A NEW OR IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Thorpe Lee, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
WASHING MACHINE."
Sealed the 23rd February 1858, and dated the 14th September 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Thorpe Lee at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th September 1857.
I, DAVID THORPE LEE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "A NEW
OR IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE," to be as follows:-
My new or improved washing machine consists of a rectangular trough or
vessel in which the articles to be washed are rubbed between two surfaces,
the said two rubbing surfaces or rubbers being constructed in the following
manner: The lower rubber consists of a series of ribs of wood disposed in a
plane surface, the said ribs being set edgeways and having spaces left between
them. The said ribs are supported on a frame, and the said frame is provided
with centres below the ribs, on which centres the frame of ribs has an oscil-
lating motion. Vertical slots or grooves are made in two opposite sides of the
interior of the trough, and when the frame of ribs is dropped into the trough,
the centres enter the said slots or grooves.
The second or upper rubber is made like the first, excepting that I prefer

page_text: to make alternate ribs of an undulating instead of a plane figure. The centres
upon which the upper rubber turns are situated in a higher plane than the
rubber itself. A handle is fixed to the upper rubber, so that an oscillating
motion can be given to it. The articles to be washed are placed between the
rubbers, the upper rubber being temporarily removed for the purpose, and the
trough is partly filled with water or other washing liquid. By working the
handle the articles are rubbed between the ribbed surfaces and thereby
washed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Thorpe Lee in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
THORPE LEE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said David Thorpe Lee, Her special licence that I, the said David Thorpe
Lee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
David Thorpe Lee, 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
WASHING MACHINE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
David Thorpe Lee, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
. NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said David Thorpe Lee, 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:-

page_text: My new or improved washing machine is represented in side elevation
(partly in section) in Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing, and in end
elevation (partly in section) in Figure 2, Figures 3, 4, and 5 represent por-
tions of my said Invention. The same letters indicate the same parts in the
several Figures.
My said new or improved washing machine consists of a rectangular trough
or vessel a, in which the articles to be washed are rubbed between two rubbing
surfaces or rubbers, the said rubbers being constructed in the following
manner: The lower rubber b, shewn in plan in Figure 3, consists of a series
of ribs of wood disposed in a plane surface, or in a surface slightly convex, the
said ribs being set edge ways, and having spaces between them, as will be
understood by an examination of Figures 2 and 3. The said lower rubber b
is provided with centres c, c, the said centres being situated below the ribs
composing the lower rubber b. The said rubber b is capable of an oscillating
motion upon the centres c, c. Vertical slots or grooves d are made in two
opposite sides of the interior of the trough a, and when the lower rubber b is
dropped into the trough, the centres c, c, enter the slots or grooves d, as seen
in Figure 2.
The second or upper rubber e, shown in longitudinal section in Figure 4,
and plan in Figure 5, is made of a series of ribs similar to those of the lower
rubber b, excepting that I prefer to make alternate ribs of an undulating
instead of a plane surface, as will be understood by an examination of Figures
4 and 5. The upper rubber e turns upon centres f, which said centres are
situated above the plane of the ribs of the rubber. The handle g is fixed to
the upper rubber e, and by the said handle an oscillating motion is given to
the said upper rubber e. The articles to be washed are placed between the
rubbers b, e, the upper rubber e being temporarily lifted out of the trough a;
the said trough a is partly filled with water or other washing liquid, and the
articles to be washed are placed upon the rubber b; the upper rubber e is
then dropped into its place, the centres f engaging in the grooves d. By
working the handle g backwards and forwards through the arc indicated by
dotted lines in Figure 2, the articles to be washed are rubbed between the
surfaces of the rubbers 6 and e, and the washing of the said articles thereby
effected. Although I prefer to construct the rubbers 6 and e, as described and
represented in the Drawing, yet either rubber may be constructed either of
plane ribs or undulating ribs ribs, or partly of plane and partly of undulating
ribs, with the same or 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

page_text: myself to the precise details herein described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawing, as the same may be varied without 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 the articles to be washed
are rubbed between two surfaces turning upon centres, and having an oscil-
lating notion given to them, as described and represented.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Thorpe Lee, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
DAVID THORPE LEE. (L.S.)