NEW YORK APRIL 18 1857. We are not personally fully acquainted with the extent of the rope manufacture through business have assured us that nearly as much of the city of Brooklyn L. I. alone as in all the other American rope factories put to above-named locality numerous large brick structures with large wooden sheds attached to them (some are one thousand feet long) ' Newtown salt meadows.' Here although there is no running stream an abundance of gines and the other purposes required by sinking wells to a very moderate depth. In the long wooden sheds—excepting in one fac hand rope walks in
NEW YORK APRIL 18 1857. We are not personally fully acquainted with the extent of the rope manufacture through business have assured us that nearly as much of the city of Brooklyn L. I. alone as in all the other American rope factories put to above-named locality numerous large brick structures with large wooden sheds attached to them (some are one thousand feet long) ' Newtown salt meadows.' Here although there is no running stream an abundance of gines and the other purposes required by sinking wells to a very moderate depth. In the long wooden sheds—excepting in one fac hand rope walks in this locality doing but a small amount of work while there are eight bales of hemp weekly or one hundred and four thousand bales per annum amounting largest factories—Thursby's and Wall's—re quire four hundred bales each per week the each. A bale of hemp weighs about three inch in diameter and one hundred and twenty fathoms long weighs sixty-five pounds. These eight factories therefore spin as much hemp every year as would make a line of this character of rope nearly sixty-six thousand miles long. An immense amount of steam power is re quired to drive rope machinery. In the large factory of Messrs. Thursby there are two splendid steam engines estimated at 300 horse power—high pressure expanding and condensing—employed for driving the preparatory operations ; in the rope walk and in the apartment for preparing tarred rope there is one of fifty horse power making horses for one company. In one room the bales of hemp are spread out to undergo the first process in this busi ness and singular as it may seem it is the same as that employed to prepare sheep wool for carding and spinning ; it is oiling it whale oil being employed. The second process which the hemp undergoes is scutching to remove the dirt and impurities and loosen the fibres. The scutchers are large revolving ries and are encased in wooden shrouding excepting a small hole or door at one end. Here the operator
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