COMPOUND LEVER PRESS FOR COMPRESSING ENSILAGE IN SILOS
Year: 1884

page_text: I WILLIAM SHUKER of Calveley near Tarporley in the County of Chester
Agricultural Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
A COMPOUND LEVER PRESS FOR COMPRESSING ENSILAGE IN SILOS to be as
follows:-
This invention is designed to utilize a compound system of levers to compress
the fodder or ensilage after it has been placed in the silo.
The apparatus is arranged as follows:-
Near to the wall on each side of the silo is a rack formed of three upright bars
provided with pegs or projections between them.
Into the two spaces between these three bars take the short ends of a pair of
levers which are pivotted to a bracket (close to the rack) on the ordinary pressure
beam of the silo, and which extend nearly to the centre of the said beam.
One of these levers is pressed down by the attendant until it touches the beam;
the second lever is then held in place by a peg placed in one of a series of holes
formed in an upright bar or guide pillar, placed in a suitable position between the
two levers. The other lever may then be engaged beneath the next peg in the
rack and so on, until the attendant can compress no further.
The levers are then both brought down as low as possible and their position
secured by the peg on the guide pillar and they are then held together by a suitable
tie or clamp.
There is of course a second pair of levers working in the rack on the other side
wall of the silo.
In order to avoid friction the brackets on the beam are each provided with a
pair of rollers between which the racks pass, so that, as the beam descends these
rollers only bears against the said racks, the beam being cut away to allow space
therefor.
At the centre of the beam is an upright pillar to which are pivotted a pair of
long levers which are forked so as to miss the guide pillars and the levers beld
thereby.

page_text: Each of these forked levers is provided near its fulcrum with a small roller
which bears upon one of the above named pairs of levers, and thus a small weight
hanging from the end of each of these forked levers exerts a great pressure upon
the beam.
This pressure will be continued until the weights fall so low that they rest upon
the brackets on the beam and then the levers will require re-adjusting, or the cover
of the silo may be removed and more fodder placed therein to be compressed as
above described.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I WILLIAM SHUKER of Calveley near Tarporley in the County of Chester
Agricultural Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
"A COMPOUND LEVER PRESS FOR COMPRESSING ENSILAGE IN SILOS" and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:—
This invention is designed to utilize a compound system of levers to compress
the fodder or ensilage after it has been placed in the silo, and it will be readily.
understood from the following description on reference to the accompanying
drawings Fig. 1. being a view of one method of applying my system of leverage
and Fig. 2. a view of various modifications of the different parts, the silo beam
being shown in section.
Near to the wall a, a on each side of the silo is a rack b, b formed of three upright
bars provided with pegs or projections between them.
Into the two spaces between these three bars take the short ends of a pair of
levers c, cx the fulcrums of which are in a bracket d, d (close to the rack) on the
ordinary pressure beam d³, d¹ of the silo and which extend nearly to the centre of
the said beam d', d'.
One of these levers c, c is pressed down as far as possible by the attendant; the
second lever cx, cx is then held in place by the peg placed in one of a series of
holes formed in an upright bar or guide pillar e, e placed in a suitable position
between the two levers c and c*. The lever c, c may then be engaged beneath
the next peg in the rack b, b and so on, until the attendant can compress no
further.
The levers are then both brought down as low as possible and their position
secured by the peg *, on the guide pillar e, e and they are then held together
by a suitable tie or clamp f as shown by the second pair of levers working in the
rack on the other side of the silo in Fig. 1.
In order to avoid friction the brackets d, d on the beam are each provided with
a pair of rollers g, g between which the racks pass, so that as the beam d¹, d¹
descends these rollers only bears against the said racks b, b the beam being cut
away to allow space therefor.
Or instead of the rack b, b channel iron may be employed as at b¹, b¹ (Fig. 2) and
in the sides of the channel iron holes are bored through which two or more pegs i, i
may be passed securing a filling piece k, k in the channel against which the lever c
works and thus two or more pegs bear the thrust of the lever instead of only one as
in the rack these pegs are readily removable so that the piece k, k may follow
the silo beam as it descends; in this case only one antifriction roller g will be
necessary at each end of the beam d¹.
At the centre of the beam is an upright pillar h, h to which are pivotted a pair
of long levers 1, which are forked so as to miss the guide pillars e, e and the
levers c, c held thereby.
Each of these forked levers 1, 2 is provided near its fulcrum with a small roller
m, m which bears upon one of the above pairs of levers c, c* when clamped
:

page_text: together, and thus a small weight hanging or placed in a box at the end of each of
these forked levers l, l exerts a great pressure upon the beam. The roller m, m
may also be placed at or near the end of the lever c (see Fig. 2).
This pressure will be continued until the weights fall so low that they rest upon
the brackets on the beam and then the levers will require re-adjusting, or the cover
of the silo may be removed and more fodder placed therein to be compressed as
above described.
,
In order to lift the beam when the fodder is to be withdrawn or inspected
I mount a pair of crabs n, n worked by a suitable winch handle n¹, n¹ preferably
near to the centre of the beam d, d which wind up chains passing under guide
pulleys o, o and over pulleys p, p on the racks b or channels bi and are attached to
the brackets d, d or to the ends of the beam d¹, d¹. The lovers c, cx should be
removed when the beam is to be raised so as to be out of the way of the chains.
Instead of having two levers c and cx and the locking pegs **in the pillars e, e
I sometimes use only one lever c see Fig. 2. and I employ part of the lifting chain
(or a separate chain) passing over a pulley on the end of the lever c to depress the
said lever and thereby compress the fodder in the silo, and I prevent the return or
expansion of the fodder by ratchets or pawls r, which fall into notches or ratchet
teeth cut in the sides of the channel iron b¹ (see Fig. 2) and the usual ratchet
wheel on the barrel shafts of the crabs n, n will prevent the return or lifting of the
levers c.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The construction of a compound lever press for compressing ensilage in silos
substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings annexed,
CHARLES DAVIES,
Agent for the Applicant,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester.