IMPROVEMENTS IN BALING COTTON* AND IN PRESSES FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Claudius James Ash of Broad Street in the "City of
London Merchant for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BALING COTTON*
AND IN PRESSES FOR THAT PURPOSE" communicated to him from abroad by
Arthur Elphinstone Cummins of Tuticorin in the Empire of India.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Claudius James Ash at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th September 1883.
»
CLAUDIUS JAMES ASH of Broad Street in the City of London Merchant
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BALING COTTON AND IN PRESSES FOR THAT PURPOSE
[communicated to him from abroad by Arthur Elphinstone Cummins of Tuticorin
in the Empire of India.]
At present in making a 300 lb bale the Cotton is placed in a box measuring
3 feet 11 inches by 1 foot 1 inch and the Cotton occupies a height of about 11 feet
in this box. A hydraulic plunger descends into the box pressing the cotton until -
it occupies a height of 1 foot only instead of 11 feet, the dimensions of the bale
being 3 feet 11 inches x 1 foot 1 inch x 1 foot or 41, cubic feet. The bale so
made is then hooped and on leaving the press it expands for about a week so that
finally its dimensions are about 3 feet 11 inches x 1 foot 1 inch x 1 foot 51/2 inches
or about 6%, cubic feet, that is to say the bale expands nearly 50 per Cent.
This great expansion occasions loss of power in pressing, and the Cotton is also
injured by being subjected to an unnecessarily high pressure
I have discovered that this great expansion is caused by the shape of the bale
and that if the Section of the box is smaller and the length occupied by the cotton
proportionally greater much less pressure has to be employed and much less
expansion takes place. For example if the box be 18 inches by 18 inches the
Cotton will occupy about 21 feet this with a very much smaller pressure than
before will be reduced to 2 feet 4 inches or 5%, cubic feet, the bale is then hooped
and the dimensions will finally be about 18 inches by 18 inches by 32 inches or
6 cubic feet. As boxes 21 feet long would be very inconvenient in practice and
would entail the use of large and costly presses I divide the box into 3 parts, each
about 7 feet long The press is made large enough to receive only 1 of these boxes

page_text: at a time. These boxes are so mounted that they can revolve and be brought in
succession under the press
When the first of the boxes has been brought under the press a light pressure is
put on thereby compressing the Cotton and forcing it up out of its box into a fixed
box above, a grid is then inserted to support the Cotton and the ram descends.
The operation is then repeated on the Second box of Cutton and again on the
third. A heavy pressure is then put on to the combined bale which is hooped and
removed from the press. Revolving boxes are now used in many presses but they
are of the full length of the press and this in the present case would be inconvenient
and besides by dividing the box into three the power is better applied and
consequently more effective. Immediately one box has delivered its Cotton the
operators go on filling and so the work is continuous The Hydraulic Cylinder
used is of peculiar construction. It consists of an ordinary Cylinder of Say
16 inches diameter and inside this is a small ram of say 6 inches diameter so that
in reality this large ram is an inverted Cylinder working on the small ram which
is fitted into the bottom of the large Cylinder and remains stationary-Water is
delivered through the Centre of the small ram and pushes up the large rain when
a light pressure is desired, the large Cylinder being kept full of water from a Tank.
When a heavy pressure is desired the pressure water is turned on to both Cylinders
at once and the ultimate power of the press is the pressure of the Water on a
15 inch ram.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
,,
by the said Claudius James Ash in the Patent Office on the 4th March 1884.
CLAUDIUS JAMES ASH of Broad Street in the County of Middlesex Merchant
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BALING COTTON AND IN PRESSES FOR THAT PURPOSE
A communication to me from abroad by Arthur Elphinstone Cummins of Tuticorin
in the Empire of India
In forming cotton into bales it is essential that the cotton fibres should be pressed
only in one direction otherwise the fibre will become what is called cross packed
and its quality will thereby be much deteriorated.
Therefore in most cotton presses now used the requisite quantity of cotton for
forming a bale is first laid into a deep box-the box is afterwards brought between
the heads or sills of the press and its contents are pressed up into a bale between
these sills either by the action of an. hydraulic ram or otherwise, afterwards the
bale so formed is whilst still under pressure lashed with hoop steel as is well
understood.
By this method of procedure the bale must necessarily be of comparatively small
depth in the direction in which it is pressed, as in order to obtain a bale of sufficient
density the cotton has to be compressed into about one tenth or even a less portion
of the depth it occupied in the box. No bale deep in the direction in which it is
pressed could therefore be pressed to the same density from the contents of one box.
without making the box of very extensive length.
