The operations which follow are very similar. A number of “ropings” are allowed to feed together into a first, slowly revolving set of pins and are drawn out again by a high-speed set into a smaller sliver, the pins becoming finer on each succeeding machine until the draw frame is reached. Here the fiber is pulled from a single set of pins between two rapidly moving leather belts called aprons. On all of these machines the fiber passes between rollers as it goes onto and leaves the pins and the sliver is given its cylindrical form by being drawn through a circular opening. A finished sliver must conform to the special size desired for spinning. Different sizes are secured by changing the number of “ropings” which are allowed to feed into the fine spreader. When “rule of thumb” standards of measurement were practiced the size of the sliver was tested by the number of turns which could be clasped in the hand between the ends of the thumb and forefinger. If the workman’s hand chanced to be different from the official hand, he made allowances accordingly. At best this was a rough and ready method, but through long practice the men could become surprisingly expert. Mechanical grips or clasps are now used because they are more convenient and afford greater accuracy. 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 the attention paid to the details of the preparation room is especially important. A rope expert once said, “Any manufacturer can make rope--it is a simple operation; but very few can make _good rope_ because few are willing to devote the necessary amount of pains to each of the little operations in the process.” [Illustration: PLYMOUTH CORDAGE COMPANY FACTORY TODAY AND IN EARLY DAYS] [Illustration] CHAPTER III SPINNING OF ROPE YARN AND BINDER TWINE