Cordage and cordage hemp and fibres by Thomas Woodhouse and Peter Kilgour
QR code
"Cordage and cordage hemp and fibres" by Thomas Woodhouse and Peter Kilgour is an industrial handbook written in the early 20th century. It explains the sources, preparation, spinning, and manufacture of cordage—ropes, cords, and twines—linking plant botany and cultivation to fibre extraction, grading, machinery, and practical rope-making, with notes on trade and marketing. The opening of the book sets its scope and value: a brief preface stresses cordage’s essential role in industry
and promises a compact guide to fibres, processes, and machinery. It then defines “cordage” and surveys the three main fibre sources—leaf fibres (e.g., agave/sisal), bast fibres from stems (true hemp, flax, jute), and cotton from seed hairs—illustrating their structure and why cotton’s twist aids driving ropes. Early chapters distinguish soft fibres (true hemp from Cannabis sativa) from hard fibres (manila, sisal, New Zealand, Mauritius), outline hemp cultivation, and describe retting, breaking, and scutching, from traditional water-retting to mechanical methods. The narrative turns to hard fibres with practical notes on growing and harvesting manila and sisal, decortication, washing and baling setups, standardized grading, and concise production and price data, then begins the machinery section for soft fibres, describing softening, cutting/breaking, hackling strategy, and the start of the spread-board process where short lengths are formed into a continuous sliver. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Download for free
For your e-reader or reading app — Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, Calibre etc.
Kindle → Use Send-to-Kindle
- Download the EPUB3 file above
- Upload it on the Amazon site your Kindle is registered with: amazon.com/sendtokindle for the US, amazon.co.uk/sendtokindle for the UK etc.
- It appears on your Kindle and in the Kindle app
Kobo, Nook etc. → Transfer via USB
- Download the EPUB3 file on your computer
- Connect your e-reader by USB and tap "Connect" on its screen
- Drag the file onto the e-reader drive
Phone, Tablet or Computer → Online or Reading App
Easiest: read online in your browser. Nothing to install.
Or use a reading app:
- Find and install one you like, for example Apple Books, ReadEra or Thorium Reader
- Download the EPUB3 file above
- Open it in the app
More help: iPhone / iPad · Android · Computer
Other formats & older devices
There may be more files related to this item.
About this eBook
| Author | Woodhouse, Thomas, 1862-1933 |
|---|---|
| Author | Kilgour, Peter |
| LoC No. | 20007601 |
| Title | Cordage and cordage hemp and fibres |
| Original Publication | London: Isaac Pitman & Sons, 1919. |
| Series Title | Common commodities and industries |
| Credits | deaurider, Raymond Papworth, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | TS: Technology: Manufactures |
| Subject | Cordage |
| Subject | Fibers |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77619 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-77619-4 |
| Release Date | Jan 4, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 319 downloads in the last 30 days. |
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!