze, Cloth, and Cords — Lines in Scientific Instruments — Platinum and Silver Wires — Pin- Making Industry — The Manufacture of Needles, Fish and Crochet Hooks, Umbrella and Spectacle Frames, &c., with Dates of their Invention, &c. — Wire Springs, Spindles, and Pinions used in the Watchmaking Trade — Wire Cycle Spokes, Nails, and Music Strings, &c. — Wire and its Functions in Pianos — Wire-Walkers and Aerial Wires —

Silver and Silver Gilt Wires Used for the Production of Filigrees, Laces, Embroideries, and Spangles, &c. — Lightning Conductors — Wire Used in the Construction of Ordnance, Torpedo Nets, and Flywheels, &c. — Chemical, Physical, and Mechanical Considerations re Metals Used in the Wire Industry — The Gauge Question, &c. ... ... 1 to 29

CHAPTER I. Iron and Steel Wire

The Principle of Producing Rods and Wire Explained — Chemical and Physical Considerations in Iron and Steel — Puddled and Charcoal Iron Wire — Swedish Iron — Definitions of Steel — Distinction between Iron and Steel — Mild and High- Carbon Steels — Acid and Basic Bessemer, Siemens-Martin, and Crucible Steels — Properties of Elements present in Iron and Steel — Physical Characteristics of Iron and Steel — Wire Rod Billets, their Forms, Weights, and Chemical Compo-

XVI

Contents

PAGE

sitions — Comparative Tensile Strengths of Iron and Steel Wires — Wire Rodrolling and Plant Used in the Manufacture— Bedson’s & Bleckly’s Inventions — Wire Rodrolling in Britain, Europe, and U.S.A. — Garrett’s Continuous Rod Mill — Drawing Cold Rods into Wire — Wiredrawers’

Blocks or Benches — Lubricants Used for Wiredrawing —

Chapter II

Copper, Bronze, Brass, Aluminium, and Silver, &c.. Wires.

Copper, its History, Ores, Extraction, Properties and Uses, &c.

— Sources of Copper, its Degrees of Purity and Electrical Conductivity, &c. — Soft and Hard-drawn Copper Wire, their Relative Strengths and Conductivity, &c. — Bolton’s Continuous Wire Mill — Phosphor-Bronze Wire, its Properties and Uses — Silicium-Bronze, its Invention, Properties, and Applications ; Weiller’s Discoveries — Brass and Delta Metal Productions — Wires Composed of German Silver, Aluminium, Platinum and Silver, their Characteristics and Uses, &c. — Silver Gilt Wires and Spangles, their Manufacture and Services — The Micrometer Gauge — Table for Calculating the Strengths of Fine Wires — Wire Factories in Germany and the United States, &c. ... ... 99 to 124

CHAPTER III. Wire Gauges and other Trade Considerations

Early Wire Gauges, and Confusions caused by their Employment — Hughes on the Wire Gauge — Stubs’, Whitworth’s, Cocker’s, Clarke’s, &c., proposed Standards — Table of Obsolete Wire Gauges used from 1866 to 1881 — American Views on the Subject — The Birmingham Wire Gauge, its Ambiguous Nature and Indiscriminate Use — The French and German Millimetre Gauges— Overtures to the Board of Trade by English Wire Manufacturers re a Uniform Gauge — The Imperial Standard Wire Gauge, its Denominations and Inauguration — The German Millimetre Equivalents to English Sizes — The Wire Gauges used in the

(JUNTEKTS.

