IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC PRESSES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Hollings, of Farsley, near Leeds, in the
County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC
PRESSES."
Sealed the 28th April 1876, and dated the 2nd November 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Hollings at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents with his Petition, on the
2nd November 1875.
I, ALFRED HOLLINGS, of Farsley, near Leeds, in the County of York,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS
IN HYDRAULIC PRESSES," to be as follows:-
:-
These improvements have particular reference to those presses
employed for pressing "magma" from refuse waters obtained from
woollen or other manufactories. Part of my improvements may be
also employed on presses used for other purposes.
Firstly. When employed for the extraction of "magma" I bring the
retaining rods used in fixing the steam box in the interior thereof instead

page_text: of the exterior, these serve as guides for the pressing plates and prevent
them sliding or slipping out during the filling of the steam box with
"magma"; these plates are of a similar construction to those ordinarily
used except in their being recessed to receive the retaining rods. I
provide sliding hinges for the door of the steam box, by which arrange-
ment the door may be drawn out of the box and opened with ease; the
hinges are so connected with each other that the motion of opening or
shutting and the sliding movement may be given to both simultaneously.
The door when closed is required to be perfectly steam-tight; for this
purpose I employ swing cramps which are so arranged on the steam box
that they can readily be brought into operation and caused to press the
door too when closed; this dispenses with the long rods usually
employed.
Secondly. In order to prevent the heat of the steam box being trans-
mitted to the hydraulic ram, thence to its packing, I fix between the
ram and the sliding rod carrying the table a block of wood or other
equivalent non-conducting substance; this has the effect of preserving
the packing in the hydraulic cylinder.
In order to steady the table I provide suitable guide pulleys which I
mount in suitable bearings thereon, these are caused to run on the
retaining rods and thus keep the table in position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Hollings in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED 2
HOLLINGS, of Farsley, near Leeds, in the County of York, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Second day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the g
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Hollings, Her special
license that I, the said Alfred Hollings, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Hollings, my exe-

page_text: cutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC PRESSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alfred Hollings, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or onc
of their hands and scals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was
to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Hollings, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :--
My improvements more particularly have reference to presses
employed for pressing "magma" from refuse waters obtained from
woollen or other manufactories. Part of such improvements however
may also be applied to presses used for other purposes.
In applying my Invention to presses employed for the extraction of
magma I proceed in the following manner :-I place the retaining rods
used in fixing the steam box in the interior of the press instead of on its
exterior, as heretofore practised; by so doing they are caused to serve
as guides for the pressing plates and so prevent such plates from sliding
or slipping out as has hitherto been the case when filling the steam box
with magma, thereby causing great annoyance.
The pressing plates employed by me are similar in construction to
those ordinarily in use, with this exception, that in each of the four
corners or in two corners only if preferred of each of such plates I form
suitable notches or recesses into which the retaining rods which bolt the
press together fit, as before described, and so securely hold the pressing
plates in position.
Another of my improvements is as follows:-Hitherto it has been
customary to place around the frame of the door of the steam box either
a flat hempen packing or more frequently a wooden frame in order to

page_text: screw up the door and thus make a steam-tight joint. The door however
when hung on fixed centres invariably damages the wood placed around
the press sides, and when the pins fastened to the door are made to work
in slot holes in order to allow it to be firmly screwed up to the packing
the door falls over to one side and thus frequently spoils the bottom end 5
of the frame. Now to obviate this disadvantage I provide sliding binges
for the door of the steam box, such hinges working in a slide on the
side of the press, and I connect the slides together by means of two
levers working with a pin through a slot hole at the ends of the levers
so that the motion of opening or shutting and the sliding movement 1
may be given to both simultaneously, by which arrangement the door
may be drawn out from the box and opened with ease.
Another feature of my Invention is my improved method of rendering
the door when closed perfectly steam-tight, this I do by making one or
more small cast-iron cramps and swinging it or them to the side of the
press, from whence such cramp or cramps can be readily brought into
operation and caused to press the door to when closed, and when the
door is required to be opened it is only necessary to loosen and swing
such cramp or cramps to one side in order to open the door. By this
means I entirely dispense with the long cross bars hitherto usually
employed, and all the labour and inconvenience attendant thereon.
Another of my improvements is as follows:-In order to prevent the
heat of the steam box being transmitted to the hydraulic ram and thence
to its packing I fix between the ram and the sliding rod carrying the
table a block of wood or other equivalent non-conducting substance;
this I do by simply lengthening the ram and then cutting it in two
picces and placing the block of wood or other equivalent non-conducting
substance between them, thus preserving the packing in the hydraulic
cylinder from being hardened or otherwise damaged.
Another of my improvements is that in order to steady the table I
provide suitable guide pulleys mounted in suitable bearings thereon,
such guide pulleys I cause to run on the retaining rods and thus keep
the table in position.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim
and desire to secure by the hercin-before in part recited Letters Patent
is as follows, that is to say :-

page_text: 1stly. The fixing of the retaining rods inside the press, and by notching
the press plates as before described, making such rods answer for guides
or fixtures for the plates in order to prevent their slinning