578 
Report on tlie Trials of 
considerable, approaclimg nearly to that of the Filter Press. The 
condition of the compressed material was not so good as in the 
case of the Howard machine, but better than that of the " Filter " 
Fress. The power absorbed was considerable, but uniform in 
amount, and the cost of baling per ton was less than that of 
any other competitor in the Class. Three men were employed 
in tending the press, but neither of them was overworked. 
In passing rapidly, as was unavoidable in these trials, from 
the pressing of one material to another, it was not easy to 
adjust the density of Ladd's bales in a moment ; but it was 
evident that, in ordinary work, the compression screws being 
once set, they would need scarcely any attention all day 
long. 
This press is well adapted to take stuff as it issues from a 
thrashing machine. Its output is large, density high, and the 
cost of baling relatively moderate. The machine works sup- 
ported on its own travelling wheels, and is easily removed from 
place to place. 
Mention has been made of the large absorption of power ex- 
hibited by both the " Ladd " and " Filter " Presses, and an expla- 
nation may be conveniently given here. In both machines, but 
in Filter's case continuously, while in Ladd's case discontinu- 
ously, the bales are extruded, after compression, against con- 
siderable friction. This friction, in the " Filter" Fress, consists 
of the resistance to the issue of the bale offered by the com- 
pressors, which grip the square shaft of the platten, while in 
the " Ladd " Fress the issuing hay is itself gripped by the press- 
body. In the latter case, after a mouthful of hay has been 
compressed to a determined density, the abutment against which 
such compression was effected is itself moved backwards for an 
inch or two against a frictional resistance equal to that which it 
afforded to material in course of pressing, and so on for every 
stroke of the piston. Exactly the same thing occurs in the 
" Filter " Fress, although the action in this case is continuous 
and not intermittent. Howard's Press is free from this defect, 
and hence its more moderate use of power. 
Article No. 3,800 (Fig. 4, p. G04) was exhibited by Messrs. 
W. Foster & Co., Limited, Wellington Foundry, Lincoln. This 
press, constructed under the patents of Messrs. Watson & 
Starkey, is double-acting, one truss being compressed while the 
material for a second truss is being fed into the box and trampled. 
The machine consists of a long box, forming the press-body, carried 
horizontally upon travelling wheels. In the box there moves back and 
forth a piston, or platten, having two ears or lugs projecting through slats 
on either side of the box. Each lug carries a nut threaded upon a liorir 
