IMPROVEMENTS IN THE HYDRAULIC PRESS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Guerin, Engineer, of Cluny, in the Depart-
ment of the Saone et Loire, Empire of France, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE HYDRAULIC PRESS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Guerin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th December 1860.
I, PIERRE GUERIN, Engineer, of Cluny, in the Department of Saone et
Loire, Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE HYDRAULIC PRESS," to be as follows:-
I propose to simplify the construction of the hydraulic press, to render it
more portable while increasing its resistance to pressure, and to render it
cheaper in construction. I propose, instead of raising the lower plate with
the cap or upper plate of the press by columns of wrought iron as hitherto, to
pass the bands which unite these two parts through grooves made in the body
of the press at its lowest part. These bands will extend to and cross diagonally
(also in grooves) in the cap, so that this latter during the working of the press
will offer no further resistance than will be necessary to keep the bands (which
rise in a parallel manner from top to bottom of the press) at fixed distances,
as well as the lower plate, to form the cage or frame of the press, in which
will rise and fall the platform on which the matters to be pressed will be placed.
I also propose to employ wire, drawn or twisted, for the endless cable or bands,
to unite the two extremities of the press by rings drawn out into wrought-iron
rods, and to employ old and worthless artillery in the construction of the press.
In the accompanying Drawing A, A, indicate the wire cables; B, B, tubes of
soft metal to preserve the cables from friction; C, cap or upper plate, of wood

page_text: or cast iron; F, cast-iron disc; G, G, leather packing; F, fixed cast-iron
plate; H, H, bearings moulded with the body of the press; I, I, olives to
prevent displacement of the lower plate; K, K, leather packing; M, plat-
form upon which the material to be pressed will be placed; m, m, the two
diametrically opposed points which bear the pressure.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Guerin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 31st
May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
GUERIN, Engineer, of Cluny, in the Department of the Saone et Loire,
Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, 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 Pierre Guerin, Her special licence that I, the said Pierre
Guerin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Pierre Guerin, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE HYDRAULIC PRESS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Pierre Guerin, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Pierre Guerin, 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,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and forming part of
this my Specification, and to the figures and letters of reference marked
thereon, similer letters denoting similar parts where such parts appear or may
be seen at each of the Figures respectively :-
A, iron wire cable; B, B, metal tubes preserving the cable from friction;

page_text: C, cap or upper vertical plates, doubly supporting the cable; D, piston of the
press; E, E, body of the press; E', E', disc or screw stopper; F, F, fixed.
cast-iron plate; G, G, leather packing; H, HI, cast-iron bearings, adjusted'
upon pieces of framing; K, section taken through the line I, I, and horizontal
plan of the lower part; M, platform; N, horizontal view of the press, shew-
ing the plates C, C, and the small beams p, p, p, p; P, P¹, P, wooden.
furrings which enter into the drum; S, sockle which carries the press, and in
which the cable twice passes; T, inner drum for the charges; T', exterior
drum; U, U, small chains attaching on the inner drum; 0, 0, stop catches
of the drum T; p, p, p, p, wooden furring or beams of the upper plates;
t, stop piece of the drum T; and Z, injecting pipe of the force pump. The
advantages of the hydraulic press over all other methods of compression are
very generally recognized; and there is no doubt that were it not for the high
price of this instrument, and the cost of transport (more especially in certain
localities of difficult access) consequent upon its great weight, this press would
be exclusively adopted for all industrial purposes.
My object in simplifying this press was, firstly, to render it more portable
while increasing its resistance to pressure; and, secondly, so to lessen the cost
of construction as to considerably lower its price.
These two results have in a great measure been attained by the following
means: Instead of raising the lower plate with the cap or upper plate of the
press by columns of wrought iron as hitherto, I pass the bands which unite these
two parts through grooves under the body of the press itself at the lowest point
of this body (see Drawing); these same bands are continued and pass through
grooves made in two elliptical cast-iron plates placed vertically, and parallelly
between them are tie pieces. These pieces may be replaced by a wooden cap;
they are required to offer during the working of the press no further resistance
than is necessary to keep the bands which extend parallelly from top to bottom
of the press at fixed distances, as also the lower plate (see Drawing), to form
the cage or frame of the press, in which rises and falls the platform M, on
which the matters to be compressed are placed. This simple sketch will
already have made evident the basis upon which my Invention rests; in fact
the principal action or pressure acts upon two extreme and diametrically
opposed points, and it remains but to keep apart the bands which connect
these two points, to leave free the necessary space for the ascending and
descending movement of the platform on which are the matters to be com-
pressed. These bands, kept apart themselves, serve as guides to the platform,
as do the cast-iron columns in ordinary presses. I have found that for the
bands of the press an endless cable of iron wires brought parallelly into a

