In Figs. 1 and 2 the press is shown in the position it would occupy if the bale, M, were just completed and ready to be pushed out, and the box, N, were full of material.  The filling doors, cc, are shown turned back level with the floor, the main doors, AA, are open, as are also the end doors, KK, to admit the men to fasten up the bale.  If water be admitted to the subsidiary cylinder, H, the head, G, and two rams, FF, will be raised, and then the bale, M, can be thrown out finished.  All the doors are now closed and water admitted to the rams, LL.  These immediately rise, pushing the contents of the box, N, before them, and compressing them until the table, S, reaches the level of the grid, B. At this moment the tappet rod, D, shuts off the water, and withdraws the bolt of the doors, AA, which fly open.  The grid, B (Fig. 2), is then run through the grooves in the press-head, S, and the rams, LL, are allowed to descend ready for a baling cloth to be inserted through the doors, Ee, and for the box, N, to be refilled.  At the same time the head, G, comes down on to the bale and compresses it still further, while the men are at work lashing it.  When the material is in hanks, like jute, the rams, LL, are lowered slowly, while a man standing inside the box, at about the level of the floor, packs the material neatly on the table.

These presses can be worked with great rapidity, the average output during a day varying from 21 to 28 bales an hour.  The consumption of coal per bale is 9 lb. of Bengal coal, in value about 3/4d.  The density of the cotton bales produced is about 45 lb. per cubic foot, 400 lb. measuring a little under 9 cubic feet for shipment.  In the case of jute or jute roots, the same weight occupies 10 cubic feet on an average.  But rapid as this press is in action, the necessities of recent business in India have called for still more expeditious working, and to meet this demand Mr. Watson produced his compound press, in which the economy of time is carried to its utmost development.  By the addition of a second pair of long-stroke rams the output of the press has been trebled, being raised to 80 bales per hour.  To effect this, there is one pair of powerful rams, as in the press just described, but two pairs of the long-stroke rams.  Further, each pair of the small-diameter rams is fitted with two boxes, one of which is always being filled while the other is being pressed.  The rams in rising compress the material into a small cell or box, situated above the box in which raw cotton is thrown.  On the top of the ram head there is a loose lashing plate, which, at the finish of the action of the rams, is locked in the cell by bolts actuated by a suitable locking gear.  While in this cell the bale has the lashing ropes put round it, and then it is placed under the large rams for the final squeeze, during which the ties or ropes are permanently secured.  Thus neither of the small presses has even to wait while its box is being filled, or while the previously pressed bale is being lashed.  Even in the large press, when the ties are finally fastened, the time occupied does not exceed three-quarters of a minute, and is often much less.