asks one puzzle, the answer being “a rope maker”—because ropemakers would apparently walk backward while twisting together the strands of a rope so it didn’t become tangled.) Most bizarre ...

The rope made here has been used on the Cutty Sark ... Three of these formed strands are then moved onto the closing machine. This wraps each of the cables together along the ropewalk.

Later he came up with the ingenious idea of winding strands of rope around a central core of gunpowder. The rope was then varnished and when lit burned at a steady pace. Bickford set up a factory ...