How many have ever given a thought to the question of where rope comes from and how it is made, or realize what a variety of uses it is put to, and how dependent we are upon it in many of the everyday affairs of life? But let us suppose for a moment that the world were suddenly deprived of its supply of this very commonplace material, and of its smaller relatives, cords and twine. We should then begin to realize the importance of a seemingly unimportant thing, and to appreciate the difficulty in getting along without it.

Ancient civilized peoples had their ropes and cordage, made from such materials as were available in their respective countries. The Egyptians are said to have made rope from leather thongs, and our illustration will be found interesting in this connection. This is from a sculpture taken from a tomb in Thebes of the time of the Pharaoh of the Exodus.

While this scene is said by the best authority to represent the preparation of leather cords for use in lacing sandals, it has been supposed by some to be a representation of rope making. In any event the process is undoubtedly the same as that used in making rope.

The scene is depicted with the true Egyptian faculty for showing details, making words almost unnecessary to an understanding of their pictorial records. We see the raw material in the shape of the hide, and also two well-made coils of the finished product. One of the workmen is cutting a strand from a hide by revolving it and cutting as it turns. Any one who has not tried it will be surprised to see what a good, even string can be cut from a piece of leather in this way.

Another man is arranging and paying out the thongs to a third, who is evidently walking backward in time-honored fashion, twisting as he goes.

Coming down to more recent times we find that rope-making had been going on for centuries with probably very little change, up to the time of the introduction of machinery and the establishment of the factory system.

In the early days to which we have referred, all the yarn for rope-making was spun by hand in the time-honored way. We are able to represent to our readers by the photographs shown, this now almost lost art. The material shown in the pictures is American hemp, which because the earlier machines were not adapted to working this softer fiber, continued to be spun by hand long after manila was spun chiefly on machines.

The hemp was first hackled, as is also shown by our photograph, the hackle or “hechel” being simply a board having long, sharp steel teeth set into it. This combed out the tow or short, matted fiber, leaving the clean, straight hemp. This “strike” of hemp the spinner wrapped about his waist, bringing the ends around his back and tucking them into his belt, thus keeping the material in place without knot or twist, and allowing the fibers to pay out freely.

The workman in our picture is Johnny Moores, an old-time expert hand-spinner, who can walk off backward from the wheel with his wad of hemp, spinning with each hand a thread as fine and even as can be asked for. In the photograph, in order to show the process more clearly, one large yarn is being spun.

The large wheel, usually turned by a boy, is used to convey power to the “whirls,” or small spindles carrying hooks upon which the fiber is fastened. These whirls, revolving, give the twist to the yarn as the spinner deftly pays out the fiber, regulating it with skillful fingers to preserve the uniformity and proper size of the yarn. As he goes backward down the long walk through the “squares of sunlight on the floor” he throws the trailing yarns over the “stakes” placed at intervals along the walk for the purpose.

The spinning “grounds” were usually arranged with wheels at either end, so that spinners reaching the farther end, could go back to their starting point spinning another set of yarns.

Then in the case of small ropes, the strands could be made by attaching two or more yarns to the “whirl” and twisting them together, reversing the motion to give the strands a twist opposite to that given the yarns. These strands were twisted together, again reversing the motion, making a rope. Thus it will be seen that, reduced to its lowest terms, rope-making consists simply of a series of twisting processes. The twisting of the yarns into the strand is known as “forming” or putting in the “foreturn.” The final process is “laying,” “closing” or putting in the “after turn.” Horse-power was used in old times for forming and laying rope which was too large to be made by hand.

How all this work is now done in a modern rope factory by ingeniously devised machinery we shall now see.

The opening room where the fiber is made ready for the preparation machinery is a reminder of the days when all rope-making processes were hand work. The bales are first opened up—in the case of Manila this means cutting the straw matting put on to protect the fiber in shipment. Then the hanks which are packed in various ways—sometimes doubled, sometimes twisted—are taken out and straightened and the band at the end of the hank removed.

No machinery has yet been perfected for doing the work just described but the first of the preparation processes, a short step beyond, tells quite a different story. Here the hanks of such fibers as require a special cleaning treatment are placed on fast working hackling machines which comb away most of the snarls, loose tow and dirt.

