CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OR MEANS OF PACKING BALES OF GOODS OR MERCHANDIZE BY MEANS OF THE HYDRAULIC PRESS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Crooke, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Packer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
METHOD OR MEANS OF PACKING BALES OF GOODS OR MERCHANDIZE BY MEANS
OF THE HYDRAULIC PRESS."
Sealed the 10th May 1861, and dated the 15th November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Crooke at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
November 1860..
I, JOHN CROOKE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Packer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE METHOD OR MEANS OF PACKING BALES OF GOODS OR MERCHANDIZE BY MEANS
OF THE HYDRAULIC PRESS," to be as follows:-
In the ordinary method of packing bales of goods spaces are left between
the blocks of wood, termed "stillages," employed above and beneath the bale.
These spaces are open during the entire pressing of the bale, in order to pass
the confining hoops or bands around the bale when sufficiently reduced in
bulk. It will be evident that these portions of the bale being without support
will with the extreme pressure often become ruptured and burst, to obviate
which this Invention is designed.
The improvement consists in the novel employment or use of wedge-shaped
blocks of wood for filling or closing the said apertures or spaces, two blocks
being put into each space at reverse sides of the bale, so that when the bale
has been sufficiently pressed the wedge-shaped pieces may be driven out,

page_text: leaving the spaces open for the binding hoops or bands, and the pressure being
discontinued the parts of the bale so exposed will not be then liable to burst
or rupture.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Crooke in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CROOKE, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Packer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Crooke, Her special license that I, the said John
Crooke, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Crooke, my executors, 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 " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OR MEANS OF PACKING BALES OF GOODS
OR MERCHANDIZE BY MEANS OF THE HYDRAULIC PRESS," upon the condition,
amongst others, that I, the said John Crooke, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 John Crooke, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
In the ordinary method of packing bales of goods spaces are left between the
blocks of wood or metal termed "stillages," employed above or beneath the bale.
These spaces are open during the entire packing and pressing of the bale, in
order to pass the confining hoops or bands around the bale when sufficiently
reduced in bulk. It will be evident that these portions of the bale being without

page_text: support will with the extreme pressure often become ruptured and burst,
to obviate which this Invention is designed.
The improvement consists in the novel employment or use of wedge-shaped
blocks of wood or metal for filling or closing the apertures or spaces, two
blocks being put into each space at reverse sides of the bale, so that when the
bale has been sufficiently pressed the wedge-shaped pieces may be driven out,
leaving the spaces open for the binding hoops or bands, and the pressure being
discontinued the parts of the bales so exposed will not be then liable to burst
or rupture.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of
about one inch to a foot, and having similar letters of reference marked upon
corresponding parts in the various Figures.
Fig. 1 is a side view of an hydraulic press, shewing the bale of goods and
hoops passed around, and three of the wedges in position to allow of the passing
of the hoops or bands. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same, wherein the position
of the wedges are more clearly seen. Fig. 3 is a detached view, shewing the
wedge when driven in, as in the pressing of the bale; and Fig. 4 shews the
position of the same when the bands are to be passed around the bale.
In Figs. 1, 2, a, a, is the hydraulic press, and 6 the bale of goods; C is the
wedge, in this case made of iron, by which the wedges d, d, are separated from
the bale when the apertures for the bands require to be made.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim the employment and use of wedge-shaped blocks for
filling or closing certain apertures during the pressing of bales of goods which
are required to be subsequently opened for the purpose of confining the pressed
bale with bands or hoops.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Crooke, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.