P R E 
PRE 
them for sawing and cleaving the pieces of 
wood required in marquetry or inlaid work. 
Press, founder’s, is a strong square frame, 
consisting of four pieces of wood firmly joined 
together with tenons, &c. This press is of 
various sizes, according to the sizes of the 
moulds; two of them are required to each 
mould, at the two extremes whereof they are 
placed ; so as that, by driving wooden wedges 
between the mould and the sides of the 
presses, the two parts of the mould wherein 
the metal is to be run may be pressed close 
together. 
Press, printing. See Printing-ppess. 
Press, rolling , is a machine used for the 
taking off prints from copper plates. It is 
much less complete than that of the letter- 
printers. See its description and use under 
the article Rolling-press Printing. 
Press, in coining, is one of the machines 
used in striking of money, differing from the 
balapce in that it lias only one iron bar to 
give it motion, and press the moulds or coins: 
it is not charged with lead at its extremes, 
nor drawn by cordage. See Coining. 
Binder’s cutting- Press, is a machine used 
equally by bookbinders, stationers, and paste- 
board-makers ; consisting of two large pieces 
of wood, in form of cheeks, connected by two 
strong wooden screws, which, being turned 
by an iron bar, draw together, or set asunder, 
the cheeks, as much as is necessary for the 
putting in the books or paper to be cut. The 
cheeks are placed lengthwise on a wooden 
stand, in the form of a chest, into which the 
cuttings fall. Aside of the cheeks are two 
pieces of wood, of the same length with the 
screws, serving to direct the cheeks, and pre- 
vent their opening unequally. Upon the 
cheeks the plough moves, to which the cut- 
ting-knife is fastened by a screw; which has 
its key, to dismount it on occasion to be 
sharpened. 
The plough consists of several parts ; 
among the rest a wooden screw or worm, 
which, catching within the nuts of the two 
feet that sustain it on the cheeks, brings the 
knife to the book or paper which is fastened 
in the press between two boards. This 
screw, which is pretty long, has two direc- 
tories, which resemble those of the screws 
of the press. To make the plough slide 
square and even on the cheeks, so that 
the knife may make an equal paring, that 
foot of the plough where the knife is not fix- 
ed, slides in a kind of groove, fastened along 
one of the cheeks. Lastly, the knife is a 
piece of steel, six or seven inches long, flat, 
thin, and sharp, terminating at one end in a 
point, like that of a sword, and at the other 
in a square form, which serves to fasten it to 
the plough. See Bookbinding. 
As the lone;' knives used by us in the cut- 
ting of books or paper are apt to jump in 
the cutting thick books, the Dutch are said 
to use circular knives, with an edge allround, 
which not only cut more steadily, but last 
longer without grinding. 
Press, in the ivoollen manufactory , is a 
large wooden machine, serving to press cloths, 
serges, rateens, &c. thereby to render them 
smooth and even, and to give them a gloss. 
This machine consists of several members ; 
theprincipal whereof are the cheeks, the nut, 
and the worm or screw, accompanied with 
its bar, which serves to turn it round, and 
make it descend perpendicularly on the 
middle of a thick wooden plank, under which 
the stuffs to be pressed are placed. The 
calender is also a kind of press, serving to 
press or calender linens, silks, &c. 
Presses used for expressing of liquors 
are of various kinds; some, in most respects, 
the same with the common presses, except- 
ing that the under plank is perforated with a 
great number of holes, to let the juice ex- 
pressed run through into a tub or l-eceiver 
underneath. 
Plate, Presses, fig. 1 , is a simple packing 
press, described by M. Buschenderf, in Les 
Annales des Arts. ABD is a strong frame of 
wood ; through the upper bar P a strong iron 
rack E, similar to a saw, slides a small click 
e, pushed by a spring, prevents it rising after 
the lever F has pressed it down: the lower 
end of this rack lias the bed of the press K 
fixed to it, under which the goods G to be 
pressed are put. The lever F has a mortise 
through it, to admit the rack E; and a click 
f, which takes into its teeth the lever, moves 
round a bolt g, as a centre, which can be put 
through any of the holes in the beam, accord- 
ing to the quantity of the goods to be press- 
ed. The machine operates as follows. When 
the lever F is lifted up, its click f slips over 
the sloping side of the teeth, and when it is 
pulled down, the click takes hold of the teeth 
and draws the rack down with it another 
tooth : the click e then holds it, while the 
lever is raised to take another tooth as be- 
fore. The only objection to this simple press 
is a want of power for pressing many articles, 
and that the teeth of the rack could not be 
made fine enough for a man to press down a 
whole tooth without resting. To remedy the 
first inconvenience, it has occurred to us .that 
a bolt h might be put through two of the 
beams, and the end of a common handspike 
llput under it. This handspike might be con- 
nected with F by an endless chain put over 
both : this chain might have a hook at the 
1 end, so as to shorten or lengthen it by hook- 
ing it into another link, as occasion required. 
