582 
Report on the Trials of 
This machine was tried upon straw, in which material the 
density obtained was only 6 lbs. per cubic foot. It was mani- 
festly a new and untried apparatus, which, for good reasons of 
their own doubtless, the makers did not wish to test too severely. 
However, as will appear when Stephenson's other presses come to 
be described, the principles upon which it is constructed are good. 
The output of the machine was the largest obtained in this 
class, but, as already stated, the density was low. 
The power absorbed was very moderate, or equal to that of 
one horse, pulling about 1^ cwt. for one minute out of every 
five, and standing during the other four minutes. The cost 
of baling per ton was the lowest recorded in this class, but 
the machine was passed over by the Judges because of its ob- 
vious imperfections — imperfections, however, consisting merely 
in matters of detail. 
Article No. 3814, exhibited by the Lincolnshire Hay and 
Straiv Pressing Company, Limited, of Boston, Lincolnshire, was 
next started in straw. It made one bale, having a density of 
4 lbs. to the cubic foot, but, though it continued working for 
some time afterwards, was not further noted by the Judges. 
The press was a crude construction, having so many working 
parts, operating so irregularly, and Avith so much friction that 
any description of it here is unnecessary. 
Article No. 3815 (Fig. 1, p. 602), exhibited by John H. 
Ladd & Co., 116 Queen Victoria Street, London, E.G., was the 
same article as that already described in Class 1, but rigged for 
horse-power instead of steam. The exhibitors elected to run the 
press with a single horse, choosing a very powerful animal for this 
purpose ; but the trial had not progressed far when it became 
evident that two horses should, properly, have been employed. 
It is true that the single animal got through the first trial in 
straw, lasting seventeen minutes, but pulling much harder than 
was good for liim. In the hay trial, which followed, the same 
horse, after working seven minutes and making three bales, 
stopped and was changed for another. The second horse was an 
even finer animal than the first, but five bales, accomplished in 
sixteen minutes, brought him also nearly to a standstill. Hence, 
in computing the cost of horse-power per ton, Ladd's Press has 
been debited with two horses (see points of merit) instead of 
one, as in the case of Stephenson's machine. 
The ratio between the movement of the liorse and that of 
the platten was ascertained to be 148 to 1, which, assuming the 
pull of the liorse to have been 2^ cwts., equals a pressure of 18^ 
tons upon the platten. The press employed three men, also a 
horse-driver, while its output was a trifle less than that of 