At the present time therefore in order to obtain a bale of the requisite weight say
for example 300. 400 or 500 lbs the top and bottom sides of the bale are made of
much greater area than the ends. A bale of cotton after it has been released from
the press always tends to expand in the direction in which it has been pressed.
This expansion cannot be entirely prevented by the hoops or lashings by which the
bale is bound as it is impossible to pull the lashing hoops perfectly tight therefore
when the bale is set free from the press the bale expands somewhat both upwards
and downwards.
+
Ordinarily the bale continues to expand in this way for some days after it has
been released from the press.
Any expansion taking place over these larger areas largely increases the ultimate
bulk of the bale. It will therefore be readily seen that to obtain finished bales of
sufficient density it is necessary under the present method to press the bales in the
press into much smaller dimensions than they will occupy after being hooped and
finished.
To remedy this evil without employing filling boxes of an impracticable length
and yet to obtain a bale of the requisite weight I form a bale in the following
manner.
Instead of the press being so constructed as to press the bale sidewise I construct
it so as to press the bale lengthwise and instead of forming the bale from the
contents of a single filling box I form it from the contents of two three or more
filling boxes. To do this I form the press with a bale chamber into which the
contents of two three or more boxes are introduced in succession and in order
that when the contents of one filling box has been pushed or loosely packed into
the bale chamber it may not escape back from such chamber when the plunger or
follower moves back. I employ fingers mounted at two opposite sides of the lower
part of the chamber to move inwards and prevent backward movement of the
cotton.
When a sufficient quantity of cotton to form a bale has been loosely packed into
the bale chamber it is compressed therein to the requisite density by the ram or

page_text: follower of the press and whilst held under pressure is Inshed or hooped in the
ordinary manner except that the loops or lashings pass lengthwise around the bale
instead of around its shorter sides.
By forming a bale in this way any expansion of the bale which takes place when
it is released from the press takes place lengthwise of the barrel over a much smaller
area than when the bale is compressed sidewise and therefore the increase in the
bulk of the bale is comparatively insignificant-consequently in order to obtain a
finished bale of the same bulk as heretofore and of the same weight it is not
necessary press the cotton in the press with anything like the same amount of
pressure as has heretofore been used. This is of importance as when cotton is
'compressed with excessive pressure the quality of the fibre is deteriorated.
ما
In order also that when hydraulic power is used for actuating the ram or
follower of the press that there may be no loss of power or time when using the
ram simply to push cotton from the feeding boxes into the bale chamber I uso n
hollow ram and make it work over a tube or small fixed ram which rises up from
the end of the ordinary hydraulic cylinder. When the force required to ho
exerted is small water under press is admitted only into the hollow of the ram
and as the ram moves endwise in its cylinder water is allowed to pass into the
cylinder from a tank. Afterwards when the heavy or finishing pressure is desired
water under pressure is admitted to the cylinder also.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed 1 have shewn a cotton press constructed in
'the manner I prefer for carrying out my invention.
Figure 1 shows a vertical section of the press.
Figure 2 shows a side elevation of the same with the side doors of the bale
chamber thrown open.
Figure 3 shows a half plan view.
In these figures A is a bale chamber which is carried by two columns B from a
bottom sill C which carries an bydraulic cylinder àl. The bale, chamber is made
much deeper than its width in cross section preferably I form it about 4 feet in
depth and square in cross section each side of the square being say about
18 inches.
In two opposite sides of the lower end of the bale chamber I form a series of
vertical slots D through which segments of discs E can play freely through about
one quarter of a revolution. The several segments on each side of the bale
chamber are carried by an axis F. On each of these axes is also a lever arm G
by which the axis F may be turned so as to cause the segments to project
somewhat into the interior of the bale chamber or to turn them outwards so that
their edges shall stand flush with the inner sides of the chamber. This is their
normal position-side projections E' upon the segments prevent them from turning
inwards into the bale chamber to such an extent as to allow them to escape
entirely from the slots D-This way of forming the fingers which ore to prevent
the escape of cotton from the balo chamber is described in the Provisional
Specification lodged by the said. Arthur Elphinstone Cummins on the 2nd day of
February instant and is the way in which it is preferred to construct such fingers
but other ways of constructing the fingers might be adopted and they might be
thrust into or withdrawn from the lower part of the bale chamber in any suitablo
manner.