At this point hard fibers—Manila, Sisal and New Zealand—are usually oiled to soften them and to make them more workable for the operations that follow. The oil, furthermore, acts as a preservative. It is a matter of importance to the buyer, however, that the fiber should not be too heavily oiled, for that merely increases the weight and cost of the rope without improving its quality.

The wonder of modernism in rope-making is nowhere more striking than in the preparation room. To pass from one end, where the raw hemp is received just as it left the hands of the native Filipino laborer with his crude methods, down through the long rows of machines to the draw frames from which the sliver is delivered in a form that can be likened to a stream of molten metal, is to cover decades of inventive genius and mechanical development.

The mechanism performs its work so accurately that at first glance the man feeding the fiber into the machine and all the other men, busy about their various duties, would appear to be playing very minor parts in modern rope making. In reality, expert workmanship and watchfulness are very important factors. Good rope depends no more upon scientific machine processes than upon ceaseless attention to the little details, and this is especially true in the preparation room.

Before taking up the distinctly modern machines so largely used now in the final processes of rope-making—the forming of strands, laying of common ropes and closing of cable-laid goods—we will describe the rope-walk where much of this work is still best carried on.

For making tarred goods in all but the smaller sizes the walk has certain advantages not afforded by newer methods. It also provides efficient equipment for turning out the largest ropes, which would otherwise require special machinery.

The long alleys or grounds where the work takes place are usually laid out in pairs, one for forming, the other for laying and closing. Each ground has a track to accommodate the machines used and an endless band-rope which conveys the power.

At the head of the forming ground stand frames holding the bobbins of yarn. The yarns for each strand first pass through a plate perforated in concentric circles. This arrangement gives each yarn the correct angle of delivery into a tube where the whole mass gets a certain amount of compression.

As the top truck is forced ahead by the twisting process, the ropemaker by means of greater or less leverage on the “tails”—the loose ropes shown in our picture—preserves a correct lay in the rope. The stakes on which the strands rest are removed one by one to allow the top truck to pass, and then replaced to support the rope until the laying is finished and the reeling in of the rope begun.

The closing process on cable-laid goods is like the laying except that the twist is reversed. The work now being with three complete ropes—frequently very large—a heavier top truck is necessary, and this must often be ballasted, as shown in our illustration, to keep down the vibration which would otherwise tend to lift the truck off the track.

Modern rope-making ingenuity reaches its high-water mark in the compound laying-machine where the two operations of forming the strands and laying them into a rope are combined. Up to a certain point this method is more economical than that in which the forming and laying are unconnected. Fewer machines are required for a given output—hence, less floor space and fewer workmen. The time-saving element also enters in.

The compound laying machine must, however, be stopped each time that the supply of yarn on any bobbin is so low as to call for a fresh one. This would occur so frequently in the case of the larger ropes as to offset the advantages just mentioned, hence the machine is used on a limited range of sizes only.

As can be seen in the picture, the machine contains a vertical shaft with upper and lower projecting arms which support the bobbin-flyers—four in number in this particular case. The bobbins within each flyer turn on separate spindles, allowing the yarns to pass up through small guide plates and thence into a tube.

Each flyer is geared to revolve on its own axis, thus twisting its set of yarns into a compact strand. At the same time all the flyers revolve with the main shaft in an opposite direction and form a rope out of the strands as the latter come together in a central tube still higher up.

The rope is drawn through this tube by a series of pulleys which exert a steady pull and so keep the proper twist in the rope. From these pulleys the finished product is delivered onto a separately-driven coiling reel, an automatic device registering meanwhile on a dial the number of fathoms run.

The small reel, seen near the head of the main shaft, holds the small heart rope which is fed into the center of certain four-strand ropes to act as a bed for the strands.

Pure Manila rope is the very best and the most satisfactory for all around use. The character of good Manila fiber is such as to impart to a properly made rope such necessary factors as strength, pliability, and wearing qualities.

Regular 3-strand Manila rope is universally used for all general purposes.

