PRESS, in the mechanic art, a machine made of iron or wood, serving to squeeze or compress any body very close.
The ordinary presses consist of six members, or pieces, viz. two flat planks, between which the things to be pressed are laid; two screws, or worms, fastened to the lower plank. and nassin• through two holes in the upper ; and two nuts, in form of an S, serving to drive the upper plank, which is moveable, against the lower, which is stable, and without motion. Presses, used for expressing of liquors, are of various kinds : some, in most respects, the same with the common presses, excepting that the under plank is perforated with a great number of holes, to let the juice run through into a tub, or receiver, underneath. Press used by joiners, to keep close the pieces they have glued, especially panels, &c. of wainscot, is very simple, consisting of four members, viz. two screws, and two pieces of wood, tour or five inches square, and two or three feet long; whereolthe holes at the two ends serve fbr nuts to the screws. Press, used by inlayers, resem
bles the joiner's press, except that the pieces of wood are thicker, and that. only one ()Him is moveable ; the other, which is in form of a tressel, being sustained by two legs or pillars, jointed into it at each end. This press serves them for sawing • and cleaving the pieces of wood required in marquetry or inlaid work. Founder's Press is a strong square frame, consisting of four pieces of wood, firmly jointed to gether with tenons, &c. This press is of various sizes, according to the sizes of the mould ; two of them are required to each 2 . • 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. Rolling-Press is a machine used for the taking off prints from copper-plates. It is much less com plex than that of the Letter-Printers.