IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES OR COMPRESSING APParatus
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Weldon, of Kilmorony, Queen's County,
Ireland, Captain in the Madras Staff Corps, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES OR COMPRESSING APParatus.”
Sealed the 27th October 1871, and dated the 3rd May 1871.

page_text: My presses or apparatus are constructed as follows:-To a strong bed
or platform I connect at each side by suitable joints the lower ends of
one or more bars or levers, and to the upper ends of these bars or levers
I joint the upper ends of other bars or levers the opposite ends of which
are jointed or connected to a "follower" such as is now used in some 5
presses. Upon the bed or platform, and below the follower, a box con-
taining the bay, cotton, or other material to be pressed is placed. The
position of the first-named bars before the pressing operation commences
(as I prefer to arrange them) is such that they lean outwards from the
box, while the other bars which extend from the first-named bars to 1
the follower form a more or less acute angle with these bars. The first-
named bars are provided with pulleys, over which are passed chains in
connection with one or more winches, so that by turning the winch or
winches the upper ends of the said bars are drawn inwards and towards
each other. The effect of this movement is that the upper ends of the
other bars are also forced nearer together, while their lower ends are
forced down together with the follower, which consequently descends
in the box and presses or compresses the material therein. Instead of
winches, chains, and pulleys other arrangements may be adopted for
drawing the bars together. The bars which are connected to the follower
may be made to cross each other, or they may be curved so as to keep
clear of the top edges of the boxes as the follower descends. The bars
are steadied in their movement by means of ropes or tackle carried from
their upper ends over or under pulleys attached to the ground, or in any
other convenient position, and to a winch. When the pressing operation
is complete the follower is raised by winding this winch, and the box
may then be removed and replaced by a fresh full box.
I facilitate the removal of the material from the box one side of

page_text: or other material through the two overlapping loops, so as when
turned to press with one end against the side of the box. The chain is
thus securely held and the doors fixed. Then by knocking out the piece
of wood after the pressing operation the doors will fly open to an extent
limited by the length of the chain.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis Weldon in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 28th October 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
WELDON, of Kilmorony, Queen's County, Ireland, Captain in the Madras
Staff Corps, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Francis Weldon, Her special licence
that I, the said Francis Weldon, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Weldon, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRESSES OR COMPRESSING APPARATUS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Francis Weldon, my executors, or administrators, by
an instrument 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 Francis Weldon, do hereby declare

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawing:-
This Invention relates to improved arrangements of apparatus for
the purpose of compressing different substances, and is especially
applicable to presses used for the purpose of compressing cotton, wool,
or other fibrous substances, in order to form them into bales; it consists
of a chest of suitable form and size, into which the material to be
pressed is placed, which I mount on rollers or wheels running upon
rails fixed upon the ground or upon the floor of the building in which
the press is placed. I prefer to use two or more of such chests, and to
arrange them so that when one of them is brought under the press in
such a position that its contents may be pressed the other one (or more)
may be removed from the press to a sufficient distance, and may there
be filled with the substance to be pressed, or may have the pressed bales
removed. The different chests may be connected together by frames so
as to run upon the same wheels. Upon two sides of the lower part of
each chest I make two swinging doors turning upon hinges, and upon a
third side I make a tilting door turning upon a horizontal hinge at or
near its centre; and when this tilting door is closed I secure it at its
lower part by means of wedge pieces driven between it and a part of
the frame upon which the chest stands and which carries the wheels
already described. I secure the two swinging doors by means of chains
or ropes coiled round their ends or round beams or bars attached to
them, and I tighten the chains by means of screws or by means of bolts
or spikes which are used to twist the chains. And I brace or strengthen
the doors themselves in order to enable them to withstand internal
pressure.
.
And in order to press the substance in the chest which has been
brought under the press, I use a suitable head or ram descending
vertically and fitting or nearly fitting (in plan) the interior of the chest.
I place two independent pairs of shear legs or beams arranged nearly
vertically, one pair at each side of the press and having their lower ends
turning upon joints or hinges outside the rails upon which the wheels
carrying the chest run, and to the upper ends of these shear legs
I attach by means of joints or hinges two pairs of arms or beams,
the lower ends of which are hinged to the ram already described.
By the arrangement described, if the upper ends of the shear legs