For certain special uses, however, and particularly where the rope is to be used for any kind of sheave work, a 4-strand type of construction will be found the most suitable, as such a rope presents a much firmer, rounder, and greater wearing surface than the ordinary 3-strand. There are many different types of 4-strand rope.

The picture shown on this page represents a coil of 4-strand Manila called “Best Fall.” This rope is made of carefully selected fiber; is 4-strand with heart, and is harder twisted than ordinary goods. Best Fall is adapted for heavy hoisting work, as on coal and grain elevators, cargo and quarry hoists and for pile-driver hammer lines.

The standard length coil of rope is 1,200 feet, although extra long lengths are every day made for such purposes as oil-well drilling, the transmission of power, etc., etc.

Why Do We Go to Sleep?

First, of course, we sleep to rest our body and brain. During our waking hours many, if not all, parts of our bodies are active all the time, and with every movement we exhaust or spend some of our strength. Take the case of your arm, for instance. You may be able to move it up and down fifty or a hundred or more times without getting tired, according to how strong you are, but sooner or later you will not be able to move it any more—it is tired—the life has all gone out of it and it needs rest, in order that it may become strong again. Every time you move your arm you destroy certain parts of its tissues, which can only be replaced during rest. Every activity of your body has the same experience, and the constant work of the brain in directing the various movements and activities of the body, tires it out too. As soon as this condition occurs, the brain tells the other parts of the body that it is time to rest, and even if we try to keep awake and go on with our work or play, or whatever it is we are doing, we find sooner or later that it is impossible. If we persist we fall asleep wherever we happen to be. It is not necessary for all parts of the body to be tired before we sleep. One part alone may be so affected by what it has been doing that it alone causes us to fall asleep. Sometimes the eyes become so tired, while we are looking at the pictures in a book or reading, for instance, that we fall off to sleep quickly. It is perhaps easier to bring on sleep by making the eyes tired than in any other way. That is why so many people read themselves to sleep. It is such a gradual passing into unconsciousness that you can hardly ever tell where you left off reading. It is said that when we are awake our bodies are continually planning for the time when we shall need sleep and are continually making some little germ which is carried to the brain as soon as made, and when there are a sufficient number of these little germs piled up in the brain, we go to sleep. The process of sleeping then destroys these germs, and when they are destroyed we again wake up.

Why Do We Wake Up in the Morning?

To answer this we must go back to the answer to the question, “What makes us go to sleep?” We go to sleep in order to secure the rest which our body and brain need to build up the parts which have been destroyed during our active work or play.

We wake up naturally when we have had sufficient rest. We wake up naturally, however, only when the destroyed parts of the body have been replaced. Other things may waken us—a noise of any kind, loud or slight, a startling dream or a moving thing that disturbs our sleep—according to how fully we are asleep. It is said that sometimes only parts of the body are asleep; that we are not always all asleep when we appear to sleep, and that we dream because some part of the body is awake or active. This is probably true. Now then, when all of anyone of us is sleepy, we go into what is called a deep sleep and at such times only something out of the ordinary would awaken us. Gradually, however, various parts of the body become rested and they are said to wake up, and finally when all of us is rested, we naturally wake up all over. If you are healthy and sleep naturally, in a place where you cannot be disturbed by noises or movements of others, you should be “wide awake” when your eyes open and be ready to get up at once. If you feel like turning over for another snooze, when it is time to get up, you did not go to bed as early as you should have done, or else some part of you did not get the required amount of sleep it should have had.

Where Are We When Asleep?

We are just where we lie. It seems to us, of course, because of our dreams when we are asleep that we are away off some place else. Often when we wake up we wonder for a minute or two where we are, as everything seems so strange to us, and it takes a minute or so for us to remember that we are in our own bed, if that is where we went to sleep. This is because of the dreams we have while asleep. In past times the uncivilized savages in various parts of the earth believed that when any of them went to sleep that the real person so asleep actually went away, leaving the body behind; in other words, that the soul went traveling. They thought this because it was the only explanation they could think of for the dreams they had, since almost invariably the dream was about some other place.

