IMPROVED APPARATUS. APPLICABLE FOR WASHING AND CHURNING
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick William Webster, of Whitstable; in the
County of Kent, Druggist, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS.
APPLICABLE FOR WASHING AND CHURNING."
Sealed tho 14th May 1861, and dated the 26th January 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick William Webster
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th January 1861.
I, FREDERICK WILLIAM WEBSTER, of Whitstable, in the County of Kent,-
Druggist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED.
APPARATUS APPLICABLE FOR WASHING AND CHURNING," to be as follows:-
My Invention of improved apparatus applicable for washing and churning
consists of a cylindrical or barrel-shaped vessel provided with centre pins or
studs, on which it is mounted, and vibrated by hand in bearings fixed to a
vertical frame. The vessel is provided at one or both ends with a handle,
whereby it is worked, and an opening of suitable dimensions to receive the
clothes is made in the upper side of the vessel, and is closed by a cover to
prevent the water or liquid from slopping or splashing out when the vessel is
vibrated. The vessel should be made of wood, and constructed of greater
length than its diameter, because the washing or cleansing operation of the
machine depends in a great measure upon the clothes being thrown with a
sudden dash to and fro against the ends of the vessel; and if the vessel were
constructed of a square or rectangular form this action would be very much
paired. A pair-of squeezing rollers may, if desired, be mounted on the

page_text: frame for the purpose of wringing out the clothes. When all the work is
finished the water or liquid may be run out from the vessel through an opening
made at one end for the purpose, the vessel may then be lifted out of its
bearings and set up on end to dry, and the frame may then be used as a
clothes horse to dry the clothes before a fire. It will be obvious that the same
form of apparatus may be used for churning butter, for which purpose dashers
may be adapted inside the churn to assist in agitating the cream as the vessel
is rocked on its centres. These dashers may either be solid and perforated
with holes, or hollow and provided with pipes to admit air into the liquid
mass.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick William Webster in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th July 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
WILLIAM WEBSTER, of Whitstable, in the County of Kent, Druggist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick William Webster, Her special license that I, the said Frederick
William Webster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Frederick William Webster, 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 "IMPROVED
APPARATUS APPLICABLE FOR WASHING AND CHURNING," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Frederick William Webster, 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 Frederick William Webster, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-

page_text: ing statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
--
The chief object of this Invention is to produce a washing machine of
simple and economical construction, by the use of which clothes may be
washed with expedition and without the risk of their being injured during the
operation. A machine embracing these advantages I have found to be also
applicable, with a slight modification, as a churn.
:
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is an end view of the improved
washing machine; Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly in section; and Fig. 3 is a
view of one of a pair of sockets employed to support the barrel of the machine.
A, A, is the barrel, constructed by preference of staves bound together by
galvanized iron hoops, and closed by fixed heads. The barrel A is intended
to receive the clothes to be washed, together with the cleansing liquor
employed in the operation. It is provided at its opposite sides with fulcrum
pins or studs which project from plates B, B, secured to the barrel by screws.
These studs have their bearings in metal sockets C, C, attached to a rectan-
gular frame of wood D,D. The barrel is provided at one, or it may be at
both ends, with a handle E, by which it is vibrated by hand for the purpose
of giving a sudden elevation alternately to the opposite ends of the barrel, as
shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 2. At its upper side the barrel is provided with
an opening of suitable dimensions to permit of the ready insertion and with-
drawal of the clothes, and this opening is closed by a suitable cover F, to
prevent the liquid or water used in the wasbing or rinsing operations from
slopping or splashing out when the vessel is in motion. The barrel, it will be
seen, is constructed of a length greater than its diameter. These relative
proportions it is important to retain, because the washing or cleansing action
of the machine depends in a great measure upon the clothes being thrown
with a sudden dash to and fro against the ends of the barrel, and if a vessel
were employed of a square or rectangular form this action would be very
much impaired. A pair of squeezing rollers may, if desired, be mounted on
the frame D, D, for the purpose of wringing out the clothes, as is now com-
monly practised. For running out the liquid or water from the vessel after a
batch of work has been washed or rinsed an opening G is made at one end,
which opening, while the operation is proceeding, is closed by a plug. The
liquor being run out, the vessel may be lifted out of its bearings and set up on
end to dry, and the frame D may then be used as a clothes horse for drying
the clothes before a fire.
The same form of apparatus I also propose to use for churning butter.
When thus applied fixed dashers may be adapted to the inside of the barrel

page_text: to assist in agitating the cream as the vessel is rocked on its centres. These
dashers may be constructed in any well known and approved manner. Thus
they may be simply boards and perforated with holes, or they may be made
hollow and provided with pipes to admit air into the liquid mass.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved Apparatus
applicable to Washing and Churning," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that, under the above in part
recited Letters Patent, I claim the application of a vibrating vessel, constructed
and operating as above described, to the purposes herein-before mentioned.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick William Webster, have hereunto
set my band and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
F. W. WEBSTER. (L.S.)