IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES FOR EXPRESSING FLUIDS
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Martin Rowan at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st October
1864.
I, JOHN MARTIN ROWAN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North,
Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES FOR EXPRESSING FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention comprises various improvements in presses for expressing
fluids, and has for object to obtain a system of construction susceptible of
adaptation to any desired amount of power, together with convenience and
efficiency in use. The class of press to which it is intended to apply the
present Invention is on the hydraulic system, and comprises one or more
vessels to receive the matters from which the oil or other fluid is to be
expressed, placed in line and acted on simultaneously, and each expressing
vessel is fitted with a hydraulic ram and strainer or piston arranged to thrust
out or eject the compressed cake of matters after the fluid has been expressed
therefrom. In order to obtain sufficient pressing power without employing a
ram and cylinder of a size involving great difficulty and uncertainty in its
construction, two or more rams and cylinders are used, and the lowermost.
expressing vessel is formed in a casting which rests upon the two or more
rams.
In one convenient modification there are seven main rams and cylinders, a
central one with six arranged round it, and in this case the central ram may
be in one piece with the casting containing the lowermost expressing vessel;
this casting being formed with a disc face, or it might be with arms to rest

page_text: also on the other six rams. The cylinders are by preference made separately,
and set in seats formed for them in a single massive bed frame, to which the
tension pillars are attached. The fluid for working the thrusting-out or
ejecting rams is supplied by pipes passing down into the bed frame and working
through stuffing boxes therein, and the stop valves for these pipes, as well as
for the main cylinder and ram, are also in the bed frame. These pipes and
the stop valve rods are by preference disposed immediately round the central
ram in order to prevent injurious side strains. There are, by preference four
tension pillars, and each expressing vessel is fitted with lugs or palms, shaped
to work upon and be guided by the pillars. The pillars are formed with
collars to support the upper expressing vessel or vessels, and between these
collars and other collars a little lower down belts bolted on in pieces are
made to embrace and secure the pillars.
An important improvement consists in providing for drawing in both the
main and the ejecting rams by suction, so as to obtain increased speed in that
operation; and this is effected by means of a suitable pump, or of pumps
arranged with valves and pipes so as to be put into connection with the
cylinders when required, or the ejecting rams may be formed with annular en-
largements to act as annular pistons, and the rams are retured home by causing
hydrostatic pressure to act on the upper sides of such annular pistons.
When it is desirable to heat the expressing vessels, they are cast with a
..coil of piping for the passage of Lot water, such piping being connected by
flexible tubing.
Finally, in some cases where two or more main rams and cylinders are
used, one or more of them may be placed at each end of the press, that is, at
the top and bottom when the press is vertical; and this arrangement will
admit of only a part of the press being used when it may be convenient, one
or other of the intermediate expressing vessels being fixed in that case.