A NEW OR IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR MIXING, CHURNING AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Mill, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North-Britain, for an Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED WASHING
MACHINE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR MIXING, CHURNING AND OTHER LIKE
PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Mill at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th December 1881.
ALEXANDER MILL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North-Britain.
"A NEW OR IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR MIXING,
CHURNING, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
This Invention relates to a new or improved construction of washing machine
adapted particularly for household or laundry use, for washing articles of clothing
or fabrics, or for dyeing or finishing textile fabrics, but also applicable for churning
or making butter, and for mixing or blending liquids of different kinds, or agitating
such liquids to promote chemical action, and for other similar purposes.
The improved machine comprises a deep box or vessel closed at the lower end
and open above, which may be rectangular, circular, or of other suitable form in
plan, and formed of metal, galvanized or otherwise protected from corrosion
internally, or of wood, which may be lined with galvanized metal if desired. Into
this box or vessel is fitted a shorter box, preferably with close wooden edges and
open top and bottom, in the form of a hollow piston or plunger fitting easily
within the outer vessel, and arranged to slide or reciprocate in guides vertically
within the outer vessel. The lower end of this hollow piston or plunger is covered
with a perforated plate or grating or wire cloth of a coarse mesh, and the upper
end is similarly covered; but for the latter the covering is hinged to open out in
flaps or in one piece, for the insertion within this hollow plunger of the articles to
be washed or cleansed.
A cross bar is fitted over the upper end of the plunger, and to this is jointed a
connecting-rod leading up to a crank on a transverse shaft carried in bearings over
the top of the outer vessel, and provided with a fly-wheel and hand crank or belt

page_text: and pulley for communicating the reciprocatory motion to the plunger, or the
plunger may be worked by means of an ordinary pump handle.
When the machine is to be used as a washing machine, the outer vessel is
partially filled with water and soap, soda, or other usual washing lyes; the soiled
clothes are placed within the hollow plunger, the perforated cover closed, and the
plunger is then caused to reciprocate by means of the hand crank. The recipro-
cating action of the plunger within the liquid in the outer vessel causes the clothes
to be alternately pressed down and raised partially or wholly out of the liquid and
off the grating, while the water circulates freely through the clothes in the plunger,
thereby cleansing them. Air tubes extending from top to bottom are fitted within
the plunger to allow air to replace the water lifted by the plunger acting as a
pump, or the plunger guides may be hollow and form air tubes for this purpose.
In a modified arrangement of the machine, the plunger consists simply of a flat
perforated plate or grating or piece of wire cloth attached to the connecting-rod
and worked by the crank, and a perforated plate or grating or wire cloth division
corresponding to the bottom end of the hollow plunger is so fitted in the outer
vessel that it may be raised or lowered within the water vessel. The clothes are
in this case thrown in over the stationary wire cloth or plate and the upper plate
or grating reciprocated, and the position of the lower plate is so adjusted that the
plunger may press the clothes and force the water out of them at each action if
desired.
Either arrangement of the machine described may be used for churning, tho
butter when formed being lifted out from the plunger, and the machine may be
used for mixing liquid or semi-liquid substances, in each case being modified
in detail to suit the special circumstances, or by removing the crank shaft and
withdrawing the plunger the vessel may be conveniently used as a bath.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Mill in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd Juno
1882.
•
ALEXANDER MILL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North-Britain.
"A NEW OR IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE, ALSO APPLICABLE FOR MIXING,
CHURNING, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
My said Invention relates to a new or improved construction of washing machine
adapted particularly for household or laundry use, for washing articles of clothing
or fabrics, or for dyeing or finishing textile fabrics, but also applicable for
churning or making butter, and for mixing or blending liquids of different kinds,
or agitating such liquids to promote chemical action and for other similar
purposes.
In order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I have hereunto
appended a Sheet of explanatory Drawings illustrating a washing machine as
constructed in accordance with my improvements.
In these Drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section, and Figure 2 is a plan of the
improved machine, which comprises a deep box or vessel A closed at the lower
end and open above, which may be rectangular as shown, or circular, or of any
suitable form in plan, and may be formed of metal galvanized or otherwise
protected from corrosion internally, or of wood which may be lined with galvanized
metal if desired. Into this box or vessel A is fitted a shorter box B with close
wooden edges or sides, and open top and bottom in the form of a hollow piston or
plunger fitting easily within the outer vessel A. and arranged to slide or reciprocate
vertically within the vessel A. The lower end of this hollow piston or plunger B
is covered with a perforated plate or grating, or with wire cloth B' of a coarse
mesh secured to the sides of the plunger B, and the upper end is similarly covered,
but for the latter the covering is hinged to the plunger B to open out in flaps B³, B",
or in one piece if preferred, for the insertion within this hollow plunger B of the
articles or clothing to be washed or cleansed.
A cross bar C is fitted over the upper end of the plunger B and secured to it,
and to this bar C is jointed a connecting-rod D leading up either to an ordinary
crank, or as is shown, to a cam or eccentric E having a groove e in it, into which
fits a roller or stud d on the connecting-rod C, and this cam is fixed on a transverse
shaft F carried in bearings fon the top edges of the outer vessel A. A fly-wheel G
and hand crank H, or it might be a belt and pulley, are provided for rotating the
shaft F and communicating reciprocatory motion to the plunger. The connecting-
rod or piston rod D is prolonged upwards and formed with a slot d', which
embraces the shaft F and serves as a guide to ensure vertical reciprocation of the
plunger B within the vessel A. The plunger B may otherwise be worked by
means of an ordinary pump handle.
When the machine is used as a washing machine, the outer vessel A is partially
filled with water and soap, soda, or other usual washing lyes, the soiled clothes arc
placed within the hollow plunger B, the perforated cover B³ closed and secured by
catches b, and the plunger B is then caused to reciprocate by means of the hand
crank H. The reciprocating action of the plunger B within the liquid in the outer
vessel A, causes the clothes to be alternately pressed down and raised partially or
wholly out of the liquid and off the grating, while the water circulates freely
through the clothes in the plunger B, thereby effectually cleansing them. Air
tubes I extending from top to bottom are fitted within the plunger B to allow air
to replace the water lifted by the plunger B, the action of which is analogous to

