Hay and 8traw Presses at Nottingham. 
575 
Trials of Hay and Straw Presses a\-orked by Steam 
Power. — Class 1. 
Four machines competed iu this Class, viz : — 
Samuelson . . . No. 2299 I Ladd .... No. 3815 
Howard . . . . „ 3762 ) Foster . . . . „ 3800 
The trials commenced on July G, and ended on July 9. 
Thej^ were conducted first upon loose straw and loose hay, while 
the final trials took place on new hay, carted, in rather damp 
condition, from Lord Middleton's hay-fields. Each exhibitor was 
allowed a preliminary trial, of which the Judges took no notice, 
in order that he might see if his press was in working order. 
All four machines were tried a second time, but Foster's press 
(So. 0,800) was thrown out before the final trials, which took 
place upon new hay. 
Article No. 2,299 (Fig. 2, p. 602) exhibited by Samuelson 
& Co., Banbury, Oxon., was first tried in this class. 
This machine, better known as the " Filter Press, is of 
American origin, improved by the makers in this country. It 
produces cylindrical bales of considerable density, permitting 
10 lbs. of straw, or 16 lbs. of hay, being packed into a cubic 
foot of freight measurement. The cylindrical bales are easily 
rolled from place to place, a great advantage in view of the fact 
that the practice is to make straw bales weighing 1^ cwt., and 
hay bales weighing 2^ cwts. 
Hay, or straw, is fed ty two men, standing one on each side of the 
machine, into a kind of divided " chaff hex," its passage along which is 
assisted hy a pair of packing-forks, entering the " chaff boxes " from below, 
■with a motion similar to that of a sewing-machine feed. 
On reaching the mouth of the press, which is two feet in diameter, the 
hay, or straw, as it issues from each feeding-box, is laid hold of by a conical 
roller, revolving against a metal disc, which, itself slowly rotating, forms an 
abutment against which the loose material is compressed by the action of 
the roller. 
This disc, or platten, slides backwards, as the material accumulates, against 
the resistance of a pair of compressors, which cUp, with a determinable 
amount of friction, the square spindle of the platten. 
After the latter has retreated some four feet, the machine stops auto- 
matically, and a compressing screw is thrown into gear which forces the 
platten back over about a third of the path it previously travelled. 
The bale is bound, while under this secondary pressure, with two pre- 
viously prepared wires, having a loop at each end, and caught together by an 
open chain-link, easily removed, when it is desired to open the bale, bv means 
of a special spanner, both wires and links being available for repeated use. 
The "Filter" Press is, strictly speaking, discontinuous in 
its action. The time occupied in making a bale is about five 
minutes, of which three minutes are occupied in baling, and 
