54 Botanical Press. 



Art. VI. — Botanical Press; by J. Locke, M. D. 



TO PROF. SILLIMAN. 



The little press figured above, which is an improvement by my- 

 self on one figured and described in the Western Journal for July, 

 1834, by Dr. Riddell, has been so decidedly approved by our west- 

 ern botanists, that I have determined on sending you a description of 

 it for publication. 



It consists of two boards drawn together by cords passing from the 

 edges of the lower one, and winding on the projecting end of an axle 

 or roller, crossing the upper one. The action is produced by means 

 of a lever inserted in a capstan head, which constitutes the middle 

 portion of the axle or roller. The winding is held at every point by 

 a click resting in a racket wheel cut around the capstan head. This 

 is the chief improvement alluded to above. 



The figure: BB are the boards IJ by 12 by 19 inches. P, a 

 steel pin with a conic head driven firmly into the lower board by its 

 shank, which is three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter.* The 

 rope or cord, which is of the same diameter, is spliced in a loop, 

 which buttons upon the head of this pin, and can be easily slipped 



* A large wood screw will answer if the head be rounded. 



