IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WASHING CLOTHES AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WASHING CLOTHES AND
OTHER ARTICLES."-A communication.
Sealed the 17th December 1858, and dated the 19th October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th October 1858.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,'
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WASHING CLOTHES AND
OTHER ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
In this Invention of improvements in apparatus for washing clothes and other
articles, the clothes or other articles to be washed are put in a vertical vessel
with heated water or suds or other suitably prepared liquid, and the top closed
air-tight, and then, by means of a pump or equivalent contrivance connected with
the upper part of the vessel, the air and then the vapor is exhausted from the
upper part of the vessel, which will remove the pressure from the surface of
the heated water or other liquid, which will in consequence be thrown into
violent ebullition although at a less temperature than 212 degrees of
Fahrenheit's scale.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 19th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward-Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as 1, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WASHING CLOTHES
AND OTHER ARTICLES," being a communication from abroad, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
In this Invention of improvements in apparatus for washing clothes and
other articles, the clothes or other articles to be washed are put in a vertical
vessel with heated water or suds or other suitably prepared liquid, and the top
of the vessel is closed air-tight, and then, by means of a pump or equivalent
contrivance connected with the upper part of the vessel, first the air and then
the vapor is exhausted from the upper part of the vessel, for the purpose of
removing the pressure from the surface of the heated water or other liquid,
which will in consequence be thrown into violent ebullition, although at

page_text: a less temperature than two hundred and twelve degrees of Fahrenheit's
scale.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus,
and Fig. 2 is a vertical section thereof; a represents a vessel which may be
made of any suitable form, that represented in the Drawings being the one
which has been tried with success, and is therefore preferred. This vessel is
provided with trunnion journals b, b, fitted to turn in suitable boxes in the
standards of a frame c, so that it can be turned in the position represented by
dotted lines in Fig. 1. This arrangement is made for the convenience of
emptying out the contents of the vessel; and when the vessel is to be charged
it is held in the vertical position (as represented in the Drawing) by means of
a spring & attached to the frame. The vessel (which it is preferred to con-
struct of metal) is made with the upper end open, and with a rounded edge e
(Fig. 2), which is adapted to receive a cap f, provided with a flanch 9. in
which is made an annular groove in its under face; this groove is packed with
vulcanized india-rubber or other equivalent elastic substance, which when the
capfis put on the vessel bears on the rounded edge e, so that when the said
vessel is exhausted the pressure of the atmosphere on the outer surface of the
cap shall force the packing on to the rounded edge e, and thus make and
maintain an air-tight joint.
To the side of the vessel is attached the cylinder h of a single acting air-pump,
which by a suitable passage i (Fig. 2) communicates with the upper part of
the vessel a. The rod j of the piston of the air-pump is connected with a
hand lever, which works on one of the trunnion journals as a fulcrum, so
as not to interfere with the turning of the vessel a on its trunnion journals.
The clothes or other articles to be washed are charged in the vessel a, and
the heated water or other liquid poured in, and the cap f put on and pressed
down with the hand, if not sufficiently heavy, until it is firmly held down by
the pressure of the atmosphere; the air-pump is then operated, and the air
and vapor exhausted from the upper part of the vessel. The liquid in the
vessel is thus relieved of pressure, and will in consequence be thrown into
violent ebullition, and as the clothes are also relieved from the pressure, the
ebullition of the liquid will throw them up and loosen them, thereby facilitating
the passage of the liquid through them, so that in a very short time the dirt
will all be washed out without subjecting them to violent friction, which is so
injurious in other washing machines. When the clothes have been sufficiently
washed, the cap is removed and the vessel turned down into the position
represented by dotted lines, in order that the contents may be emptied out.
Any other exhausting apparatus may be substituted for the air pump

page_text: shewn in the Drawing, as the only purpose of the pump is to exhaust the air
and vapor from the upper part of the vessel. The vessel may be made of any
other suitable form, and may also be mounted in any other manner, and, if
desired, the cap may be secured and packed in any other suitable manner
which will admit of the vessel being properly exhausted.
I am aware that prior to the present Invention a pump has been used in
connection with a vessel containing the clothes to be washed and the washing
liquid, but in such case the pump was made to communicate with the vessel
both above and below the charge of clothes, the pump exhausting the air and
liquid from the vessel below the charge of clothes, and forcing it into the
vessel above the charge, thereby condensing and consolidating the charge of
clothes, and obstructing instead of facilitating the circulation of the washing
liquid through the clothes; and besides, in such cases the circulation of the
washing liquid was effected by the action of the pump instead of by its
ebullition, caused by simply reducing the pressure above the liquid as in the
present method.
What I claim as new in the before-described apparatus for washing clothes
and other articles, and therefore desire to secure by Letters Patent, is, com-
bining with a suitable vessel for containing the clothes or other articles to be
washed, and also the washing liquid, an exhausting pump or other equivalent
contrivance, communicating with the said vessel above the intended charge for
the purpose of exhausting the air and vapor from the vessel above the charge
and relieving the pressure, so as to effect the circulation of the washing liquid
by causing ebullition to take place below the recognised boiling point, as
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)