Hare filling boxes open at both ends-three filling boxes are shewn in tho
Drawings but the number of filling boxes employed may be varied. Each filling
box is mounted in the ordinary manner so that it can turn around ono of the
columns Band be thereby brought either into a position below and in a line with
the bale chamber or be moved away from below the bale chamber and brought
into a position in which cotton may be filled into it. Whilst the filling boxes are
being filled the cotton is prevented from escaping from them at the bottom by a
fixed plate I. In the Drawing the turning of the boxes around tlie standards B
is shown to be effected by means of pinions, on vertical axes N gearing into
toothed wheels or segments which are fixed eccentrically to these standards.

page_text: Other arrangements for turning the boxes might however be adopted. The boxes
also might if preferred be slidden to and fro along guides in place of being made
to turn arotind a vertical axis.
In the plate I there is a hole through which the follower K of the press is free
to rise the follower is carried on the top of the ram L. This ram works in an
hydraulic cylinder M in the ordinary manner. The ram is in addition made.
hollow a tube or small fixed ram M' stands up from the bottom of the cylinder
into the hollow of the ram. Water under pressure can be admitted either to the
lower end of the tube M or to the cylinder M or to both so giving three different
powers. Water from a tank can also be allowed to flow into the cylinder M.
whenever the ram is forced upwards by the admission of water under pressure
through the tube or small fixed ram M₁. The acting face of the upper head or
sill of the bale chamber and the follower are both curved to mould the end of the
bale to the rounded form which they always tend to assume.
The operation of forming a bale is as follows:-When one of the filling boxes
has been filled with cotton it is brought below the bale. chamber the ram of the
press is then caused to rise by the admission of water under pressure through the
tube or small fixed ram M²
In this way the cotton in the box is pushed upwards into the bale chamber so
as to bring it above the fingers E. The ram is then allowed to descend whilst the
fingers E are turned inwards to hold up the cotton in the bale chamber. Another
filling box is then brought below the bale chamber and its contents forced upwards
into it-and so on for a third filling box-The whole contents of the bale chamber
are then simultaneously compressed to form them into a bale. When the upward.
pressure obtained by the admission of water to the inner ram is not sufficient to
cause the ram to move upwards then water under pressure is admitted to the
cylinder M also. When the charge of cotton in the bale chamber has in this way
been compressed nearly to the required extent the side doors A¹ of the bale
chamber are thrown open. Afterwards the bale is still further compressed with
the full power of the press.
To secure a gunny bag or sacking around the bale a strip of sacking is
placed under the upper head of the press and another over the top of the
follower-these two lengths of sacking are long enough to between them surround
the bale.
After the bale has been pressed the parts of the strips of canvas which project
beyond the head of the press and the follower are respectively drawn upwards
and downwards so as to between them surround the top and bottom and two sides
of the balc. Afterwards the bale is hooped or lashed in the ordinary manner and
is then discharged from the bale chamber. The two sides of the bale not previously
covered with sacking can then have separate pieces of sacking applied to them and
these may be sewn at their edges to the edges of the strip of canvas by which the
other sides of the bale are surrounded.
Having thus described the invention and the manner of performing the same
I would state that I claim.-
First. In the formation of bales of cotton the pressing the mass of cotton
which is to be formed into a bale endwise instead of sidewise that is that the
follower of the press shall in compressing up the cotton to form it into a bale
always act against that side of the mass which is the smaller in area so that when
the bale is released from the press the expansion of the bale which then takes
place shall take place over this smaller area instead of over the larger area as
heretofore.
Second. The process herein before described of forming cotton into bales
consisting in filling cotton into vertical feeding boxes then bringing two three or
more boxes in succession below a fixed bale chamber the longer length of which is
then in a line with the filling box and as each box is brought into a line with the
bale chamber pressing the contents of the box into the bale chamber and finally
when the requisite quantity of cotton has been so filled into the bale chamber
•

page_text: compressing this quantity of cotton into a bale so as ultimately to form a bale
which has been compressed in the direction of its length and in that direction only.
Third. The combination of a fixed bale chamber, moveable grids or fingers at
the end through which cotton is fed into this chamber-noveable feeding boxes
which can be brought into a line with the longer length of the bale chamber and
a follower or ram by which the contents of each filling box can be pushed into the
bale chamber after the filling box has been brought into a line therewith
substantially as described.
Fourth. The construction of cotton presses substantially as hereinbefore described
and illustrated in the Drawing annexed.
In witness whereof 1 the said Olaudius James Ash have hereunto set my
hand and seal this fifteenth day of February in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty four.
AUDIUS. J. ASH (LS)
CLA