PRESS, hop, (Plate Press) a machine used in breweries for compressing bags of hops into a small compass, that they may take less room for the stowage. In the plantation where the hops are grown, (after being picked, dried, and made rea dy for sale) they are placed in an upper room which has a hole in the floor, the bag to receive them is hung in this hole, and the hops filled into it ; a person gets into the bag when nearly full, and by his weight treads down the hops, that the bag may hold more than it otherwise would ; the bag is then removed, and its mouth is sewed up. In this state the bags go to market, and are sold to the brewer, who conveys them to the brew- ery ready for use ; it is here the hops are pressed into a much smaller compass, as breweries are generally situated in large towns, where warehouse-room is able, and where the saving of room ply compensates for the trouble of .
ing.
Fig. 1 and 2 are upright elevations, at right angles to each other, of a press for packing hops into bags, made by Mr. Va lentine Gotlieb, Lambeth-marsh, South wark : a a is the bottom or fixed bed of the press, firmly bolted to the two up right cheeks, b h, which support at their upper end a strong cross beam, B, called the head ; the beam, B, is perforated in the middle to receive an iron screw, D. E is a contrate-wheel, of ninety-six teeth, which has a female screw, to admit the male screw, D; the wheel is turned by a pinion of ten teeth, upon the axis of a large crank, f, which is turned round by one or two men, according to the power required : these men stand upon a stage, H, fastened to the upright cheeks, The lower end of the screw, D, is square, and is keyed into a three-legged iron frame, 11, bolted to the, swinging-bed of the press, I; this is formed of several pie ces of thick oak plank, strongly bolted together ; the fixed bed, K, of the press is framed in the same manner, and sup ported on the bottom bed : a a, k k, are two upright beams, fastened at their low er ends to the fixed bed, the press, and at the upper ends are fastened to the frame of the stage, H, on which the men who turn the handle, f, stand : one of these beams, k, is fixed to the lower bed by a moveable key-bolt ; at the upper end it turns on a bolt as a centre, so as to rise up, as shown in fig. 1: / is a rope going
round a pulley, one end fastened to the beam, the other to a weight which coun terbalances the beam.
The operation of the machine is begun by screwing the swinging bed of the press up as high as it will go, and turning up the bar, k: a bag, filled with hops, and sewed up, as before described, is then placed on the lower bed, K, and the har, k, brought down and keyed fast, to keep the bag under the press ; the man upon the stage, H, then turns the winch, f, and by the action of the pinion fixed upon its spindle, turns the wheel, E, and thus take it out, removing the pasteboards, and lay it up to keep. Some only lay the stuff on a firm table, after plaiting and pasteboarding, 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 a 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. This done, it is laid upon the press, and forcibly screwed down. Under this press are laid five, six, &c. pieces at the same time, all furnished with their pasteboards and iron plates. When the plates are well cold, the stuffs are taken out and stitched a little together to keep them in the plaits. This manner of pressing was only invented to cover the defects of the- • stuffs ; and, accordingly, it has been fre quently prohibited. .