Improvements in Lever Presses.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Nov., 1887
Complete Specification Left, 1st Aug., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 7th Sept., 1888
Improvements in Lever Presses.
Wė, WILLIAM JAMES BURGESS, and CHARLES THOMAS BURGESS, of Brentwood,
in the County of Essex, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows :—
This invention has more especially for its object to provide a portable press for
pressing hay, cotton, wool and other such like materials.
The press I form of a bed on to which the bay or other material to be pressed is
placed two opposite ends of this bed have upright ends hinged or secured to them-
each upright end is formed of upright bars or plates with horizontal pins passing
across from one to the other to serve as a toothed rack or it may be otherwise formed
with a toothed rack upon it. The follower or upper plate of the press is of greater
width than these upright ends and at the sides is made to extend beyond them.
Across the upper surface of each of the parts so extending outwards beyond each
upright end a semicircular recess is formed. A round iron rod is laid into these
recesses it carries at its centre a pawl to drop inwards and engage with any one or
other of the pins or teeth of the rack carried by the upright end. It also has links
capable of turning around it which at their end carry a pin to form a pivot for a lever
-the long arm of the lever extends outwards away from the end of the press and is
worked by hand-there being one or more men at each end of the press for working
the levers the short arm of each lever can be made to extend between the side
upright bars of the end and to come below any one or other of the teeth or pins of
the rack so that the teeth or pins may form fulcrums for the lever to bear against.
When the top plate or follower has been depressed as far as it will go by the lever
whilst it is bearing upon one fulcrum pin or tooth of the rack the lever can be with-
drawn from below that pin or tooth and inserted under another and so on the pawl
at the same time catching under the pins or teeth one after the other as the top plate
or follower descends so as to retain it and prevent it from rising after being
depressed.

page_text: To allow of quicker movement being given by the levers to the top plate or follower
of the press when commencing to compress a bale, than when finishing its com-
pression, provision may be made for varying the point at which each lever is jointed
to the links above mentioned or the inner end of the lever might have a piece jointed
or otherwise secured to it which could be made to extend beyond the inner end of the
lever and form a prolongation to it whenever a quick movement is to be given or be
turned or removed out of action whenever a slow movement is to be given.
Or in place of the inner end of the lever being made to bear against the pins or
teeth of the rack so that the pins or teeth form fulcrums for the inner end of the
lever to bear against the links to which the lever is jointed may have jointed to them
near to the joint which connects them to the lever other links which at their extremity
are adapted to fit to and take a bearing against the pins or teeth.
In this case the forcing downwards of the top plate or follower of the press would
be effected by causing the lever to move the two sets of links from a position in which
they are at an angle to one another towards a position in which they are in a line with
one another. This may be effected by coupling the ends of the links which rest against
the pins by other links to the end of the lever.
With this arrangement one power would be got when the lever was in a position
above the follower and was thrusting the follower downwards and a less power and
quicker movement would be obtained when the lever was in a position below the
follower and was drawing the follower downwards. Or other arrangements may be
adopted for causing the lever when in the one position to give a quick movement and
in the other a slow one.
The press may be provided with side doors so as to completely shut in the material
that is being compressed when it is necessary to do so.
In place of the press being made in such a manner that its top plate is drawn
downwards by the action of the levers the arrangement might be reversed and the
bottom plate be movable whilst the top plate is fixed or it might be made in such
manner that both plates could be moved one towards the other.
Dated this 5th day of November 1887.
CARPMAEL. & Co.,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: We, WILLIAM James Burgess, and Charles THOMAS BURGESS, of Brentwood, in
the County of Essex, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
This invention has more especially for its object to provide a portable press for
pressing hay cotton wool and other such like materials.
The press we form of a bed onto which the hay or other material to be pressed is
placed. Two opposite ends of this bed have upright ends hinged or secured to them
and on each end is a vertical toothed rack.
The follower or upper plate of the press is of greater width than these upright ends
and at the sides is made to extend beyond them. Where they so extend beyond
the upright ends a circular bar of iron is laid across them a groove being provided
for the har to lie in. The bar carries links which at their outer ends carry a fulcrum
pin for a long hand lover.
The long arm of the lever extends outwards away from the end of the press and is
worked by hand-there being one or more men at each end of the press for working
the levers.
The rack teeth form abutments for the lever mechanism. A pawl carried by the
bar laid across the top of each end of the top plate engages with the rack and prevents
upward return movement.
When it is desired that a quicker movement shall be given to the top plate when
commencing to compress a bale than when finishing its compression. We form the
lever mechanism in such a manner that when its parts are in one position less
power and quicker speed may be obtained than when its parts are in another
position.