page_text: bundle as for suspension bridges, each wire of which is equally stretched,
unites the conditions named, and the best resistance to traction; good ties of a
weaker wire will be placed at short distances from each other. The number
and thickness of the wires will be proportioned to the power of the press.
This cable is first stretched double, as it is endless, then refolded in half its
length, so that the lower parts, which form two bights or bends, fit on to the
bottom of the body of the press in the grooves before mentioned, while the
other two upper bights or bends of the cable pass on the upper plates.
Thus when the cable has been stretched by the press itself, a parallelopiped
cage or frame is formed, the base and upper extremity of which are the lower
and upper plates, and the four side edges are the stretched bands or cable,
which serve thus to guide the platform of the press as the columns do in
ordinary presses. To keep the cable nearly stretched when the press is not at
work, the upper plate is upheld by two bolts fixed to a frame attached to the
frame of the building containing the press, or to this latter, if the elevation is
in proximity. In order to prevent any sliding of the cables and plates, and
these latter losing their horizontal position, they are joined together by ties,
forming collar on the cables, such ties or ligatures being composed of iron
wire well tempered. Although iron wire appears to unite most advantages
for this purpose, it may be replaced by an endless band composed of plates of
flat iron superposed. I have further added to this press a means of dispensing
with woven sacks or envelopes, whether in the compression of oleaginous
crushed grain or fruit, or that of beetroot pulp or other analogous substances.
In such case I use a metal drum T, pierced with many holes and corrugated
or fluted in diagonal hatching on its inner surface, which is also lined with
sheet iron or other ferrules or viroles fluted on the side in contact with the
drum; these ferrules, the number of which will vary with the nature of the
matters under pressure, are cut at the lower part into something like scales, in
order to multiply the draining or outlet surfaces for the liquids. These scales
cover a part of the lower ferrule, and alternatively up to the height of the
drum T. Instead of fluting the drum containing the charge, and of the scaly
ferrules or viroles, I interpose in some cases a metallic or galvanic web suitable
to the matters to be pressed. Further, as the charging or feeding proceeds, I
place horizontally at certain distances metal discs, fluted or corrugated hatch-
wise on both faces, and pierced like the drum T with numerous openings,
which are also covered with scales on both faces. Outside the drum T
I placed another tolerably strong one T', intended for the discharge of the
matters after compression, and when the piston D has arrived at the end of its
course, or rather when the pressure is over, I hook the drum T on to the

page_text: chains U, U, and lower the platform M with the drum T until its catches
0, 0, can be dropped into the notches or catches t, t, on the drum T; and to
effect the discharge there remains but to elevate the platform M, which by
means of the drum T' will cause the lower part of the drum T to rise a little
above the lower part of the piston D, or of its annexed parts previously placed,
and it will be understood that the charge will naturally fall upon the platform.
The drum T may be replaced by a solid iron trivet or tripod, which would
fulfil the same functions and simplify the discharging. The drum T should in
many cases be divided into ferrules or viroles of from ten to twelve inches
in height to facilitate the charging or introduction of the matters to be
compressed.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the means by
which I carry it into practical effect, I would observe that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein described and shewn in the annexed
Drawing, as such may be varied without departing from my Invention, and
that I claim,
Firstly, uniting or sustaining the main efforts of the press by taking fulcrums
diametrically opposed to each other passing through the axis of the entire
system; the lower part of the body of the press and the middle of its cap or
upper plate. The upper part of its cap, which is so constructed that the plates
have but to sustain the efforts made by the cables to come nearer to each other
during the working.
Secondly, using the iron wire forming the endless cable stretched or twisted,
and it will be understood that the same means employed to sustain the efforts
of a vertical press are equally applicable to horizontal presses.
Thirdly, the application of the drum for receiving the matters to be pressed;
the whole essentially as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Guerin, 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.
P. GUERIN. (L.S.)
Witness,
Y. PITHARRE, Mtre Chaudromvier,
Calle de San Opropio, 12, a Madrid, España.