when the top is leveled, can be fixed in their respective places by
any intelligent man, and when the machines are in position they form a
support for the shafting. The seed to be crushed is stored in a wooden
bin, placed above and behind the roll frame hopper. The roll frame has
four chilled cast iron rolls, 15 in. face, 12 in. diameter, so
arranged as to subject the seed to three rollings, with patent
pressure giving apparatus. These rolls are driven by fast and loose
pulleys by the shaft above. After the last rolling the seed falls
through an opening in the foundation plate in a screen driven from the
bottom roll shaft by a belt. This conveys the seed in a trough to a
set of elevators, which supply it continuously to the kettle. This
kettle, which is 3 ft. 6 in. internal diameter and 20 in. deep, is
made of cast iron and of specially strong construction. There is only
one steam joint in it, and to reduce the liability of leakage this
joint is faced in a lathe. The inside furnishings of the kettle are a
damping apparatus with perforated boss, upright shaft, stirrer, and
delivery plate, and patent slide. The kettle body is fitted with a
wood frame and covered with felt, which is inclosed within iron
sheeting. The crushed seed is heated in the kettle to the required
temperature by steam from the boiler, and it is also damped by a jet
of steam which is regulated by a wheel valve with indicating plate.
When the required temperature has been obtained, the seed is withdrawn
by a measuring box through a self-acting shuttle in the kettle bottom,
and evenly distributed over a strip of bagging supported on a steel
tray in a Virtue patent moulding machine, where it undergoes a
compression sufficient to reduce it to the size that can be taken in
by the presses, but not sufficient to cause any extraction of the oil.
The seed leaves the moulding machine in the form of a thick cake from
nine to eleven pounds in weight, and each press is constructed to take
in twelve of these cakes at once. The press cylinders are 12 in.