Apparatus and method for compressing a stack

A press for applying force to a rectangular-shaped object having first and second orthogonal edges, said press including:

• a lower press plate which includes a receiving surface upon which the object is to be positioned and first and second guide members, with the receiving surface being tilted with respect to a level plane such that when the object is positioned on the receiving surface, the object tends to move by force of gravity such that the first edge of the object contacts the first guide member and the second edge of the object contacts the second guide member, with the receiving surface tilt angle in a first direction towards the first guide member being at least 5.0 degrees relative to the level plane and with the surface tilt angle in second direction, orthogonal to the first direction, being at least 5.0 degrees;
• an upper press plate which includes a compressing surface and moveable between an operating position and a retracted position;
• a drive mechanism for driving the lower press plate towards the upper press plate so that an object placed on the receiving surface will be compressed between the receiving surface and compressing surface when the upper press plate in the operating position;
• a latch mechanism movable between a latching state so that the upper press plate and lower press plate are secured to one another when the object is being compressed and a release state so that the upper press plate can be moved to the retracted position;
• a user interface for inputting object size information by a user;
• and
• a controller for causing the drive mechanism to adjust a compressing force applied to the object based upon the object size information.

A press for applying force to an object comprising:

• a lower press plate which includes a receiving surface upon which the object is to be positioned;
• an upper press plate which includes a compressing surface;
• a drive mechanism for driving the lower and upper press plates together in a compressing mode so as to compress the object and for withdrawing the lower press plates away from one another;
• a tilt control mechanism having a first state where the receiving and compressing surfaces are substantially parallel with one another when in the compressing mode and a second state where the receiving and compressing surfaces are tilted with respect to one another in a first direction by at least 0.1 degrees when in the compressing mode;
• a controller for controlling the tilt control mechanism so that the tilt control mechanism switches from one of the first and second states to another one of the first and second states without intervention by a user and for controlling the drive mechanism to apply a compressing force, with out intervention by a user after the tilt control mechanism switches one state to another state.