The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-19 00:00:00

A NEW COTTON HYDRAULIC PRESS.

Just now, while every improvement to facilitate th
growth of cotton, and its shipment to this country, is viewed
with peculiar interest, a novel arrangement for working a
hydraulic press for packing cotton, constructed by Messrs.
Peel, Williams, and Peel, of this city, is worthy of notice.
To overcome the difficulty of inducing native or coolie la-
bourers to continue their efforts at the pumping process for
a sufficient length of time, the vertical pump, with its back-
tiring, lifting, and depressing action, has, in this new
arrangement, given place to an ordinary capstan, round
which six men will cheerfully walk while pushing the arras
of the capstan—it may be, to the whistle of a man seated on
its broad iron centre-plate. The apparatus, which was tested
last week, is the first of its kind, and is going to Egypt, to
Messrs. Taylor and Co. of Alexandria, for pressing cotton
bales. The set of pumps consists of a capstan, having six
handles, which describe a circle of 12 feet in diameter, —its
axis terminating in a crank near the bottom, and working
through a suitable iron framing, fixed upon a round cast-
iron cistern, five feet diameter by 18 inches deep. The
crank is supplied with a pair of brass steps, which have
suitable recesses for the reception of the connecting rod
from each of the six pumps, thus causing each
revolution of the crank to give motion to each of the
pumps in succession, and ensuring a constant stream of
water. The six pumps consist of two of three inches, two of
two inches, and two of one and a half inches diameter, all
having four inches' stroke. The four largest pumps are
supplied with self-acting valves or rams, having a quarter
of an inch rise, and attached by means of levers to the
large pumps, each being loaded with weights for a certain
pressure, and each one different. The utility of this arrange-
ment of relieving rams will be seen when we describs the
mode of packing a bale of cotton preparatory to its ship-
ment from Egypt. The press (having a rise of seven feet in
this case) is furnished with a long timber box, three inches
in thickness, bound with strong iron bands, and running on
an iron tramway. The box, having a false bottom, is filled
with cotton from an upper floor, a man treading down
the cotton and spreading it in an even manner until the
box is full ; it is then wheeled into the press, the false
bottom coming directly over the press table. The process
of pumping up the press table into the interior of the box
then commenoes, the men walking round the capstan for
about five minutes, when, by the resistance of the cotton
to further compression, one of the relieving rams is
lifted by the pressure of water in the pipes and thus
releases its pump from further action. A similar effect is
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complete the works in about eight minutes. The com-
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pression of cotton is from 7ft. to 2ft. in depth. The box at
the middle of the pressing operation is wheeled away from
the press (a door-like side in it being opened for the purpose),
leaving the half-pressed cotton in the press, and, being pro-
vided with a spare false bottom, is again filled with cotton
by hand labour so as to be ready for the press as soon as it
is at liberty. When a bale has been sufficiently pressed,
and the valves closed, the pressure is taken off the pipes
and the pumps, when the relieving rams all fall back into
their original places and every pump is then ready to corn-
tnence operations on a fresh bale. Animal or steam power
may easily be applied to this novel form of cotton press.—
Manchester Guardian.

FIRE AT LIMEHOUSE.—Last night a fire, which
was attended with a serious amount of damage, broke out
in the premises belonging to Mr. William Priot, situate in
Oak-lane, near the new cut of Limehouse Basin. The fire
appeared to have commenced in the first floor. The firemen
by great perseverance managed to save the adjoining houses,
jeopardised.
THE at one time were greatly
THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH AT NORWOOD.—An
inquest has been held on the body of the gentleman found
in the wood at Norwood. Nothing was elicited as to the
identity of deceased, and the surgeon gave it as his opinion
that it was a case of suicide, and the jury returned a verdict
of—Found dead.

A MAN OF GREAT " SINGLENEsS OF PURPOSE."
—An old bachelor,—fix.