Patent GB-204679-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to washing and wringing machines
IPC: D06F45/18
Filed: 1923-07-02
Abstract: 204,679. Randles, G. E. Sept. 29, 1922, [Convention date]. Washing-machines with plungers and dollies having both rotary and axially-reciprocating motion.-In a machine having vertically reciprocating plungers 96, and preferably also fitted with a swinging wringing machine (not shown), the driving-mechanism is housed in a closed casing 10, 13 upon which the tub 17 is mounted. The plungers are turned through a part of a revolution at the top of each stroke by mechanism adapted to lock the plungers against rotation at other periods. The bearings and gearing are supplied with lubricant circulated through parts of the housing by a pump formed on the plunger rod. An electric motor 104, Fig. 3, is bolted to a flange 102 of the housing, and drives a worm shaft 100 through a coupling 105 adapted to yield under excessive load. The worm 101 on the shaft 100 gears with a wheel 34 fast on a shaft 32 carrying a bevel wheel 33 driving a wheel 24 at the bottom of a shaft 25 to which a wringer may be coupled, the shaft 25 thus being driven whenever the motor is running. The main shaft 37 of the washing machine is fitted with a sliding clutch sleeve 39 adjusted by a link 47, Fig. 2, and an eccentric 48 on a rod 49, Fig. 1, to move coupling pins 40 into or out of openings in the worm wheel 34. The shaft 37 carries a crank arm 50 connected to a cross-head comprising a tubular member 52 sliding over a guide-rod 55, and a tubular part 60 connected by a web 61 to the member 52 and mounted between rings 63 on the plunger rod 62. This plunger rod is tubular, as shown in Fig. 3, and the lower ring 63 is formed as a piston slidable in the hub of a bevel wheel 67 so as to serve as a circulating pump for the lubricant. Keys 72 on the piston engage keyways in a guide-rod 70 for the plunger rod 62, the rod 70 being connected at its lower end to the bevel wheel 67 by a cross-pin 71. The bevel wheel 67 gears with a wheel 83, Fig. 4, on th hub of a Geneva wheel 82 driven by a pin 79 on a toothed wheel 76 gearing with an equal wheel 75 on the shaft 37. Thus the plunger rod is given a partial turn at the end of each stroke, and is locked at other times by the parts 78, 85 of the Genava mechanism. Lubricant collected in the bottom of the housing is forced through a pipe 107 to an inclined tray 108 delivering to sumps formed by webs 30, 35 of the housing. A branch 112 feeds oil to the shaft bearing 36, and an opening 109 in the web 35 supplies oil to the connecting rod and the wheels 75, 76. The plunger rod passes through a bush 86 and gland 87 in a recessed part of the top of the housing 10, and is connected to a rod 93 passing through a stuffing-box on a tubular post 89 of the tube 17. A collar 88<a> on the rod 93 and ranges on the bush and gland deflect water leakage over the outside of the casing. The post 89 is secured by a nut 92 to the cover 15 of the housing which is formed with a ring 16 to support the rim of the tube. The plungers 96 are preferably yieldingly mounted on their yoke 95, which may be adjusted on the rod 93 by means of a spring pin 97 engaging one of a series of notches 98. One leg 18 of the machine fits directly into a socket 19 of the housing in alignment with the wringer shaft 25 so as to take the weight of the wringer, while the other legs 21 are fixed to the ring 1G forming part of the housing cover.