Preferably we effect this by placing the fulcrum pin which connects the lever to
the links above mentioned at the bottom of the inner end of the lever whilst the top
of the inner end of the lever we joint by a link to the outer end of a pawl which is to
engage with the rack and which is carried by a pin fixed to the first mentioned links
near to the fulcrum pin which connects them to the lever.
With this arrangement each downward movement of the lever will as herein after
more fully described produce comparatively little increase of distance between the
rack tooth that the pawl bears against and the cross bar when the cross bar is above
the pawl and so great power will be obtained whilst if the pawl is below the cross bar
there will be considerable movement of the cross bar and so quicker speed and less
power will be obtained.
The drawing annexed shews apparatus constructed in the above manner.
Figure 1 is a vertical section and Figure an end view of one end of the press

page_text: Figures 3 and 4 are diagram views illustrating the action of the lever mechanism-
Figure 5 is a diagram view illustrating how the lever mechanism is shifted from one
of its positions to the other.
A is the bed of the press-B an upright secured by a pin to one of its ends-Ca
rack of ratchet teeth on the upright-D is the top plate formed of parallel boards
secured to the underside of two bars which come on the opposite sides of the end
uprights. E is an iron bar secured to the top of each of these two wooden bars-it
is made to project beyond the uprights and is formed into a bend as shewn in
Figure 1. is a round bar of iron laid into these U bends. On it are pivotted
links G to which the lower edge of the inner end of the lever H is jointed. I is a
pawl pivotted at one end to the links G-J is a link. by which the top edge of the
inner end of the lever is coupled to the pawl-K is another pawl turning on the
bar F and by its own weight dropping into the recesses between the rack teeth to
prevent return movement of the top plate after it has been forced downwards. A
spring L fixed to the pawl and bearing against a pin M fixed to the links G may
also be used if desired to assist in pressing the pawl towards the rack.
The action of the press is as follows:
When the material to be compressed, say for example a bundle of hay has been
laid on to the bed A and the top plate D has been laid on to the top of the hay the
innor end of the lever H is allowed to drop into the position shewn by full lines in
Figure 3 and the pawl I engages with one of the teeth of the rack at a point below
the bar which lies across the top of the end of the top plate.
The long arm of the lever H is then forced downwards and the parts are thereby
moved into the positions shewn by dotted lines when as will be seen the bar F will
have been drawn downwards a considerable distance.
The outer end of the lever is then again raised and the pawl I made to pass below
a fresh tooth in the rack and the operations are repeated until more power is required
to effect further compression of the material being pressed.
The inner end of the lever is then raised to bring it into the position shewn by full
lines in Figure 4 so that the pawl is brought above the bar F. The outer end of the
lever is again drawn downwards and the parts are thereby brought into the positions
shewn by dotted lines in this figure and as will be seen the bar F will have been
forced downwards a comparatively small distance so that the power to compress the
material will have been greatly increased.
The outer end of the lever is then again raised and the pawl made to pass below
another tooth of the rack and the operations are repeated until the material has been
sufficiently compressed.
The bale of material is then lashed or hooped in the ordinary manner.
Afterwards sufficient further compression is given to the bale to set the pawls K
free and these are then drawn back away from the rack by loops K' which extend
from them and the lever together with the, links and pawls and the bar F are lifted
away and the top plate is also lifted off to allow of the bale being removed.
It will be seen that the whole press is composed of simple parts which can be
readily separated one from the other so that a very portable as well as powerful press
is obtained.
The press may be provided with side doors so as to completely shut in the material
that is being compressed but when compressing materials such as hay as cut from a
stack this is not required.
In place of the press being made in such manner that its top plate is drawn down-
wards by the action of the levers the arrangement might be reversed and the bottom
plate be moveable whilst the top plate is fixed or it might be made in such manner
that both plates could be moved one towards the other we however prefer the
construction shewn in the drawing.
The press can be used advantageously for forming ensilage-the newly cut crop to
be formed into ensilage being compressed by the press into trusses or blocks which
can be stacked closely one against and over the other so as to form them into
a stack.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what wo
claim is
1. A press formed substantially as described of a bed with uprights standing up from
its two ends carrying toothed racks and of a top plate or follower carrying at each
end lever mechanism which can be made to take a bearing below any one or other
of the rack teeth of the uprights and caused to force the top plate downwards.
2. The employment in connection with such a press of a combination of lovers links
and pawls so arranged that with these parts in one position relatively to one another
one power will be obtained at each stroke of the levers and with the parts in a second
position a different power.
3. The construction of lever presses substantially in the manner herein before
described and illustrated in the drawing annexed.