IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING AND PACKING COTTON, WOOL, JUTE, AND OTHER SIMILAR BULKY ARTICLES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Templeton Wood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
September 1866.
I, JAMES TEMPLETON WOOD, of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MEANS OF AND APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSING AND PACKING COTTON, WOOL, JUTE, AND
OTHER SIMILAR BULKY ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
The principal object of this Invention is to compress and pack cotton
and other similar bulky articles for transport on railways or water with the
view of reducing their bulk and enabling a larger quantity to be carried in
a restricted space than heretofore.
It is not intended that the present Invention shall altogether supersede the
compressing of cotton by hydraulic or screw pressure, so that it may be secured
in packages of small bulk suitable for stowage in a ship or other vessel.
The object of the Invention is simply to economize space in railway trucks
or waggons, boats, barges, or other conveyances used for the transport of such
bulky materials to the packing warehouses at the port of shipment. To this
end the cotton or other material intended to be conveyed (in a railway waggon
for instance) is compressed between a follower or followers (constructed to work
in the interior of the waggon), and other framings or trusses adapted to the
ends of the waggon in order to strengthen it and enable it to resist the pres-
sure to which it will be subjected while compressing the cotton. When the
cotton or other bulky material is placed in the waggon between the followers

page_text: be
and the ends of the waggon the followers are respectively drawn or forced
towards the stationary framing or framings by any suitable tackle, or by screws,
or by other equivalent mechanical devices, operated upon by hydraulic, steam,
pneumatic, or other pressure. When sufficiently compressed the bales may
be temporarily prevented from returning to their original bulk by chains or
-other fastenings, and then the follower of the compressing apparatus and the
external strengthening frames or trusses may if desired be removed. If desired,
instead of having a single follower of a superficial area equal to the entire
sectional area of the waggon, two or more followers of smaller size
may
employed. It will be evident that a similar arrangement of apparatus may
be employed for compressing or packing cotton or other analogous bulky
articles in barges or other conveyances. In order to compress and pack
cotton or other bulky articles on the plantation preparatory to carrying it to
the railway, waggon, barge, ship, or other conveyance, a different kind of
apparatus will be required. For this purpose I compress the cotton or other
substance in cases or boxes having open ends, and of any desired sectional
area, depending upon the pressure to be employed. It will be found convenient
to have these boxes of a sectional area proportioned to the weight of a man,
so that the workman by his own weight will be able to compress the cotton to
the desired extent. It has been found convenient in practice to construct
these cases or boxes about 8 inches square, and 1 foot 3 inches high, but it
will be evident that these dimensions may be modified, especially when a
lever or other mechanical pressure can be conveniently applied. The sides of
the boxes may be made slightly tapering towards the top, so that the cotton
when compressed may be more easily pushed out. Vertical slots must be
made in the sides of the boxes to receive binding cords, which will be passed
round the compressed cotton so as to hold it together while it is being made
up into bales, after which the cords may be removed.