1827 - Letter requesting replacement parts for an early rope-making machine

Southbridge, Massachusetts, 1827. Envelope or Cover. Very good. This one-page stampless letter, measuring 16" x 9.75" unfolded and dateline "Southbridge Decr. 11. 1827," was sent by Wolcott & Graves to John R. Matkinson of Middleton, Connecticut. It bears an uncommon circular Southbridge, Massachusetts postmark with no outer rim and a "10" rate mark. In nice shape.

In this letter, Wolcott & Graves request replacement parts for a rope-making machine. It reads in part:

"Please send BY Stage to Southbridge 2 Aprons for the roping machines as those first put on are about given out; So much that all the ends cannot be run. When [we] set it in operation [we] found the leathers cut, and since the aprons were bad, and that you would furnish others if they did not answer. The machine operates well, and we are making interest for you in their favour. Some of our roping was sent to Boston and . . . they were excellingly pleased with it.

"We are satisfied that it is the best roping machine in use. You will please send me a line by return of mail and give me your opinion about the Tariff, and President, office seeker, and Political Jugglers with which or Country at the present day greatly abounds. . .."

. Before 1827, rope was twisted by hand in labor-intensive "ropewalks" that stretched for hundreds of feet. However, inventors began examining mechanical methods that had only recently been introduced for winding yarn and thread in the textile mills to see if the process could be used in the cordage industry. It would appear that Matkinson was one of these inventors working in conjunction with Wolcott & Graves, partners who owned the famous Wolcott Woolen Manufacturing Company in Southbridge, Massachusetts, which at the time was the largest cotton mill in the world. Their company never became major rope producers, so perhaps Matkinson's rope-making machine was not "the best roping machine in use.

Although Middletown was a bustling community by 1827, overland trips between it and Massachusetts were not direct. The replacement aprons would have been sent by stage to Hartford and transferred to another coach for delivery to Wolcott and Groves.

(For more information see "James Wolcott (pioneer)" and "Hamilton Woolen Company Historic District" at Wikipedia, and "Mechanized Rope Making" at the Historic Dockyard Chatham website.)

At the time of listing, there are no other original source material related to mechanized rope-making is for sale in the trade. The Rare Book Hub records that several items related to Robert Fulton's attempt to make a profitable rope-making machine have been sold at auction. OCLC identifies one collection of business papers from a Connecticut ropemaker in the 1820s and 1830s, however, it makes no mention whether the work was done by hand or machine.

A fine letter from the earliest years of mechanized rope-making in the United States.

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