Hay and Strdw Presses at Noitingham. 577 
of these purposes was fatal to the prospects of the machine 
as a competitor for either prize. 
But, aside from these considerations, the performance of the 
Howard Press was admirable. It obtained a density, not great, 
indeed, but more than was required by the conditions of the 
trials. Its output was large, and might have been larger if the 
bales could have been wired automatically. It was well suited 
to receive and to deal with stuff' coming from a thrashing 
machine. The low, but sufficient, density, together with the 
" end on " feed, ensured the best possible condition of straw in 
the bale, while the power absorbed was moderate. 
Article No. 3,815 (Fig. 1, p. 602), Ladd's Perpetual Press, was 
exhibited by /. H. Ladd & Co., Queen Victoria Street, London. 
Ladd's Press is a continuous machine, no stoppage being 
made for wiring or removing the bales. It is a modification, 
under Capel's patents, of the well-known American " Dederick " 
Press, which has been exhibited at several Royal Shows, and 
described in past numbers of the Journal. 
Let the reader imagine a square pipe, partially filled with 
plastic material, to which a fresh portion of similar material is 
added at every stroke of a plunger, moving backwards and 
forwards in the unoccupied portion of the tube, and he will have 
a picture of the " Ladd " Press. If he further supposes that the 
occupied part of the'pipe can be cramped at will upon its con- 
tents, he will understand how the density of Ladd's bales is 
determined. In such an apparatus every addition of unpressed 
material causes the extrusion from the end of the pipe of a 
similar quantity of compressed stuff, whose density depends upon 
the amount of friction induced by cramping between the pipe 
and its unextruded contents. 
In the press under review, the material to be baled is fed by a man, 
handling a fork, piecemeal into the body of the press. There, a platten, 
which has a to-and-fro motion communicated to it by a suitably geared 
crank and connecting rod, drives each mouthful of hay or straw introduced 
by the feeder back upon other already compressed material occupying the 
rear of the box. Six lateral latches, three on either side of the press-body, 
serve to retain each newly pressed mouthful of hay, and when enough for a 
bale has been compressed, the feeder introduces a square board, called a 
" follower," loosely fitting the box, and provided with three cross grooves for 
the later admission of the binding wires. Binding is accomplished as each 
bale passes rearward, and after it has reached a portion of the press-body 
from which the sides have been removed for this purpose. After wiring, 
the bales, together with their " followers," are successively extruded froni 
the press, the former being removed, while the latter are returned to the 
feeder for repeated use. 
The output of Ladd's Press was greater than that of any 
other machine tried in Class 1, while the density obtained was 
VOL. XXIV. — S. S. -2 P 