page_text: that of a pump, or the plunger B may be fitted with vertical guides which may be
hollow and form air tubes for this purpose. A hinged or sliding lid or covers J
are fitted over the upper end of the vessel A to prevent splashing of the water
during the washing operations, and a cock or tap K is provided for drawing off the
water at the bottom of the vessel A.
In a modified arrangement of the machine, the plunger consists simply of a flat
perforated plate or grating, or pieco of wire cloth attached to the connecting-rod
and worked by the crank, and a perforated plate or grating or wire-cloth division
corresponding to the bottom end of the hollow plunger B is so fitted in the outer
vessel A that it may be raised or lowered within the water vessel. The clothes
are in this case thrown in over the stationary wire-cloth or plate or false bottom
thus formed, and the upper plate or grating reciprocated, and the position of the
lower plate is so adjusted that the plunger may press the clothes and force the
water out of them at each action if desired.
Either arrangement of the machine described may be used for churning, the
butter when formed being lifted out from the plunger, and the machine may be
used in dyeing yarns, or for mixing or blending liquid substances, in each case
being modified in detail if necessary to suit the special circumstances. By removing
the crank shaft and withdrawing the plunger, the vessel may be conveniently
used as a bath.
Having thus described my said Invention, and the manner of performing the
same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise details herein
described or delineated, but what I believe to be novel and original, and claim
as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
First. The construction and arrangement of a machine for washing clothes or
fabrics, and for churning, or for mixing or blending liquids, and for other similar
use, substantially as herein described and delineated.
Second. The arranging and combining in a machine for wasbing clothes_or
fabrics, and for churning or for mixing and blending liquids, and for other similar
use, of a box or plunger fitted to reciprocate within a stationary vessel, as and for
the purposes herein set forth.
Third. The combining with a liquid containing vessel (A) of a reciprocating box
or plunger (B) provided with air pipes (I), as and for the purposes herein set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Mill, bave hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
FITTT
Witness,
WALLACE FAIRWEATHER, C.E.,
96, Buchanan Street,
Glasgow.
T
ALPLAANDER
L'OUT)

page_text: No text detected.