For the second inconvenience a plate of iron 
i, with teeth in it, might be fastened to the 
lever F, and a long click I, connected with 
the frame, might fall into them, so as to pre- 
vent the lever rising. By this means each 
tooth of the rack may be divided into four or 
five parts ; and when the click e takes hold of 
a new tooth, the long click I may be lifted 
up, and the lever raised. As before, the click 
might be hooked up when the press 1 is used 
as above described : the chain or handspike 
may be taken away, and replaced in a very 
short time. 
Fig. 2 . is a screw-press, used for expressing 
some kinds of oil ; the frame ADB is formed of 
one piece of cast-iron, the upper piece has a 
brass nut fixed in it, through which the screw 
E works; the screw has holes through its 
lower end, to put in a long iron iever F, by 
which the screw is turned. The substance 
from which the oil is to be pressed is tied up 
in horse-hair bags, and laid under the bed of 
the press G, with a warm iron plate between 
each bag ; the screw is then turned by men, 
as long as they can move it : a rope is then 
hooked to the end of the lever, and the power 
of a windlass or capstan is used to assist the 
lever: the oil weeps out of the bags, and 
runs clown through a spout into the reservoir 
Id, placed to raise it. 
PRE 495 
Fig. 3 . is a representation of the hydro- 
static press for which Mr. Bramah to. k out a 
patent in 1796. The frame of this is like a 
common press; the bed A is fastened to the 
piston B of a stout brass barrel Id, the lower 
end of which communicates by a pipe E, 
with a forcing pump within the cylindric 
vessel F; the pisto nff ot this is cut hollow, 
and has the connecting rod g jointed within 
side of it. r l he lever b, which works the 
pump, is jointed to the lover end ot this roci, 
so that the circular motion ot the lever is al- 
lowed by the connecting rod g moving in or 
out of the hollow in the piston rod; and the 
parallelism of the piston is preserved by a 
collar FI. 
Fig 4. explains the construction of the 
pump within the cistern F; 1 is the barrel of 
brass, this has the piece J screwed into it 
lower, and this piece J is screwed into the 
end of the pipe E, and contains within it a 
valve opening downwards. To the part L 
of the barrel, the piece K containing a valve 
opening inwards is screwed ; this is open to 
the wafer, oil, &c. contained in the cistern F, 
when the lever G is raised, the barrel fills 
with water through the valve K, and when it 
is pushed down, the valve K shuts, J opens, 
and the water is forced through the pipes E 
into the large barrel D, and by pushing out 
its piston B, presses the goods laid upon the 
beet A of the press. When the goods are 
sufficiently pressed, the lever G is pushed 
down, and the lower end of the piston opens 
the valves JK, and the dettent k pushes to- 
wards the piston, opens the valves K, which 
allows the water to pass back into the reservoir, 
the bed of the press falls down, the valves 
are composed ol a small brass cone, fig. 4. 
which exactly fits its seat, and is kept in its 
place by a wire fastened to it ; this wire is cut 
fiat on one side to allow the water to pass 
through when the valve is open, and a small 
spiral spring closes it. 
Press used by joiners, to keep close the 
pieces they have glued, especially pannels, 
&c. of wainscot, is very simple, consisting of 
four members, viz. two screws, and two pieces 
of wood, four or live inches square, and two 
or three feet long; whereof the holes at the 
two ends serve for nuts to the screws. 
PRESSING, in the manufactures, is the 
violently squeezing a cloth, stuff, &c. to 
render it smooth and glossy There are tw o 
methods of pressing, viz. cold or hot. As to 
the former, or cold- pressing, after the stuff 
has been scoured, fulled, and shorn, it is 
folded square in equal plaits, and a skin of 
vellum, or pasteboard, put between each 
plait. Over the whole is laid a square wooden 
plank, and so put into the press, which is 
screwed down tight by means of a lever. 
After it has lain a sufficient time in the press, 
they take it out, removing the pasteboards, 
and lay it up to keep. Some only lay the 
stuff on a firm table, after plaiting and paste- 
boarding, cover the whole with a wooden 
plank, and load it with a proper weight. 
The method of pressing hot is this : when 
the stuff has received the above preparations, 
it is sprinkled 3 little with water, sometimes 
gum-water, then plaited equally, and between 
each two plaits are put leaves of pasteboard ; 
and between every sixth or seventh plait, as 
well as over the whole, an iron or brass-plate 
well heated in a kind of furnace. 'I his done, 
it is laid upon the press, and forcibly screwed 
IF 