I’AGE

United States : International Trade Considerations — Kailway and Shipping Rates of Carriage, &c. — Comnients on British and Foreign Exports, &c. ... ... ... 125 to 154

Mattheissen’s Standard of Electrical Conductivity — Purity of Copper and its Influence on Conductivity — Fitzpatrick’s Research-Soft and Hard-drawn Copper Wires — Comparative Conductivity of Copper and Iron Wire, and Effects of Temperature, Density, and Impurities on same — Durability of Electiical Conductors — Electrolytically deposited Copper — Weiller’s Table of Conductors — Sizes, Weights, and Resistances of Silicious - Bronze and Hard-drawn Copper Wires — Effects of Temperatures upon Telegraph, &c., Lines, their “Sag” and Tension, &c. — Telegraph Wire Joints —

Postal and Railway Specifications re Supply of Telegraph,

&c.. Conductors — Iron and Steel Wires and Effects of Galvanising same, &c. — Charcoal Iron and Siemens’ Steel Telegraph Wires, their Tempers and Properties, &c. — Electro-Welding of Wire — Telegraph Wiie Tests — Compound Telegraph Wires — Glover’s Wire Gauge and Table of Sizes, Weights, and Resistances, &c. ... ... 135 to 152

CHAPTER V. The Manufactuee and Uses of Wiee Ropes

Invention of Wire Ropes —Albert’s Experiments in the Hartz Mines — Wilson’s Claims — Newall’s Invention and Inauguration of the Industry in Great Britain — Early Rope Manufactures— Newall’s Career — Selvagee Ropes — Formed or Stranded Ropes — Modern Wire Rope Works, their Arrangement and Equipment, &c. — Recent Constructions of Roping, their Manufacture explained — Flat Wire Ropes — Lang’s Construction of Roping — Laidler’s Rope — Scott’s Locked Wire Sheathing — Latch and Batchelor’s Locked coiled Rope'S — Proportions for Lays in Compound Strands or Ropes — Flat or Oval Stranded Ropes — Westgarth’s Construction — Electric -Cable Winding Ropes — Seale’s Type of Roping — Hodson’s Spiral Rope Core— Aerial Standing Ropes — Flexible Crane and Hoisting Ropes — Sash and Clothes Lines, Picture Cords, Fencing and Signal Strands, and Lightning Conductors, &c. — Wire Strand and Rope-making Machinery — Compound Stranding and Roping Machines — Practices in the Manufacture of Wire Ropes — Proportions of Lays in Strands and Ropes — Anieri'^an Rope-making Appliances — Considerations in

XVlll

OONTENTS.

the Wire Kope Trade — Biggart’s Paper on Wire Ropes — Fatigue of Steel and Cutting Action of Wires in Cables — Internal and External Wear — Deakin on Wire Ropes — Lengths of Ropes Equivalent to their Working Loads — Sizes of Drums and Pulleys for Ropes to work over — Rope Records kept at Mines — Irregularities in Quality and Durability of Wire Ropes — Criticisms on Different Constructions of Wire Roping — Reasonable Sizes, Weights, and Strengths of Wire Ropes — Value of Uniform Tensile Efficiencies of Wire used in Cables — Gauge of Wires to produce a given Size of Roping — Diameters of Component Wires to run over Pulleys of determined Sizes — Lengths of Splices and their Relation to Ultimate Strengths of Roping — Jointing of Wires in Strands — Multiple laid Ropes — Comments on the Rope Trade of the United States ; Prices obtained, Discounts given, Trade Conventions and Guarantees — American Firms Manufacturing Wire Ropes — General Competition in the Home and Foreign Rope Trade ; Manufactures Guaranteed to give a Definite Service — Ropes in Japan and the Australian Colonies, &c. — Rope Trials on the Melbourne and other Cable Tramways — Bullivant’s Table of Round Wire Ropes — Ropes and the Victorian Goldfields — Wire Ropemaking in India, &c. — Inconsistent and Impractical Wire Rope Specifications — General Considerations and Comments upon the Industry at Home and Abroad, &c. 153 to

