54 COTTON CULTURE. 



side of the press, and b to the right side. This will lower 

 the follower to the bottom of the packing-box, when it 

 may be filled with a new charge from the lint room, 

 beneath which it should be set up. 



It will be seen at once by those at all familiar with the 

 mechanical principles, that a combination of the toggle or 

 elbow-joint with the screw and lever, gives immense power 

 to this press. And the power is applied in just the way to 

 have the greatest effect upon a material so elastic as cot- 

 ton. It is the last foot or two feet of the compression 

 that demands power. The old wooden or iron screw will 

 make a bale from three to four feet thick without much 

 difficulty. But this press will take an ordinary bale, and 

 compress it to a thickness of two feet, for it is the pecu- 

 liarity of the toggle-joint piece, that its power becomes 

 enormous when the two shafts that compose it approach a 

 perpendicular or straight line. 



The size of a bale, when pressed by this machine, is five 

 and a half feet long, two wide, and about three feet high. 

 Within this space, which is almost exactly a cubic yard, or 

 twenty-seven solid feet, five hundred pounds can be com- 

 pressed by two stout men working for five minutes on the 

 wheels. Now, the average dimensions of the New Orleans 

 bale, which contains four hundred and fifty pounds, is 

 thirty-two cubic feet. That is; after the action of the im- 

 mense steam compress, the ordinary New Orleans bale of 

 commerce is five solid feet larger and fifty pounds lighter, 

 than the package which two hands can produce at the 

 plantation with this improved and powerful press. 



The cut (Fig. 12) represents a Plantation Cotton Press, 

 which is worked exclusively by hand-power, with the bale 

 packed, sacked, and tied, and ready to be turned out. It 

 is made by Messrs. Ingersoll & Dougherty, Green Point, 

 Kings Co., N. Y. Other presses, to be worked by horse- 

 power, are made by the same parties, under patents issued 

 April 15, 1856; June 16, 1863; July 28, 1863; and Janu- 