Why Does It Seem When We Have Slept All Night That We Have Been Asleep Only a Minute?

This is because all our ideas of passage of time are based on our conscious periods. When we are asleep we are unconscious. It is the same as if time did not pass, and when we wake up the tendency is to start in where we left off. We have learned by experience that when we go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning that much time has passed and this unconscious knowledge keeps us from thinking always that we have been asleep but a minute. But if you drop asleep in the day time, no matter how long you sleep, you wake up thinking that you have been asleep only a minute, and sometimes it is difficult to convince yourself that you have been asleep at all. Sometimes after being asleep for hours, your first waking thought is a continuation of what your mind was on when you went to sleep. The reason for this, as stated above, is that we cannot keep track of passing time when we are asleep, because we are perfectly unconscious.

Why Should We Not Sleep With the Moon Shining On Us?

There is no harm in letting the moon shine on us while we are asleep. This is one of the queer superstitions that has developed in the world. A great many people think that something terrible will happen if the moon is allowed to shine into the room where they are asleep. Not so many believe this as used to do so, thanks to the more enlightened condition of things in the world.

To prove to yourself that no harm can come to you through the moon shining into your bedroom or upon you as you are asleep, you have only to remember that a great many men and very many more animals sleep out under the sky every night and that the moon must shine on them while they are asleep. As a matter of fact, people who sleep out under the open sky are generally in possession of more rugged health than people who sleep in beds in closed rooms. So it is rather better to let the moon shine on you while asleep than not.

This belief probably started with some one who had trouble in going to sleep with the moon shining on him, because the light of the moon might have a tendency to keep him awake. It is easier to go to sleep in a dark room than in one that is lighted, because when there is no light there is less about you to keep you awake.

What Makes Us Dream?

Dreams originate in the brain. The brain has many parts and some parts of it may be asleep while others are not. If all parts of the brain are actually asleep, it is said there can be no dreams. We have dreams about things which seem very natural while we are having them, and which we know would be impossible if we were wholly awake, because those parts of the brain which control the other parts are probably asleep while the dream is taking place, and it is then that we have those fantastic and highly imaginative dreams, for the brain is not under control in every sense.

We used to believe that dreams have no purpose, just as now we know that they have no meaning. But it has been discovered that dreams have a purpose in that they protect our sleep. You see, every dream is started by some disturbance or excitement of the body or mind. Something may be pressing or touching us while we sleep, or a strange sound may start a dream, or perhaps it is some uncomfortable position in which we are lying or trouble in the stomach on account of eating something we should not. Whatever it may be, those things wake up some part of the brain, because if all parts of the brain were asleep, we could not feel or hear anything. Any such disturbance or excitement would naturally excite the whole brain and wake us up completely if it were not for dreams. The dream takes care of this and enables the rest of the body and brain to sleep while one or more parts of the brain are disturbed and even perhaps awake. We may perhaps have become uncovered in some way. This would produce a cold feeling and might wake a part of the brain and cause a dream about skating or some other winter amusement or experience, or even perhaps one about falling through the ice, and still we might not be uncovered so much that it would make any great difference. The dream comes and we go on with our sleep without waking up, whereas if it were not for the dream we would awaken. In other words, dreams are just another wise provision of nature which enables us to go right on and get the rest we need, even if our digestion is out of order, or some part of our brain is disturbed through something we read about, or were told of, or we thought of while still awake.

Why Do We Know We Have Dreamed When We Wake Up?

Because we remember some of our dreams. Sometimes we do not remember the dreams we dreamed. This is just like what happens when we are awake. We remember some things and forget others.

Dreams are a sort of safety valve in our sleep. We dream because not all of our brain is asleep at the time and it is a wise provision of nature that permits the waking part of the brain to go on working without disturbing the sleep of the other parts of the brain. If a large part of the brain is awake and engaged in making the dream, we are very apt to remember the dream; but when we dream and cannot remember what the dream was, it is because only a very small portion of the brain was awake and making a dream.

What Causes Nightmare?

