GOO 
Report on the Trials of 
was manifestly used, not to compress, but to discharge his bales, 
while Stephenson showed that one-fourth of a horse-power, pro- 
perly applied, is enough to do more work tha.n Ladd accom- 
plished with one horse, or could, probably, have accomplished 
with two. Immature as, unfortunately, were all the machines 
exhibited by Stephenson in other classes, his ' performance in 
Class 2 demonstrated that " toggle-joint " machines are very 
economical of power, and therefore of time and money. It re- 
mains for Mr. Stephenson, or some other maker, to give a better 
practical expression to this principle than, aside from the horse- 
power machine, was forthcoming at his hands at Nottingham. 
Turning now to the hay and straw presses worked by hand- 
power (Classes 3 and 4), the following table discloses not only 
some extraordinary differences in the present practice of makers, 
but the fact that the principles which should govern the art of 
hay and straw pressing are as yet little understood. Several 
machines have been omitted from the table in question, some 
because they failed altogether, others because they were not 
worked up to their jDOwers, and others, again, because they were 
disqualified or withdrawn ; but enough remains to startle the 
mechanic as well as to give him hints which ought to guide 
future construction. 
Table VIII. — Hay and Straw Presses worked by Hand- 
Power. — Classes 3 and 4. 
C.nta- 
lofjue 
number 
Name of 
exhibitor 
Lever 
Wincli 
Ratio of IcTcr- 
ftge to 1 
Pressure on 
platten ( 'lisregard- 
iug friction) 
Monn density 
obtained 
(in liay) 
tons 
lbs. per c. foot 
3090 
McKenzie . 
X 
20 
4-1 
22G:! 
Barford . . 
X 
4-8 
9-8 
502 
Bradbury . 
X 
120 
7-5 
8-3 
5.57 
I'laiuber . . 
X 
120 
10-7 
9-7 
52.3 
Hoodless 
X 
372 
160 
9-7 
.3802 
Foster . . 
X 
480 
21'7 
7-7 
3808 
Warnes . . 
X 
883 
39-0 
11-0 
Now, in view of the fact that all these presses simply aim 
at getting 50 cwt. of hay or straw into a railway truck, and 
that this can be accomplished by squeezing something less than 
8 lbs. of either material into a cubic foot, it is clear they cannot 
all be built upon correct principles. 
The stack of old hay operated upon at Nottingliam had, 
itself, a density of 6 lbs. per cubic foot at top, and ] 2 lbs. at 
bottom, and, although a good deal of density is no doubt lost in 
cutting out trusses, there is not really much work to be done in 
old luiy pressing. 