CHAPTER VI. Some Applications of Wire Ropes

Main and Tail-Rope and Endless Rope Haulage in Mines-— The Report of the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers upon Underground Haulage Systems — Stated Efficiency of the Endless Chain System and Comparative Performances of Ropes — Haulage Exhibits at the Newcastle Mining Exhibition —Costs of Working various Rope Traction Systems in Mines — Rope Haulage from under, over, and side of Wagons, with Comments as to Comparative Efficiency — Details in Haulage Systems, e.g.^ Pulleys, Driving Drum, Clutches, Rope -Tension Gear and Clipping, &c.. Appliances — Systems of Underground Rope Haulage at Bedlington, Eldon, Harton, Hetton, Hodbarrow, Moresby, Seaton-Deleval, Tredegar, and Whitburn, &c,, Mines — Cost of Endless Rope Haulage at Clifton and Cadzow Collieries — Capacity of Mining Wagons Worked as “Singles” or “Sets” — Curves and Gradients Worked by Rope Traction in Mines — Sections and Weights of Rails and Typical Permanent Ways and Switches, &c. — Leading and Trailing Rope-Clip Cars or Bogies — Hyslop on Defects of Side Haulage Systems — Mining Rope Haulage Engines — Ramsey’s Rope-Clutch Bogie and Gripping Appendages — Automatic Rope- Clipping Appliances — Mining Lubricating Devices— Rope

CONTENTS.

XIX

PAGE

Sockets and Attachments — Considerations and Comments upon the Employment of Ropes in Mines — Vertical Winding and Etfects of Reverse Bends in Roping — Aerial Ropeways for Transporting Minerals and other Products — Carrington’s and Otto's Systems of Aerial Rope Haulage —

Aerial Lines at Gibraltar, Hong Kong, and in the Transvaal, &c. — Details of Construction and Cost of Operation,

Ac. — Aerial Knot Grips for Surmounting Steep Gradients — Rope Haulage and Winding Systems used in the Diamond Mines of South Africa — Rope Traction for Propelling Street and other Railway Vehicles — Railway Appliances in the U.S.A. for Transporting Spools of Continuous Wire Roping — Railway Distances and Freights in the States — Performances of the Traction Cables upon the Kew York and Brooklyn Bridge — Rope Gear used in the Erection of the Forth and Sukkar Bridges — Cranes and Hoisting Appliances employing Ropes — Shipbuilding and Launching and Wire Ropes used in connection therewith — Steel Marine Hawsers for Towing, Mooring, Warping, or Anchoring Purposes, and Reels and Kippers employed with same — Comparative Sizes, Weights, Strengths, Durability, and Cost of Wire Roping as against those of Vegetable Fibres, e.g., Hemp and Manilla — Wire Ropes used for Raising Sunken Vessels — Transmission of Power by Ropes, Speeds of Driving and Cost of System, &c. — The Hudson River Wire Rope Suspension Bridge at Peekskill, U.S.A., Ac 223 to 283

Chapter VII

Wire Netting and Woven Fabrics, A"c., their Manufacture and Uses.

Invention of Wire Netting and Inauguration of its Mechanical Production — Barnard’s Original Wire Netting Machine, and Modern Improvements in the Mechanical Manufacture — Meshes, Gauges, and Widths of Netting commonly adopted in the Industry — Characteristics of Wire Netting made for Home and Foreign Markets, with Weights of same per Mile, &c. — American Practice in the Trade — Modern Wire Netting Machinery, e.g.^ as constructed by Wilmott Brothers and Bond, Ac. — The Principle of the Mechanical Manufacture explained— Spring Winding or Coiling Machines— Mechanical Means for Tight-Rolling Wire Netting for Home and Export Markets — Dennis’ continuous Wire Netting Machine, its Construction and Operation — Machinery employed in the Manufacture of Wire Webs or AVoven Fabrics — Automatic Power Looms for AA^eaving AVire, Ac. — Makers of Strong AATre AA^ebs and Fine Gauzes — AA^ire Torpedo Nets as used by Home and Foreign Navies — Spiral AA'oven AATre Netting, Ac. — Golding’s Expanded or Meshed Metalwork as a Substitute for certain Wire Fabrications, A'c. ... ... ... ... 284 to 311

XX r^OXTENTS.

PAGE

CHAPTER VIIT.

