Botanical Press. 55 



off. The ropes are 12 to 18 inches long, and wind around the ends 

 of the axle RHR, which is exactly 1^ inches in diameter at R and R, 

 and 3 inches at H, which forms the capstan head, having two holes 

 §■ in diameter, perforating it in the middle at right angles for the 

 lever L. The racket wheel which is cut in this head consists of 20 

 teeth cut three-sixteenths deep on the perpendicular side, and about 

 half an inch long, not at the end, but about half an inch from it, to 

 give sufficient support to the teeth. The click C is 42 inches long, 

 £ inch thick, 1 inch wide at the hinge end, and half an inch at the 

 wheel, planted 3£ inches from the head, and fastened by a brass table- 

 hinge. The lever L is 16 to 18 inches long. The whole length of 

 the axle is 16 inches. The head part, 3 inches long, is sunk into the 

 board, and rolls between guides at G. 



When the press is to be opened, the lever is inserted, the click 

 loosened and turned out, the cords slackened and slipped from the 

 heads of the steel pin, and the upper board lifted off. Although this 

 press is so portable as to be packed in a common travelling trunk, it 

 will exert a force by the application of one hand, of half a ton. When 

 neatly made of mahogany and polished, it is not unsightly in the 

 parlor ; and the pressure being applied to the pile of papers contain- 

 ing the specimens, the click holding the last force, the lever may be 

 removed, and it may be set on one end at the side of the room, 

 scarcely incommoding any other operations. It is peculiarly adapted 

 to the purposes of the travelling botanist. It is capable of being ap- 

 plied to other uses than that of pressing plants for an herbarium. 

 On a large scale, it would be an excellent cheese press, and it has 

 been already adopted for some parts of book-binder's operations. 

 Printers will find it convenient to apply to their paper, in wetting it 

 down. In this use, a longer lever should be applied, and a weight 

 attached to it. The cords are ordinarily passed through the ends 

 of the roller, and fastened by a knot ; but I have lately made one, 

 intended as a present to a foreign botanist, in which I have passed 

 the cord quite through the whole length of the axis, thus allowing it 

 to be adjusted whenever one cord shall be the longer. The figure 

 shows the oblong hole near H, through which the two ends of the 

 cord were intended to emerge at the extremes of the axle, where 

 they are turned out in a slit, and made to wind on the outside. It 

 should be observed that the axle should be placed so far to one side 

 of the centre, that the cord shall run off from it exactly at the mid- 

 die, between the two ends of the press. 



