IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PRESSING COTTON
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Fleming at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th March
1862. A communication from Alexander Johnstone, of Bombay, East
Indies.
I, JOHN FLEMING, of Mincing Lane, in the City of London, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
PRESSING COTTON," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for pressing
cotton. For these purposes a mechanical or lever press is combined with
hydraulic apparatus in such manner that the lever press performs with speed
the first or earlier parts of the pressing process, and the hydraulic pressure
comes into action when the lever press ceases to act. The lever press being
so arranged that at this time it will be in the most favorable position for
resisting the pressure exerted by the hydraulic apparatus. I arrange the
machinery in the following manner :-The bydraulic press is applied at the
lower end of a box or trunk, of which the plunger or platten of the lever
press forms the top; the box or trunk in other respects is similarly constructed
to those heretofore used in pressing cotton, in order to admit of its being
supplied with cotton and to allow the bale to be lashed or hooped when
held between the upper and under plattens or pressing surfaces of the press,
and compressed to the desired extent.
The following is the manner in which it is preferred to arrange the lever
press: A lever having a sector rack at one end is mounted on a fixed or stationary

page_text: axis, the other end of this lever is connected by a link or links to another pair
of parallel links, which at their other ends are jointed to toggle levers. The
upper joint of these toggle levers is stationary and carried by the frame, and
the lower joint is moveable, being attached to the platten or pressing surfaces.
The sector rack is put in motion by a pinion, which receives its motion from a
steam engine or other suitable power, and the lever of the sector rack gives
motion to the toggle levers by means of the connecting links attaching the one
to the other, the joint in between the two links or rather the two sets of links
being supported to prevent it yielding by means of a curved course carried by
the frame. The bydraulic press is put in action as soon as the lever press has
completed its stroke, and at this time the lever press is blocked by a suitable
stop on the curved course, and the parts of the lever press are retained in this
position till the hydraulic press has completed its action, and until the lashing
or hooping of the bale is performed. Two sets of pressing machinery worked
by the combined action of levers and hydraulic power as described are con-
veniently combined together; thus, in the arrangement described the sector
arcs of two presses may be driven by the same pinion, so that the platten or
pressing surface of one lever press may descend whilst that of the other rises.
By thus combining two presses the box or trunk of one press may be filled
with cotton whilst the compressed cotton in the box or trunk of the other
press is being further compressed by the hydraulic press, and is being lashed
or hooped.