Wire Fencing Materials and Appendages, Wire Staples, Nails and Sundries.

Various Forms of Wire Fencing Materials and Dates of Introduction— Fencing Wire when First Used at Home and in the Colonies — Capital Invested in Fencing Properties in the United Kingdom, and Annual Cost of Maintaining same — Solid-Rolled, Drawn, Varnished, and Galvanised Fencing Wire, with Means of Erection and Attachments,

&c. — Barbed Wire Fencing, the Invention, Licensed Makers, its Merits and Weaknesses, &c. — Ordinary Fencing Wire used in the Colonies, how Manufactured, Coiled and Varnished, &c. — German versus English Fencing Wire — Lengths of Wire sought in the Markets — Superiority of Galvanised Wire — Drawbacks in the Employment of Common Grades of Fencing Wire — Advantages of Superior Steel Wire over that of Iron or Soft Steel, with Comments and Comparisons respecting their different Physical and Mechanical Properties — Fencing Ribbons, Oval and Corrugated Wires, &c. — Various descriptions of Fencing Strands — Different Constructions of Barbed Fencing Wire and Appliances used for its Erection — Typical Illustrations of Strained Wire and Strand Fencing, with Pillars, Standards, and Wire, &c., used in same — “Porcupine” Tree Guards — Comparative Lengths and Weights of Solid Fencing Wires and Strands — “Droppers” used in Strained Wire Fences — Espalier Wires for Training Trees and Plants,

&c. — Tools used in the Erection of various kinds of Wire Fencing — Hurdles and Fences of Expanded Metal — Horticultural Temples, Flower Stands, and other Wirework^ —

Wire Nail Machines and Presses, &c. ... ... 312 to 335

Index..,

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Sections of Wire Rod Billets ....... 39

Bedson’s Wire Rod Rolling Mill ...... 44

Bleckly’s Rod Mill 45

(xarrett’s Continuous Rod Mill in the U.S.A. . . . 48, 49

Wire-Drawing Mill or Blocks ....... 53

Steel Wire Improving Apparatus ...... 61

Bedson’s Annealing and Galvanising Plant . . . . . 64

Modern Wire-Galvanising Appliances ..... 65

The Standard Wire Gauge (Template) ..... 73

Continental Wire-Testing Machinery ...... 77

Carringtons’ Tensional and Tortional Wire-Testing Machinery 80, 81

Denison’s Wire-Testing Machinery ...... 82

Kitchin’s Wire-Testing Machinery 85, 87

Byrne’s Continuous Wire-Drawing Mill ..... 90

Wire-Straightening Machines ....... 92

Plan of Ry land’s Works ........ 94

Bolton’s Continuous Wire Mill ...... 103, 105

The Micrometer for Gauging Wire ...... 116

Felten & Guilleaume’s Works, Cologne ..... 119

“ Britannia ” Telegraph Wire Joint ...... 142

Telegraph Wire-Testing Appliances ...... 146

Glover’s Wire Gauge or Micrometer ...... 150

Twenty-four Bobbin AVire-Stranding Machines .... 163

Large Horizontal Wire Rope-Closing Machines .... 165

Hydraulic Rope-Testing Machinery ...... 169

Lang’s Construction of Wire Rope ...... 173

Scott’s Locked Wire Sheathing . . . . . . .176

Latch and Batchelor’s Locked Coil Ropes ..... 177

Diagram of Proportions of Lays in Roping . . . .178

Flattened or Oval Stranded Ropes ...... 180

Westgarth’s Rope . . . . . . . . .182

Seale’s Construction of Cable ....... 184

Hodson’s Spiral AVire Rope Core ...... 185

Aerial Ropes for Tramways ....... 185

Vertical Rope-Closing Machines ...... 193

Twelve Bobbin Stranding Machinery ...... 195

Compound Tandem Stranding Machines . . /r-ijj* „

Compound Stranding and Roping Machinery . ' ^ § P / | ipg

Stone’s Rope Making Machinery of U.S.A. .... 205

Plan of Mining Haulage Systems ...... 228

Details in Mining Rope-Haulage Systems ..... 230

Driving Pulleys for AVire Roping ...... 232

Systems of Rope Haulage under AVagons ..... 234

Rope Clips or Grips used in Rope Traction . . . 236, 238

Haulage over Top and Side of AVagons ..... 238

XXll

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Pulleys and Gates for Side Haulage Systems .... 240