page_text: are made to approach each other, the arms or beams press the ram
downwards with a force which increases as the arms become more
vertical.
In order to make the upper ends of the shear legs approach for the
purpose of depressing the ram, or separate for the purpose of elevating
it, I attach a coiling barrel or windlass near the lower end of each
pair of shear legs. Round one of these barrels or windlasses, I coil
two ropes or chains, one of which passes downwards and is carried round
a pulley and under the chest and rails to a point sufficiently beyond
the opposite pair of shear legs. It then passes round a pair of pulley
blocks, the lower one of which is anchored or fixed to the ground or to
a suitable foundation, and the upper one is fixed or connected to the
top of the shear leg opposite to that upon which the barrel is fixed,
round which the rope is coiled. The other rope upon the same barrel
passes round a similar but opposite pair of pulley blocks, the lower one
of which is fixed or anchored in the way described, and the upper one
is fixed or connected to the top of the shear leg to which the barrel is
attached. By this arrangement when the ropes are coiled round the
barrel or windlass, the upper ends of the shear legs are separated, and
the ram is consequently raised in the press, out of the chest. To the
coiling barrel or windlass upon the other shear leg I attach a chain or
rope which passes upwards and round pulleys or pulley blocks attached
to the upper ends of both shear legs. When this rope or chain is coiled
round the windlass, the upper ends of both shear legs are drawn together
with great power and the ram is thus forced down upon the substance
in the chest with an increasing or accumulating pressure. I prefer to
make the pivots upon which the lower ends of the shear leg turn, move
in diagonal guides or slots arranged so that when the pressure increases
the lower ends of the shear legs (which are then in tension) approach
one another, and the arms which force down the ram become more
nearly vertical thus increasing the pressure and enabling chests of greater
height to be used. Sometimes I invert the apparatus so that the ram
may be pressed upwards instead of downwards, and in such case I-
sometimes use chains instead of the shear legs described.
The accompanying Drawing is in illustration of my Invention.
Figure 1 is an elevation of the apparatus shewing the chest in section;
Figure 2 is a side view shewing the chests connected together by frames

page_text: Figure 3 is a plan of the chests and of the rails upon which they
travel. The same letters of reference refer to the same parts in all the
Figures.
The chests W containing the material to be pressed are shewn mounted
on wheels running on rails attached to the floor. In the lower part of
the chest are two swinging doors A, A, Figure 3, and one tilting door B.
The thrust produced in the lower half of this door B is taken by a
wedge picce C. The swing doors A, A, are secured by a chain coiled
round their ends and tightened in the middle by a short bolt or spike S.
The doors themselves being well braced to withstand internal pressure.
The press consists of two independent pairs of shear legs D, D, Figure 1
turning on moveable pivots P, P, and two pairs of arms E, E, which
are connected to the ram F. At the lower end of the shear legs are
placed two coiling barrels G and H. The one at G coils two ropes or
chains, one passing under the chest and round the pulley blocks I
and J, the other passes to and round the pulley blocks K and L. The
blocks are connected to the top of the shear legs at the points M and N.
When the ropes or chains are coiled on this barrel the shcars are spread
out and assume the position shewn by dotted lines. The ram is then
clear of the chest so that the latter can be moved out or placed in
position. To the other barrel II is attached the rope or chain ○ which
passes round the pullies attached to the top of the shear legs at M and N.
As this rope or chain is coiled round its barrel the shear legs approach
each other and the ram is forced into the chest with great power. The
shears are now in tension and their pivots slide up the diagonal slots
in the framing T, T. By this arrangement the arms E, E, become
ncarly vertical.
Sometimes instead of hinging the lower ends of the arms or beams
described to the ram, I bring them down outside the chest and I hinge
them to bars or beams which pass upwards and are fixed or connected
to the tops of other beams or frames which pass down inside the chest
and are fixed to the ram. Figure 4 is in illustration of this arrangement
D, D, are the shear legs turning upon centres P, P. The arms E, E,
descend outside the chest W and are hinged at their lower ends to the
bars R, R, which are connected to the top of the frame S, the lower end
of which is fixed to the ram. T is a strengthening bar which keeps the
lower ends of E, E, in their proper position. By this arrangement the

page_text: shear legs D, D, and the arms E, E, can be brought into a more vertical
position and the power is thereby increased, and the chest W can be
made of any height.
Sometimes instead of applying the shear legs and arms directly to
the ram in the different arrangements described, I cause them to move
a separate lever to which a ram can be attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Weldon, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.