IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Hughes at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th July
1865. A communication from abroad by Charles Hughes; of New
Orleans, United States of America.
I, WILLIAM HUGHES, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES," a communication to me from abroad by Charles
Hughes, of New Orleans, United States of America, to be as follows:-
One part of these improvements relates to presses worked one way by the
direct action of steam for pressing bales of cotton, or other matters or mate-
rials. To standards or columns of any required strength I fix a table carrying
a cylinder containing a piston worked on the atmospheric system by the
pressure of steam on one side, and the pressure of the atmosphere on the
other. At the under side of the table there are two wedge-shaped surfaces,
the lower one connected by rods to weighted levers, and the other placed
between the lower wedge and the bottom of the table, the bottom of the
lower wedge being the surface against which the upper side of the article is
pressed. Below the lower wedge there is a moveable bed on which the bale,
other matter or article to be pressed is placed, each corner of the bed being
connected by rods to toothed quadrants or segments fixed to shafts working
in bearings at the upper part of the framework, and gearing into racks fixed
to the upper part of the piston rod. The lower wedge can be raised or
lowered according to the bulk of the article or matter to be pressed, and the
gap filled up between the top of the wedge and table by the other or inter-

page_text: mediate wedge, which is moved to and fro as required by chains and wheels
or by screws. When the article or matter to be pressed is placed on the
moveable bed of the press, the valve or cock for the admission of steam is
opened and the piston rises, and with it the piston rod, the racks on which
turn the toothed quadrants or segments so as to raise the connecting rods and
bed and press the bale or other article against the bottom of the lower wedge
which acts as the abutment or head of the press, and after sufficient pressure
has been exerted the valve or cock is opened for the escape of the steam,
and the pressure of the atmosphere causes the descent of the piston and racks
which turn down the quadrants and lower the connecting rods and bed ready
for a fresh operation. I may here remark that the toothed quadrants or
segments can be applied to cylinders having a vacuum on one side of the
piston.
Another part of the improvements refers to presses worked by gearing on a
revolving shaft driven by hand or motive power, and consists in employing
at the upper part of the framework toothed or wormed segments connected
by rods to the moveable bed of the press, and causing the segments to be
turned upwards or downwards by pinions or worms from the driving shaft,
and thereby raise or lower the moveable bed.
In another arrangement the toothed or wormed segments are placed at the
lower part of the framework, and on their shafts are fixed cams or eccentrics
which act on the under side of the moveable bed, and press the bale or
article or matter upwards against the head of the press.