US65102A - Improvement in cotton-bale ties - Google Patents

Description

y UNITED "STATES PATENTOFFICE MATTHEW E. MAURY, or NEW oELEANs, LOUISIANA.;

`|MPR0VEMENT IN CoTToN-BALE TIES.,

Specification forming part of Letters lPatent No. 65,102, dated May 28, 1867.

had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification.

It has been found that while wire-rope presents the great advantage over hoop-iron, in

banding bales of cotton, of being cheaper and stronger, and less liable to injure the bagging and the cotton from rust, there is yet great difficulty in so attaching or tying the ends thereof, so that it will not be weakened to such a degree by the abrupt bending requisite in making a knot as to break after the bale has been withdrawn from the compressing-machine, under the enormous tension that is brought to bear upon it by the expansive force of the cotton within the bale. In nearly every form of knot yet devised or employed in fastening the ends together, there are bends in the rope so short or abrupt that the moment the strain becomes severe it gives way at these bends.

My invention remedies this difficulty, for it presents a Inode of fastening the ends without making any knot whatever, and hence all necessity for making short bends is avoided, and all danger obviated of weakening the rope at the point of connection; and it consists of a plate of wrought or malleable iron, that is cut by a suitable machine in such a manner that two sets of flanges are produced, which, when folded over toward the center of the plate, provide a support for the loops in the ends of the wire-rope, in which there are no angles or edges to abrade or cut the same, but, on the contrary, a smooth, rounded surface, that is sufficiently extended to prevent all contingency of a short bend of the rope at the point of junction. In doubling over the two sets of iianges, a shoulder is developed at each end of the plate, which not only prevents the loop from slipping off the same, but also serves to hold the loop in such a position as to bring the tension upon that part of it that rests upon the rounded points of support. But my invention will be better understood by referring to the drawings.

Figure l shows a plate, A, in which a set of the projecting flanges (the one marked a, and the other c') are folded upon opposite sides thereof-that is to say, one set upon each side of the plate. In this figure, it will be observed, theloops at the ends of the wirerope, and which are formed by simply twisting the said ends, as shown at all the figures upon the drawings, pass over the plate from opposite sides.

Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of the same plate, in which are shown the flanges as when folded over for usethat is to say, one set of said flanges. Both Figs. l and 2 show the position of the wire-rope in relation to the plate and its collars b b, at the ends thereof, when the invention is in actual use.

Fig. 3 exhibits a view of the bottom side of the plate, by which I mean the side that is placed next the bale, when both sets of lianges are turned upon, and the loops at both ends of the rope are supported from, the same side of the plate. When this form of plate is used, it is necessary, in order to facilitate the pulling of the loops around it, that it should be bent as shown by the side view at Fig. 4. The loops, it will be perceived, are nearly circular, and consequently they have nowhere any abrupt bend, no matter what may be the degree of tension to which they are subjected, and hence, also, inasmuch as the parts are doubled at the point of junction with the plate, the rope will yield or break anywhere along its length before it will at said junction. This I have demonstrated by repeated experiments, and the reason is, that by reason of the absence of any acute bend in it, the full normal strength of the rope, unimpaired in any respect, remains intact.

In the practice of my invention the plate may be attached to one end of the rope before it is applied to a bale, or both ends may be attached to the plate as the operation of banding the bale is being performed. The method of applying it in either case is so very obvious and simple that the dullest laborer will at once understand it. After the bale of cotton has reached its destination, and the bands need to be taken oif, the simple cutting of the plate at the point c, with a pair of shears or other proper appliance, is all that is necessary,

' and thus the rope is preserved Without being shortened or injured in any Way, and so may be used again in banding another bale, and' so on ad infinitum.

My invention is especially designed for use in connection with Wire-rope; but it is obvious it will be nearly as efficient and useful for fastening the ends of wire when the same is used for the like purpose of vbanding cottonbales.

MATTHEW F. MAURY.

Witnesses:

RUFUs R. RHODES, H. B. BOND.

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