IMPROVE- MENTS IN WASHING, WRINGING, AND MANGLING MACHINES
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Harper Twelvetrees at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd December
1862.
I, HARPER TWELVETREES, of Bromley, in the County of Middlesex, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WASHING, WRINGING, AND MANGLING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My improvements in washing machines relate to the form and construction
of vessels mounted and worked upon rockers, together with apparatus for
guiding the motion of the said rockers, so as to prevent the vessel moving
away from its proper position while being used. In one vessel I construct
the ends slightly inclining towards the centre at the bottom; the top is made
of three pieces, the two ends being placed in a slanting position towards the
centre, and the middle piece being made movable as a lid to admit of the
introduction and withdrawal of the clothes and water. The bottom is flat and
the rockers after being framed up the requisite width are fastened thereto; a
handle is placed at each end upon the top for actuating the machine. Inside
the vessel I dispose a number of V-shaped pieces of wood with the angles
slightly rounded, at distances of about two inches apart along the end sides
and bottom, to act as rubbers and in the centre of the bottom crosswise of the
vessel, I place a piece of wood about four or five inches wide, having a
number of holes through it, in order more perfectly to agitate and rub the

page_text: matters under treatment. Occasionally instead of this piece of pierced wood
I put a brush of the same size, and both these being made to slide in and out
between two or more of the rubbers may be used alternately as may be desired
for the different conditions of the clothes to be washed. For guiding the
motion of the vessel I fix a cross piece of wood between the centre, and of the
full depth of the rockers, and at the side of the frame or stand upon which
the rockers work I fasten four brackets or wood uprights (two at each side)
having the edges which are placed towards the cross piece between the rockers
made to the exact curve or line described by such cross piece in the motion
of the rockers. It will thus be manifest that the cross piece of wood acting
between these brackets or uprights, and the rockers at the outside thereof,
will always maintain the machine in a proper working position upon the frame
or stand. Sometimes I vary the shape of the washing vessel by placing the
ends in a vertical instead of in an oblique direction, but in all other respects
the same as herein described.
My improvements in wringing and mangling machines consist in constructing
the rollers of india-rubber, gutta percha, wood or other suitable material
and actuating them with a winch handle or by a toothed fly wheel and pinion.
These rollers are mounted in a suitable wood or metal frame, one of them being
made to move up and down to afford room for the passage of linen between
the rollers. Bearing upon the ends of the iron sbaft connected with this
moving roller are two sliding bushes upon which rests a wood spring acted
upon in the centre by a wood or iron screw passing through a strong cross
beam above. At the lower part of this screw its diameter is reduced to allow
of some india-rubber washers or their equivalent being placed upon it to bear
upon the wood spring. By this means the pressure put upon the spring by
the screw is received first by an elastic body, and this acting in conjunction
with the wood spring gives a peculiar softness and elasticity to the motion of the
rollers. For wringing purposes I provide a board fixed in a slanting direction
underneath the rollers having a piece of wood placed upon its surface at each
side and pointing towards each other at the front or lower edge for conducting
the water into a tub or pail.
For mangling purposes I fix two boards (one at each side) in a horizontal
direction a little beneath the top of the lower roller, and upon the edge of
one or both of these boards I hinge a folding piece or flap supported by a
slide or bracket underneath. I construct the bottom of wringing, and mangling
machines in various forms, sometimes having two cross pieces or feet fastened
to the uprights for screwing upon a table or standing upon a floor, or these feet
may be omitted, and the bottom parts of the uprights made with a shifting

page_text: groove or spanner to fit upon the sides of a washing vessel, and made adjustable
to various thicknesses and positions by a lever, ratchet screws, or other suitable
contrivance.
In addition to the method of constructing mangles and wringing machines
already described, I sometimes construct them in a somewhat similar manner,
but without the wood spring and screw for obtaining various degrees of pressure
upon the rollers, and instead thereof I fix two spiral springs or india-rubber buffers
in a compressed form upon the bearings or bushes of the movable roller and by
which means the necessary pressure is always maintained upon the rollers. I
further provide two boards, each of which is fixed in a slanting direction upon
the mangle feet towards the top of the lower roller, and the whole is intended
to be fixed upon a table, chest, or other stand.