IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES AND MODES OF PRESSING, APPLICABLE TO COTTON, HEMP, WOOL, COIR, HIDES, HAY, FIBRES, PEAT, LINEN THREAD, PIECE GOODS, EXTRACTING OIL, AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Perkes at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition on the 4th July
1860.
I, SAMUEL PERKES, of Clapham, in the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PRESSES AND MODES OF PRESSING, APPLICABLE TO COTTON, HEMP, WOOL, COIR, HIDES,
HAY, FIBRES, PEAT, LINEN THREAD, PIECE GOODS, EXTRACTING OIL, AND OTHER
USEFUL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in presses and modes of
pressing applicable to cotton, hemp, wool, coir, hides, hay, fibres, peat, linen
thread, piece goods, extracting oil, and other useful purposes, and are con-
structed as follows:-
For pressing cotton, hemp, wool, coir, hay, fibres, or other elastic substances,
I employ a novel description of vertical press, which I construct of very strong
boxed framing of iron, by preference, and furnished with strong flanges at the
angles for supporting the whole and firmly securing it laterally together. In
the upper half of this framing I leave suitable openings for conveniently
feeding in the material to be operated upon. There are also very strong
head and base plates, and through each of which and the entire of the framing
at the angles or chief points of resistance I insert four strong iron bolts with
solid heads and suitable fastenings for securing the entire framing vertically

page_text: a
together, and likewise for resisting the vertical strain or tension when the
press is in use. The lower part of the press is furnished with strong
hinged doors, for convenience, by lashing and taking out the bales when
finished. In the base plate of this press I fix a powerful hydraulic cylinder
and ram, which is furnished with a suitable set of hydraulic pumps, which
can be worked either by hand or other power. In the upper part of
the box framing I suspend heavy massive weight of portable construction.
On the summit of the press I fix a vertical steam cylinder fitted with a piston
and piston rod, and which rod is furnished with a suitable gland and passes
through the head of the press to the top of the massive weight and to which
it is securely attached either by gibs and cotters or by grappling hooks. This
cylinder is also furnished with proper arrangements for preventing the possibility
of concussion by any excess of steam. The steam is supplied from an ordinary
steam boiler and is used for the purpose of instantaneously raising the weight
after the pressure of each bale. This cylinder is likewise furnished with suitable
valves and pipes for regulating the admission and exit of the steam, suitable
palls or massive resistance are fitted into the upper sides of the press framing,
and furnished with self-acting mechanism for securing the massive weight in
position after each descent inside the box, and which arrangements prevent
the rebound which might otherwise take place. The palls also receive the
upward thrust from the hydraulic ram beneath.
The press is used as follows:-The proper quantity of material is fed in by
hand to the upper part of the pressing box, from a conveniently arranged floor
or platform on a level therewith. The massive weight is then permitted to
drop with the full force of gravity, either by suddenly discharging the steam
from beneath the piston, which supported it, or by disengaging the grappling
hooks as before alluded to. The instant the weight descends, the palls or resist-
ance blocks are forced home between the head of the press and the top of the
weight, by self-acting arrangements and thereby intercept the rebound and
receive the upward pressure from beneath. The hydraulic ram is then set in
motion and complete the requisite pressure, and during which operation the
bale is lashed either in the ordinary way, or with iron or copper bands, which
I adopt by preference, as being fare more expeditious for lashing and will be
found much more economical as they will prevent the greater portion of the
expansion, which invariably takes place and adds so much to the cost of freight
with hempen lashings, and may be used over and over again at pleasure. The
iron bands by preference, I first heat and immerse in linseed oil, which will
prevent corrosion and injury to the goods.
The next description of press I construct horizontally, either double or

