IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND WRINGING WOVEN FABRICS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1857

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph England at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th April
1857.
I, JOSEPH ENGLAND, of the Town of Beverley, in the County of Yorkshire,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND WRINGING WOVEN FABRICS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES,".
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to washing machines used for household purposes; it
is also applicable to machines used in public laundries, and for similar
purposes.
My improvements consist, first, in the application of the pressure of a
spring or springs to frames placed, as herein-after mentioned, in washing
machines.
Second, in a method of obtaining the requisite rubbing action on the fabrics
or clothes by means of a washing frame, either fitted with rollers, or grooved
or plain (according to the circumstances under which it is used), in combina-
tion with two parallel frames, and moved between them, as herein-after set
forth.
Third, in the use of a connecting rod, in combination with a crank and
guide, as herein-after set forth, to give motion to the washing frame.
Fourth, in the use of a crank wheel and connecting rod, as herein-after set
forth, when a wringing machine is used in combination with the washing
machine, in order to work the washing machine.
In the first improvement the springs are applied to two frames, generally

page_text: fitted with grooved rollers, by preference, which always remain in the rec-
tangular cistern of the machine, and being placed on each side, are pressed
by the springs against the vertically moving washing frame, presently to be
described; the springs thus react against the sides of the cistern, and they may
be either two bow springs to each frame or four spiral springs, or any other
suitable arrangement of springs, to press the external frames against the
washing frame; the two bow springs or four spiral springs are at present
however preferred.
In the second improvement the rubbing action on the fabrics or clothes is
obtained by the reciprocating motion of the middle or washing frame in 1
vertical guides against the two external frames. This vertical reciprocating
motion may be given by means of a lever, or in large machines by means of
an axle, cranked near the ends of the cistern, worked by a hand winch, and
connected to the washing frame by means of connecting rods.
It is to be understood that the clothes are placed or thrown on either
side of the washing frame, the side frames being held open for that
purpose.
Besides being furnished with horizontal rollers, the washing frame is
furnished with studs, placed on its top rail, so as to keep the fabrics or clothes
always under the water; these studs are placed opposite to the grooves in the s
rollers, of the side frames, so that the middle frame may be free to move.
vertically between the side frames.
In the third improvement the novelty consists of the middle frame working
vertically in a groove or guide in the washing cistern, as set forth in the.
herein-before detailed description of the second improvement.
Я
In the fourth improvement the middle frame of the washing machine is
moved, by the same train of wheelwork that actuates the wringing machine.
For that purpose, and for the greater convenience of wringing the fabrics.or.
clothes as they come from the cistern, the wringing machine is made a part of
the apparatus, and placed at the side of the cistern; the middle frame is at s
its two ends carried upwards, so as to be connected to two slings working in
connection with a lever and counterbalance weight; each of the slings being.
connected with the crank pin of the crank wheel of the wringing machine
by a suitable connecting rod, the requisite vertical reciprocating motion is
obtained.
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