A nightmare is a dream of what we might call a vigorous kind. A nightmare is caused by a feeling of intense fear, horror, anxiety or the inability to escape from some great danger. A nightmare is the result of either an irregular flow of blood to the brain or by a stomach that is not in proper condition.

The name for this kind of a dream comes from the words night and mare. The latter word in one of its several meanings indicates an incubus or evil vision, and a dream of an evil vision involving fear or horror came to be termed a mare. Since they occurred generally at night, since most people sleep at night, they became known as nightmares. Nightmares are more common to children than grown-up people because children are more apt to have an uneven flow of blood to the brain and also are more apt to eat the things which put the stomach in a state of unrest which causes nightmares. Grown-up people are more likely to have learned to avoid the abuses of the stomach which are apt to produce nightmares.

What Are Ghosts?

The idea of ghosts is the result of a mistake of the brain or an attempt to account for something of which we see the results, but have no actual knowledge. There are no ghosts. There are many forces at work in the world of which we know nothing as yet. Many of the wonderful things that occur in the world are as yet mysteries to the mind of man. Every little while man discovers one of these new forces, and then he is able to understand many things plainly which were up to then surrounded with mystery and in the minds of superstitious people attributed to spirits or ghosts. Long before we understood as much as we do now of the workings of electricity (and they say we know only a little of its wonders as yet) many of the natural wonders produced by electricity were attributed to ghosts.

Most of the marvelous tales of the wonders performed by and visits from ghosts are the result of disturbances of the brain in the people who think they see the ghosts and the results of their work.

A creature without imagination does not pretend to see or believe in ghosts. Man is the only animal which possesses the ability to imagine things and so the ghosts we hear about are the creatures of the disturbed brains of men. Generally in the ghost stories we hear of, the ghost is described as wearing clothes—usually white. A bed sheet thrown over the foot of the bed may appear to a half-awake person as the outline of the figure of a ghost and to one of a highly imaginative temperament without the courage of investigation, become forever a real ghost. Usually what is supposed to be a ghost is only a creation of the mind—a vision such as we can develop during a dream—oftentimes, however, what you look at when you think you see a ghost is an actual something such as the sheet referred to, but which takes the form of the ghost in the brain of the person who is looking at it through eyes that really see it, but out of a brain that for the moment at least is far off its balance.

Why Do Girls Like Dolls?

Girls like dolls because they come into the world for the purpose of becoming mothers and the love which they display for dolls is the mother instinct which begins to show itself early in life. To the little girl the doll is a make-believe child. It satisfies her as long as there are no real babies to take its place, but any little girl will drop her dollie if she is given an opportunity to play at dolls with a real live baby instead. This is a very interesting fact in connection with the human race. Boys sometimes play with dolls, but not so often, and any kind of a boy will give up playing with a doll as soon as a toy engine or some other boy’s toy appears for him. A boy has certain mannish instincts which a girl has not. We have many other instincts besides the instinct of parenthood and each of them has its origin in some certain kind of feeling which is born within us and is capable of development along interesting lines.

What Makes the Works of a Watch Go?

A watch like any other machine which we have, only goes when power is applied in some form or another. In the case of a watch it is a spring. A spring is an elastic body, such as a strip of steel, as in the case of the watch, coiled spirally which, when bent or forced out of its natural state, has the power of recovering its shape again by virtue of its elastic power. The natural state of a watch spring is to be open flat and spread out to its full length. When you wind a watch you coil this spring, i.e., you bend it out of its natural shape. As soon as you stop winding the spring begins to uncoil itself, trying to get back to its natural shape, and in doing so makes the wheels of the watch which operate the hands go round. The spring then, or rather its elasticity, which always makes an effort to get back to its natural state, is the power which makes the watch go. Men who make watches arrange the spring and the other machinery in the watch in such a way that it will uncoil itself only at a certain rate of speed. Sooner or later the spring loses its elasticity and then its power to make the watch go.

What Makes a Hot Box?

When you put oil on the axle, however, the oil fills up the hollows between the little irregular bumps on both the axle and the hub, and makes them both smooth—almost perfectly so. This reduces the friction and keeps the axle and hub from becoming hot and expanding. The less friction that is developed, the more easily the wheel will turn.