Ramsey’s Rope Clutch Car . . . . . . . 242

Rope Haulage Engines ........ 244

Automatic Rope Haulage Clips ...... 247, 249

Mining Lubricating Appliances . . ..... 249

Socket Attachments for Wire Ropes ...... 250

Vertical Shaft Working in Mines ...... 252

Aerial Ropeway at Hong Kong ....... 256

Aerial Rope Transports at Gibraltar ... . . . 257, 258

Otto’s System of Aerial Ropeways ...... 260

Details of Construction in Aerial Lines ..... 262

Aerial Rope-Gripping Appliances ..... 263, 264

Driving Knots on Aerial Ropes ...... 265

Section of Sheba Aerial Line ....... 266

Railway Wagon for Transporting Roping ..... 270

Erection Ropes of the Forth Bridge ...... 275

Ropes Used in the Construction of the Sukkar Bridge . . 276

Cranes and Rope-Hoisting Appliances . . . . .277

Reels and Nippers for Marine Wire Hawsers .... 279

Raising of Sunken Vessels by Wire Ropes .... 281

Wilmott’s Wire Netting Machinery ...... 287

Diagrams Explaining the Manufacture of Netting . . 289, 290

Bond’s Compact Adjustable Netting Machine .... 292

Spring Winding Machines 292

Dennis’ Continuous Wire Netting Machine .... 297

Wire Weaving Looms . 302

Netting for Protecting Vessels against Torpedoes . . . 305

Spiral Wire Woven Matting ....... 305

Machinery Employed for Making “ Expanded Metal ” . 308, 309

Samples of Mesh-Expanded Metal 310

Coils or Hanks of Common Fencing Wire ..... 313

Wire Staples for Fencing, &c., Purposes ..... 314

Barbed Wire and Fencing ........ 316

Cattle Enclosures Formed of Barbed Wire ..... 317

Apparatus Used in the Erection of Barbed Fencing . . . 318

Appliances for J ointing Barbed Strands ..... 319

Fencing Structures Employing Barbed Wire .... 320

Barbed or “ Porcupine ” Tree Guards ..... 321

Strained Wire Park Fences, &c. ...... 321

Strained Wire and Strand Fencing for Cattle, &c. . . . 323

Angle Strainers and Winders Used in Fencing .... 324

Fencing Standards and Tightening Appliances .... 326

“ Droppers ” Used in Wire Fences ...... 327

Espalier or Tree-Training Fences ..... 327

Tools Used in the Erection of Wire Fencing .... 328

Fencing of Expanded or Meshed Metal ..... 329

Horticultural Wirework . . . , 332, 333

Wire Nail Machinery and Presses, Ac, . . , , , 334

LIST OF TABLES.

PAGE

Chemical Analyses of Steel Wire Rod Billets , . . 39 to 41

Mechanical Properties of Iron and Steel Wire .... 42

Chemical Composition and Properties of Plough Steel Wire . 58

Tabulation of Rope Wire Tests . ...... (38

Chemical Composition and Properties, &c., of Piano Wire (39 to 71 Sizes, Weights, Lengths, and Strengths of Iron Wire . . 72

Sizes, &c., and Breaking Strengths of Steel Wire ... 74

Tensile Strengths of Wire in Pounds for 1 Ton per each in. 7(3 Table for Calculating Strengths of Wire from No. 20. to No. 40

Wire Gauges Used till 1883 (Obsolete) ..... 126

Imperial Standard Wire Gauge . . . . . . .128

English Standard and German Millimetre Gauges . . . 129

American National Wire Gauge ...... 130