New era rope machine

[horse]

I have acquired an old rope maker  I have fiddled with some rope and have a general understanding of how it works and have watched a bunch of you tube stuff  this machine has three outside “spinners” and one in the center  in all of the videos I have watched no one uses the center one  my question is why is it there and what is it used for?  I have to believe that with all of the smiths going to fairs and old times events someone must have seen one or someone else has one  I would like to set mine up to go to fairs and shows and do rope making demonstrations  I also believe the Grandkids would have a great time making their own rope

[Frosty]

Talk to a spinner, as in yarn for knitting, won't take him/er a minute to figure your machine out and bring you up to speed on what does what and why.

However being half of a steel wool couple here's my take. The machine twists the yarns and plies them into cable/rope at the same time right? The yarn is twisted clockwise and it's plied counter clockwise. This way the yarn's tendency to untwist is countered by the tendency of the rope to untwist. Make sense?

The center probably twists a core yarn, can it's direction be reversed? Or perhaps you ply small diameter cordage to act as the core. Hmmmm, got me there. I've used counter rotating rope on the drill rig and spliced it but don't know if your machine will make it.

Frosty The Lucky.

[horse]

Frosty I thought the same regarding a core and tried that, the twine on the center spindle did not “take up” at the same rate as the outside splindles. So it made a sloppy piece of rope. I have spun rope then brought the three to the center to tighten the twist. I now believe that is what that center spindle is used for. I created a jig for making very short pieces will take a photo to show it. I just welded up some stuff from the shop. I am thinking about how I might put some forged pieces on the jig for a bit more interest. I have done a fair amount of research on the old rope makers and rope making guilds. Starting from short pieces of jute or whatever material they used and creating rope hundreds of feet long is quite an art.  

I am also considering finding some very light gauge copper and making a “rope” with that. Bracelets come to mind. 

[Kozzy]

Don't quote me but IIRC, the center can be used to twist the initial materials into the "string" that will be used later to make the rope.  Basically putting two strings together into a twist and that now doubled string becomes a stronger cord to do the actual rope twist with later.

There are also some ropes that do have a center core piece as shown in the attached photo.  Not sure how their twist relates or is able to be added without the poor results you saw.

If you have a rope maker, you now need a "rope walk" to use it properly.  Time to set aside some serious space in the yard :-) 

[wicon]

Did you read the patent?

[horse]

Whew Wicon. Did you read the patent?  It will take some time to digest that. Never thought of looking for it. I have the yard space for sure. My idea at the moment centers around things like leashes lead ropes and the like. I did read  on one site that one rope maker had his workers using bycycles to run the cord from the twister to the other end.