CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

Records of civilization are incapable of furnishing the era when the equivalent of strands or cords were first used, singly or collectively, for the purpose of holding two or more articles securely in position. But, although it is impossible to fix a period, one might safely say that the original material which served the purpose was some kind of light twig or lanceolate leaf, and that its appearance when in use as a binder strip differed little if at all from its appearance in the natural process of growth. Even at the present day some of these runners are still used, notably with others the rattan canes for binding bales of manila fibre and other purposes.

The wants of prehistoric man would be very few indeed, but, although he was accustomed in many climates to make use of very scanty clothing or covering, and, in many cases, was practically without any covering, it is obvious that it would be necessary to provide himself with food--the first essential condition to life. In his efforts to secure the necessary food-stuffs, animate or inanimate, it is safe to conclude that some type of ribbon-shaped vegetable material would be necessary or desirable at an early stage, and probably at the same time or a little later period sinews of different kinds would be brought into use.

As years rolled on, further uses would undoubtedly be found for various kinds of fibrous material, and more improved methods would be applied in adapting the vegetable matter and the like to the purposes intended, as well as more care exercised in the selection of the materials. Some of the characteristics which are essential in practically all binders or tying strips are length, strength, pliability and a tendency to resist atmospheric influences and other natural agents.

The gradual development of civilization, and the gradually increasing demand for suitable substances to be used as binders and for various other purposes would naturally lead to improvements in the utilization of fibrous and other suitable plants, and ultimately to more or less scientific methods of treating these plants with the object of removing the objectionable constituents which are useless for cordage purposes, and of retaining those parts which are considered to be most suitable for the purpose in view.

A complete description of the evolution of modern cord and cordage is practically impossible, for the simple reason that there is no full record of the efforts of many of the earlier pioneers in the various stages, and it is quite possible that many early and praiseworthy improvements have been forgotten or overshadowed, or perhaps absorbed, by the more modern and more elaborate methods which are now indispensable for the successful prosecution of this important branch of the textile industry.

The separation of fibrous material from various kinds of plants is by no means of modern origin, for the great antiquity of yarns which have been spun from vegetable and animal fibres is universally acknowledged. Reference to the process of preparing flax for the purpose of spinning appears in Exodus ix, verse 31, while the first Biblical reference to thread--one of the technical names for a continuous length of prepared fibrous material--is in Genesis xiv, verse 23: “That I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet.” Again, another early reference in