IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES FOR PRESSING COTTON AND OTHER MATERIALS INTO BALES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lumisden Strange, of 3, Westminster Chambers,
Victoria Street, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES FOR
PRESSING COTTON AND OTHER MATERIALS INTO BALES."-A Communication
from abroad by Jolin Alexander Cameron and John Frier, both of
Madras, India.
Scaled the 15th April 1878, and dated the 31st January 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lumisden Strange at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st January 1873.
I, LUMISDEN STRANGE, of 3, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street,
do licreby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRESSES FOR PRESSING COTTON AND OTHER MATERIALS INTO BALES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in presses for pressing
cotton and other materials into bales. The material to be pressed is
placed in a chamber or tank supported upon the bed of the press, and
the follower of the press enters the chamber or tank and comprosses the

page_text: materials therein. The follower is forced forward by means of a
powerful screw, and at different parts of the length of the screw the
pitch of the screw thread is different. The first section of the thread is of
a rapid pitch, so that when this portion is in action the follower of the
press advances at a fast rate, the resistance offered by the cotton or
other material at this time being comparatively small. The succeeding
section (or sections) of the thread which afterwards comes into action to
complete the pressure upon the balo is of a slower pitch adapted to
overcome the greater resistance of the materials in the latter stages of
the compression.
In the bed of the press two or more nuts are carried, ono for each
section of the screw thread. Each nut is made in two parts capable of
being separated by gearing provided for the purpose. At the com-
mencement of the pressure the nut of rapid pitch is closed upon its
portion of the screw, and as the screw is turned the follower of the press
advances quickly; then when the resistance becomes more than the
power can readily overcome, the slower pitch and nut is closed upon the
corresponding part of the screw, and the two parts of the nut previously
in use are drawn back out of contact; the screw is then again set
in motion, so the bale is fully compressed, and it is then lashed in the
usual way.
To raise the follower of the press to release the bale a chain and
counterpoise weight is used; this chain is fixed at one end to the head of
the press, and is led beneath pulleys upon the follower, then over a
pulley upon the head down to the weight, which is somewhat heavier
than the screw and follower, so that when the screw is not held by the
nuts it runs up to the top of the press.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by tho said Lumisden Strange in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 81st July 1878.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LUMISDEN
STRANGE, of 3, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, send greeting.

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Lumisden Strange, Her special license, that I,
the said Lumisden Strange, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
5 such others as I, the said Lumisden Strange, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any timo agree with, and no others, from time
to time, and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
) and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRESSES FOR PRESSING
COTTON AND OTHER MATERIALS INTO BALES," a communication to me from
abroad by John Alexander Cameron and John Frier, both of Madras,
India, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Lumisden
Strange, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
5 under my or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Lumisden Strange, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :
¦—
This Invention has for its object improvements in presses for pressing
5 cotton and other materials into bales. The material to be pressed is
placed in a chamber or tank supported upon the bed of the press, and
the follower of the press enters the chamber or tank and compresses the
materials therein. The follower is forced forward by means of a
powerful screw, and at different parts of the length of the screw the
O pitch of the screw thread is different. The first section of the thread
is of a rapid pitch, so that when this portion is in action the follower of
the press advances at a fast rate, the resistance offered by the cotton or
other material at this time being comparatively small. The succeeding
section (or sections) of the thread which afterwards comes into action to
5 complete the pressure upon the bale is of a slower pitch adapted to
overcome the greater resistance of the materials in the latter stages of
the compression.

page_text: is caused to turn with it by groove and feather. The screw shaft has
two threads upon it, one a coarse thread at its lower end up to the
line; this thread is shewn full size at Figure 5, and the other a finc
thread, such as is shown full size at Figure 6. The coarse screw as shown
in this Drawing is cut to a pitch of one revolution in fifteen inches, and
it is a four-threaded screw. The fine screw is single threaded and of one
inch pitch; and I are two screw nuts in the head of the press, tho
lower one corresponds with the coarse thread, and the upper with tho
fine thread of the screw. The nuts are cach made in two parts which
can be closed on the screw or separated for this purpose, as is shown in
Figure 3. Each half nut has a screw stem attached to it which passes.
through the boss of a hand wheel m, and this. wheel is held by a plate
fixed upon the press head. Or in order to move the half nuts to and
from each other one hand wheel and a right and left handed screw
may be employed. The press head has recesses formed in it to receive
the nuts and 7, and in these recesses the parts of the nuts slide. To
distribute the strain the nuts and the recesses to receive them are
formed with a series of narrow steps; n is a hand wheel for locking the
cotton box in its place ready for pressure, it also holds the end door
shut. In the use of the press one of the boxes c full of cotton is
brought beneath the follower of the press and there secured by means of
the hand wheel n, then the two parts of the nut k are closed together and
made to embrace the shaft i near its lower end where the coarser screw
thread is cut upon it. The capstan being then worked the screw
turning in the nut descends forcing down the follower and compressing
the cotton at a comparatively rapid rate in consequence of the rapid
pitch of the screw and nut. When the fibre has been compressed in
this way nearly as much as the power will admit, the capstan is stopped
at a mark suitably placed, and the two parts of the nut are closed
upon the finer portion of the screw thread of the shaft i. The capstan
is then turned back for the small distance requisite to relieve the nut k
from strain, and the parts of this nut are then separated and drawn back
out of contact with the screw shaft. The capstan is now again worked,
and the follower of the press is forced down further but at a much
5 slower rate until the full pressure has been applied. The bale is then
lashed in the usual way and the nut is relieved from strain by turning
back the capstan. The nut is now opened to release the screw shaft,
and the counterweight draws it and the follower of the press rapidly
up to their highest positions.

page_text: To avoid shock the counterweight is made in the manner clearly
shewn by the section, Figure 7, that is to say, with two movable pieces
or plugs ', ', passing through it; these reach the floor sooner than the
main weight, leaving the main weight to act alone during the last
portion of the rise of the screw shaft and follower, and these parts being;
then barely counterpoised come quietly to rest. This method of causing
the return of the follower is also applicable to presses in which the
pressure scrow is all of one pitch.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I ]
claim as the improvements in presses for pressing cotton and other
materials into bales is,―
1st. The means of applying the pressure by means of a screw shaft i
with threads of different pitch, and the nuts and 7, substantially as
described.
2nd. The means of effecting the rapid return of the follower by
releasing the screw, and then allowing the follower to be lifted by a
counterpoise, substantially as described..
3rd. The construction of presses, substantially as described and
represented in the annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lumisden Strange, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 23rd day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
L. STRANGE. (L.s.)