A NEW OR IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Briggs, of Birmingham, in the County o
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
WASHING MACHINE."
Sealed the 15th May 1860, and dated the 17th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Briggs at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
March 1860.
I, RICHARD BRIGGS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of a washing machine composed essentially of
two rubbers, one of which is fixed on the bottom of a vessel and the other
mounted upon a shaft or axis, so that it may receive a rocking or oscillating
motion. The fixed rubber is concave, and the moveable rubber convex. On
the fixed or lower rubber, which I prefer to make of zinc, I fix, by soldering
or otherwise, several rows of elevations or projections of a nearly hemispherical
figure. These projections are secured by their edges to the concave bottom, and
are placed in rows in the direction in which the moveable rubber moves. I
prefer to make the said projections from two to three inches in diameter, and
of greatest diameter in the direction of the rows, that is, of an elliptical figure
in plan. On the under surface of the moveable rubber I fix a series of blades
transverse to the rows of projections on the fixed rubber. These blades are of
an undulating figure on their edges, so as nearly to fit the surface of the lower
fixed rubber with its projections as they pass over the said lower or fixed
rubber. I perforate the said blades, so that the water or washing liquid may

page_text: offer less resistance as the said blades pass through it. The articles to be
washed are placed between the two rubbers, together with a suitable washing
liquid, and are washed by the motion of the moveable rubber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Briggs in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
BRIGGS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Briggs, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Briggs, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Briggs, 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 "A NEW
OR IMPROVED WASHINE MACHINE," upon the condition (amongst others) that
the said Richard Briggs, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 nionths
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Briggs, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My said Invention consists of a washing machine, constructed in the
manner herein-after described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing,
the said machine being composed essentially of two rubbers, one of which is
fixed on the bottom of the vessel, and the other moveable and mounted upon a
shaft or axis, so that it may receive a rocking or oscillating motion.

page_text: Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents a side elevation of a
washing machine, constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 repre-
sents a front elevation of the same, and Figure 3 represents a transverse section
of the same; Figure 4 represents a plan of the machine with the upper rubber
removed; and Figures 5, 6, and 7 represent a front elevation, side elevation,
and plan respectively of the under side of the upper or moveable rubber
separately.
a is the body of the machine mounted upon the legs b, b; c is the bottom of
the said body, which said bottom constitutes the fixed or lower rubber, which
said rubber I prefer to make of zinc. The said fixed rubber c is concave, and
to its upper surface I affix, by soldering or otherwise, several rows of eleva-
tions or projections marked d; the said projections being of a nearly hemi-
spherical figure, as represented in Figures 3 and 4. The said projections d
are secured by their edges to the concave bottom or fixed rubber c, and are
placed in rows in the direction in which the moveable rubber e moves. I
prefer to make the said projections d from two to three inches in diameter and
of greatest diameter in the direction of the rows, that is, of an elliptical figure
in plan, as best seen in Figure 4. The under surface of the moveable rubber e
is convex, and nearly corresponds in figure to the concave bottom or rubber c
of the machine. To the surface of the said rubber e I fix a series of wooden
blades f transverse to the rows of projections d on the fixed rubber c. The
blades of the moveable rubber e are of an undulating figure on their edges,
as best seen in Figure 5, so as nearly to fit the surface of the lower fixed
rubber c as the said blades pass over the projections d. I perforate with holes
the blades f, as indicated by dotted lines in Figure 7, so that the water or
washing liquid may offer less resistance as the blades pass through it. The
moveable rubber e turns upon axes e², e, on the uprights 9, 9, the said axes
working in slots h, h, on either side of the machine. Motion is given to the
moveable rubber e in the following manner :-i is a cranked shaft or axis,
working in bearings in the uprights k, k; m, m, are connecting rods or links
connecting the cranked shaft i with pins 7 on either side of the uprights 9, 9,
of the moveable rubber e. The said pins / engage in openings in the ends of
the said links or connecting rods m, m, the opposite ends of the said links or
rods turning freely on the cranked shaft i. The links or rods m, m, may be
disconnected from the rubber by lifting the ends which engage in the pins / on
the said rubber. By turning the hand wheel n, fixed on the end of the cranked
axis i, an oscillating or rocking motion may be given to the moveable rubber e.
When the connecting links m, m, are removed from the moveable rubber the
said rubber may be worked by hand.

page_text: In using the machine the upper or moveable rubber is lifted out of the
the machine, as represented in Figure 4, the connecting rods or links having
been previously disconnected from the said rubber. The articles to be washed
are placed upon the lower and fixed rubber, together with a sufficient quantity
of water or other washing liquid or solution. Having replaced the moveable
rubber and connected it to the axis i, the said axis is turned by means of the
hand wheel n, and an oscillatory or rocking motion imparted to the said move-
able rubber, the articles being washed by the action of the moveable and fixed
rubbers upon them. The water or washing liquid is removed from the machine
by withdrawing the plug o.
Although I prefer to make the fixed rubber as well as the elevations or pro-
jections thereon of zinc, and to make the strips on the moveable rubber of
wood, yet both the moveable and fixed rubbers may be made of other materials
with nearly the same effect.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied with-
out departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention
the new or improved washing machine, herein-before described and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, a washing machine in which a
moveable rubber having an oscillating or rocking motion is combined with a
fixed rubber, the surface of which said fixed rubber is provided with rows of
elevations or projections, between which said fixed and moveable rubbers the
articles are washed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Briggs, have hereunto set
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
my
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
RICHARD BRIGGS. (L.S.)