IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES AND IN BALE TIES' RELATING THERETO
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ashcroft, of Wolverhampton, in the
County of Stafford, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES
AND IN BALE TIES' RELATING THERETO."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ashcroft at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th May 1872.
I, WILLIAM ASHCROFT, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford,
5 do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRESSES AND IN 'BALE TIES' RELATING THERETO," to be as follows :-
The first part of the Invention relates to that class of press known as
the hydraulic press, and is designed for the purpose of giving a
differential motion or rise to the "ram" of such presses, in order that

page_text: the process of packing goods may be accomplished with facility and
expedition.
The improvements consist in arranging the surfaces of the ram exposed
to the action of the water employed for raising the same, in such
a manner that the area of such ram so exposed will be gradually
increased as the pressure required for compression becomes more and
more intensified.
"
The arrangement and construction of the various parts forming those
improvements may be thus described. The " ram of the press is
composed of a hollow cylinder, which when in its seating in the press
is inverted and placed over a fixed central internal hollow cylinder,
which corresponds in diameter to the bore of the internal capacity of the
"ram." The lower extremity of this internal hollow cylinder is provided
with a valve opening so as to allow of the free ingress of water from a
reservoir below, entering the inner space of the internal cylinder so as
to fill such space, as its capacity increases with the rise or elevation of
the ram." The ram proper fits and slides telescopically in the
annular space formed between the outside surface of the central fixed
internal cylinder and the inner surface of the well or socket containing
the ram.
The outer upper surface of the internal cylinder is supplied
with tapering channels, grooves, or recesses, commencing at points
around such cylinder, corresponding with the under surface of the "ram”
when it has attained about one-third more or less of its rise or clevation,
or in lieu of such channels or grooves, perforations or thoroughfares may
be formed through the internal cylinder at points coincident with the
commencement of the grooves. Thus, when the pumps first commence
their operation of raising the "ram," the water is forced into the annular
space so as to act only upon the reduced area of the " ram," thereby
giving a quick or accelerated rise to the same during the time the least
resistance is offered by the goods under process of packing, but imme-
diately the elevation is attained that exposes the grooves or thorough-
fares communicating with the water contained in the internal capacity
of the fixed cylinder, the pressure in the annular space is at once com-
municated to the internal column of water, acting upon the increased
central area of the "ram,” at which time the pressure hitherto exerted on
the surface of the "ram" exposed in the annular space at once becomes
diffused over its whole bottom surface, thereby closing the lower valve

page_text: communicating with the reservoir, and causing the whole power of the
pumps to be exerted on the maximum area of the "ram" whent he table
is approaching its highest elevation, and at the time when the greatest
compression is required. Thus it will be seen that a maximum speed of
compression is obtained at the commencement of the lift by reason of
the reduced area of the "ram" being exposed in the annular space, and
which is continued up to a certain elevation, after which the maximum
pressure is exerted by the pumps upon the whole area of the “ram” for
the final compression of the bale.
The second part of the Invention relates to the tie forming the coupling
or connection between the iron hoops encircling the pressed bale, and
consists in the peculiar formation or construction of a square piece of
metal provided with two slots for the passage of the ends of the hoop.
The space or body of the tie between the slots being about double the
thickness to that portion forming the extremities of the "tie," the ends
of the hoop requiring to be coupled together are passed through the slots
from the under level surface of the "tie," and then passed over the upper
clevated surface thereof, so that when the expansion of the bale takes
place the reduced extremities of the tie are caused slightly to yield,
reducing thereby the orifice or slot through which the ends of the hoop
iron are passed, the effect of which causes the hoop exerting its tension
upon such "tie" as the bale expands to be gripped with a tenacity
which increases in proportion with the tension exerted.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Ashcroft in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHỌM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ASHCROFT, of Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Ashcroft, Her special license that I, the

page_text: said William Ashcroft, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Ashcroft, 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 AND IN 'BALE TIES'
BELATING THERETO," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Ashcroft, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 William Ashcroft, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by tho
following statement thereof, that is to say :——
'
The first part of my Invention, relating to certain improvents in
hydraulic presses, fully described in the Provisional Specification of my
Invention, filed on the 16th day of May last, No.
I have
since found is not so practical as I then considered it to be, I therefore
omit any further reference to the same, and proceed to describe the
second part of my Invention relating to "bale ties," that is the coupling
forming the connection securing the ends of the metal hoop or band
encircling baled goods packed by hydraulic, screw, or other pressure.
The improved construction of "tie" or coupling is designed for the
purpose of enabling the hoops or metal bands surrounding goods or
material formed into bales by hydraulic or other pressure to have their
ends secured with the greatest facility without the necessity of having
their strength reduced by punching for the reception of the stud or
button as hitherto employed.
The improved formation of tie is made of a square piece of flat metal,
in which two slots are formed for the reception of the ends of the hoop
or band requiring to be coupled or secured together, the section of the
tie between the slots being somewhat thicker than at its extremities.

page_text: In order that the formation of the tie and its application to the purpose
for which it is designed may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings, made to an
enlarged scale, in order the better to describe its general features.
Fig. 1 represents a plan, and Figure 2 a section of the simplest form of
tie, but which in practise I have found does not offer that facility of
application as a modification of the same shewn at Figures 3 and 4 does.
The tie or coupling represented in these Figures, and in which I more
particularly refer to Figures 3 and 4, consists of a square or oblong piece
of metal, in which two slots b, b, are formed for the passage of the ends
of the hoop encircling the bale. The space or body a between the
slots b, b, is of a greater sectional thickness than the extremitics d, d.
The ends of the hoop c, c, see Fig. 5, requiring to be coupled, are
passed through the slots b, b, over the shoulders or elevated portion of
the tie a.
The application of the tie for the purpose of securing the ends of the
hoop it is designed to secure will be seen at Figures 5, 6, and 7, in which
Figure 5 shews the method of applying the tie, and Figure 6 and 7,
when the application is complete and the bale released from the press.
In Figure-5 the tie is shewn placed with its edge to the bale, in which
position the suspended end of the hoop c is passed through the slot b¹
nearest the bale, and the other end c through the upper slot 6, the plate is
then knocked flat against the bale, as shewn in Figure 6, after which the
bale is released from the press, at which time its expansion causes the
ends of the hoop to pull in opposite directions, thus causing the thinner
extremites d, d, of the tie slightly to spring or yield, so as to contract
the orifices or slots through which the ends of the hoop are passed, the
effect of which is to force the elevated portion of the tie a into closer
connection with the lower side of the slot a³, thus causing these portions
of the tie to nip or grasp the ends of the hoop with a tenacity propor-
tionate to the power exerted by the expansion of the bale.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, together
with the method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to
be distinctly understood in conclusion that I claim, the novel employ-
5 ment, use, and adaption of the peculiar construction of bale tie, in the

page_text: manner and for the purpose, as herein-before described, set forth, and
fully illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ashcroft, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
WILLIAM ASHCROFT. (L.S.)