CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC PRESSES
Year: 1841

page_text: ORAM, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twelfth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and forty-one,.
and in the fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Oram, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Robert Oram, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, and assigns, and such others as I, the
said Robert Oram, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no other, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN HYDRAULIC PRESSES;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Robert
Oram, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in. Her
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Oram, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly describe

page_text: and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say) :-
My improvements in hydraulic presses consist in a simple additional
apparatus to the common hydraulic press for the purpose of causing the ram
with the table to ascend or be brought into action with greater speed in such
cases where the articles under pressure are of a light description, such as wool,
horsehair, roots, &c., until the extreme pressure is required. This improve-
ment is effected by the introduction of a small stationary ram into the bottom
of the cylinder and extending partially into the common ram which is bored to
receive it, and thus converted into another cylinder. The effect of this will be,
that the water pumped into the interior of the ram, which, for the sake of
illustration, we will suppose to be bored out to four inches in diameter, instead
of being forced against its lower extremity and thus into the interior of the
cylinder, say ten inches in diameter, at every stroke of the pump, will con-
sequently raise the ram considerably quicker or in proportion of about sixteen
to one hundred, that is, sixteen strokes of the pump with the application of
my improvement will be equal to one hundred strokes in the ordinary press.
But in order that my improvements may be more particularly explained and
distinctly understood, I have attached to these Presents a Sheet of Drawings
containing a view of a common hydraulic press, with the cylinder and ram
shewn in section. a, a, is the common cylinder of the press; b, b, the ram;
c, the table. It will be seen that the ram is bored hollow for a space at d, the
extent of the space extending upwards according to the quality of the goods to
be packed. A small stationary ram d, d, is fixed into the cylinder and extends
upwards into the body of the common ram b, b, the mouth or open end of which
is packed with either a single or double cup leather as at e, e, the same as at the
upper part of the cylinder a, a. Now it is evident that as the water is pumped
into the ram through the pipe ff, a vacuum would be formed in the cylinder
'under the ram b, b, to obviate which, water is allowed to flow in through the
pipe g, which is provided with a sto; -cock to be used as occasion may require.
Having now described my improvement in hydraulic presses, I desire it to be
understood that I claim as my Invention the boring out of the ram to convert
it into an interior cylinder, and the introduction of the smaller stationary ram
into the same, in order that the strokes of the pump, in working, may tell
quicker upon the goods under pressure.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Oram, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
ROBERT (L.S.) ORAM:

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Tenth day of Decem-
ber, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Robert Oram came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
The Eleventh day of Dasaniban in the woon above writton