. Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. edtogether in a regular spiral. This is effected by a conical piece of wood called atop ; it has equidistant grooves along its sides, into which the yarns are laid, and bywhich they are directed as they come together at the smaller end of the top. Tohold back the top and increase the hardness of the rope, two or more cords or tails are attached to its sides, which the workman grasps, and, by winding them aroundthe rope already made, regulates by their friction the hardness of the twist givenit by the twisting-wheel. The success of the lay
. Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. edtogether in a regular spiral. This is effected by a conical piece of wood called atop ; it has equidistant grooves along its sides, into which the yarns are laid, and bywhich they are directed as they come together at the smaller end of the top. Tohold back the top and increase the hardness of the rope, two or more cords or tails are attached to its sides, which the workman grasps, and, by winding them aroundthe rope already made, regulates by their friction the hardness of the twist givenit by the twisting-wheel. The success of the lay, its evenness and firmness, dependupon the judgment of the workman. For improving this process, Mr. Treadwellinvented the instrument which he calls an Iron-tail, the character of the in-vention being comprised in the construction and use of rubbers formed of somesolid body, by which they are capable of preserving their own figure, and of con-straining the rope over which they to assume the figure defined by them. 376 MEMOIR OF DANIEL Combined with the top, it is intended to hold it back in a more equable mannerthan the rope-tails, and thereby give a more equable hardness to the rope. The figure represents a tail to make a four-stranded rope, a a is a disk of woodor iron, having through it the hole or opening B B. c c are four blocks screwed upon the face of the disk a a. d d are foursolid cylinders, or rubbers, which pass from thecentre to the circumference of the disk, eachhaving on its inner end a ridge to lit thecrease between the strands, f f are springs,which, with the thumb-nuts G G, press the rub-bers against the strands at e e. ii ii are holesin the disk, through which pass rods or ropes tokeep the tail at a proper distance from the use the instrument, the strands of whichthe rope is to be made are passed throughthe disk between the rubbers; if the top isthen put in place, and secured at the right dis-tance from the tail, which is so held that
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