page_text: single acting. In the double acting press I employ strong hydraulic cylinders
with one or more rams in each, and set opposite to each other at any required
distance apart, and securely tied together at the extreme ends with strong
tension bars, thus each forming a butt for the other of them to work against
as the pressure is simultaneously exerted towards each other, and the material
is placed between them; I sometimes place a double acting cylinder by pre-
ference in the centre of the press, and admit the fluid between the two rams,
which may be made to act simultaneously in opposite directions, or modified
so as to use one ram, or both, alternately; I also apply single acting horizontal
presses with one or more rams for the purpose of expressing oils and
oleagineeous, fibrous, and pulpy substances generally, and in either respects
these single acting presses are similarly constructed to the double acting press.
These presses are each worked with hydraulic pumps, which can be turned
either by hand or other power. Suitable divisional disc plates, dies, or moulds
are furnished for receiving and dividing the material to be operated upon, and
can be adapted for any special substance according to the nature thereof.
For instance, for. compressing peat or other substances, I provide suitable
pressing plates, in which are formed moulds or dies, male and female, of what-
ever form or shape may be required. For pressing oleagineous and other
substances where heat is required, in some cases I employ partially bollow
divisional plates between each cake of material, and heat them by the intro-
duction of hot fluid, say, by preference, hot water or steam, which is admitted
thro' flexible or other tubes at the top of each plate, and passes through
internal channels so as to cause a continuous circulation throughout each
plate, and is discharged at the bottom through a cock into a waste water
receiver, and conducted into the drain. In other cases I employ solid discs,
moulds, or die plates, and heat the material to be operated upon, and envelope
it in suitable hairs, or bags, or wrappers, which in some cases are partially
metallic. I otherwise place some material in portable iron boxes for dropping
into the moulds, as the case may require, according to the nature and descrip-
tion of such material. Suitable arrangements are also provided, either by
steam or otherwise, for withdrawing and separating the dies, discs, or moulds
and rams after pressure, for the purpose of withdrawing the pressed material
and refilling the press. The cylinders or butts in each press are secured to
cach other by means of very strong horizontal wrought tension bars with solid
heads, and firmly attached for resisting the pressure. There are also strong
iron side frames for transversely supporting the tension bars, and immediately
above the top of which, where required, there is supported a longitudinal
cast-iron pipe for conveying the hot water or other fluid to the disc plates,

page_text: and the water or fluid is supplied from a common boiler conveniently fixed
for that purpose. The hydraulic pumps are of the ordinary description, and
are placed in any convenient position, and the water is pumped from thence
into the cylinder or cylinders through pipes in the usual way, and when tho
rams are finally forced home, and the pressure completed, valves are opened
which will allow the water or other liquid used to leave the cylinders or
cylinder, and discharge itself through pipes into a receiving well, which in
some cases I construct beneath the hydraulic pumps of sufficient depth to with-
draw the rams by gravitation and atmospheric pressure, and the liquid thus
deposited in the receiving well is pumped up into the bydraulic pump cistern
by a common pump for re-use. The material to be operated upon is pulpy or
oleagineous, is placed in suitable bags, or wrappers, or frames, or otherwise
between the dies, moulds, or discs, plates, as before alluded to, and the oil or
liquid drops into a receiving trough, which is fixed underneath between the
standards or side frames, and extends olong-the-bed of-the-ontire-machine,
and from whence the products can be conducted into any convenient receptacle
provided for that purpose.
Another form of hydraulic press I construct vertically, with hollow boxed
sides for heating the material under pressure, which is thus entirely encased; in
other respects it resembles an ordinary hydraulic press, and is worked by
hand or other power. This press is more particularly adapted for oleaginous
substances and piece goods, and all such materials as require heat during the
In
operation; it is a very economical press for working by hand power.
certain cases, where necessary, I prepare the material in small hand or fly
presses which will partially press it, and thus reduce the bulk, which will
allow the bydraulic or finishing presses to hold much more material.
The next description of press is more especially adapted for pressing hay,
hemp, hides, common packages, cotton, wool, or coir, &c., by hand power up
to about 100 tons pressure, and will be found of great value, particularly in
inland districts where steam or hydraulic power is not admissible or available.
It is of vertical construction, and consists of a cast-iron portable box with
suitable conducting bolts, and is furnished with a plunger which is attached to
a strong vertical screw working in a fix'd nut of suitable depth. This screw
is set in motion by means of a horizontal lever wheel, the nave of which is
squared on four sides with rounded corners to fit the vertical screw, which is
likewise flatted on the four sides to suit the nave of the wheel, which thus
enables the pressing screw to traverse up and down whilst the horizontal lever
wheel is in motion. This wheel is supported at a convenient height from the
floor by means of a cylindrical standard box, on which the wheel rests and

page_text: rotates, having gun metal washers and steel plates between the two for pre-
venting friction. The entire press is held together by means of four strong
wrought-iron bolts and nuts which resist the thrust and pressure; these
presses will be very cheap in construction, of extraordinary simplicity and
durability, and will perform a greater amount of work in a given time than
any presses for similar purposes in use. Steam or other power can be applied
to this press whero desirable.