CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR WASHING, SCOURING, OR BLEACHING COTTON, LINEN, AND OTHER TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Banks and John Banks, of Bolton, in the
County of Lancaster, Bleachers, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR WASHING, SCOURING,
OR BLEACHING COTTON, LINEN, AND OTHER TEXTILE FABRICS."
Scaled the 18th September 1857, and dated the 21st March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Banks and John
Banks at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 21st March 1857.
We, WILLIAM BANKS and JonN BANKS, of Bolton, in the County of
Lancaster, Bleachers, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED FOR
WASHING, SCOURING, OR BLEACHING COTTON, LINEN, AND OTHER TEXTILE FABRICS,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in a novel arrangement of machinery for bleaching or
washing the goods or fabrics, by exhausting the air from a chamber in which
they are placed, and then saturating them with water or other bleaching or
cleansing liquid. This is effected by the following means:-The goods are laid
or plaited in a chamber (having a large man-hole or aperture in the top for
the purpose), which is caused to turn round slowly whilst being filled, and when
full the aperture is closed and the air exhausted from the chamber by means
of pumps; when a sufficient vacuum has been thus obtained, the water or

page_text: bleaching liquid, &c. is supplied to the chamber, thereby thoroughly saturating
the goods. During the process of saturation, the chamber is caused to move
more rapidly, and with a horizontal and reciprocating motion, so as to dis-
tribute the liquid more perfectly through and amongst the goods.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Banks and John Banks in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
and JOHN BANKS, of Bolton, in the County of Lancaster, Bleachers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give. and grant unto us,
the said William and John Banks, Her especial license that we, the, said
William and John Banks, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said William and John Banks, our 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE
EMPLOYED FOR WASHING, SCOURING, OR BLEACHING COTTON, LINEN, AND OTHER
TEXTILE FABRICS," upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said
William and John Banks, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 William Banks, do hereby declare the
nature of our 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
Our Invention consists in a novel arrangement of machinery for bleaching
or washing the goods or fabrics, by exhausting the air from a chamber in.

page_text: which they are placed, and then saturating them with water or other bleaching
or cleansing liquid. This is effected by the following means:-The goods are laid
or plaited in a chamber (having a large man-hole or aperture in the top for the
purpose), which is caused to turn round slowly whilst being filled, and when
full the aperture is closed and the air exhausted from the chamber by means
of pumps; when a sufficient vacuum has been thus obtained, the water or
bleaching liquor, &c. is supplied to the chamber, thereby thoroughly saturated
the goods. During the process of saturation, the chamber is caused to move
more rapidly, and with a horizontal reciprocating motion, so as to distribute
the liquid more perfectly through and amongst the goods.
.
In order that this Invention may be better understood and explained in detail,
we have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings, made upon a scale of about one
inch and a quarter to a foot, and having marked on the Figures shewn similar
letters of reference upon corresponding parts of the machinery or-apparatus.
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of the arrangement of the machinery
or apparatus employed in this Invention, and Fig. 2 exhibits a side cleva-
tion of the same. a, a, represents the cylindrical chamber, within which the
"agitator" 6 is secured and revolves. The agitator is composed of strong
metal rod and wire, or other suitable material, in such a manner that a
separate bed or bottom is formed besides that of the chamber a. c represents
the orifice or. hole through which the goods are plaited into the chamber a,
and upon the bottom or flooring of the agitator b. This "agitator" is operated.
upon and regulated at will by the vertical rod d in connection with the bevil
gearing e, f, g; the vertical rod at its lower end has three indentations, which
fit into a catch, and are so regulated, that when the top indentation is secured
upon its catch, the agitator is in driving gear, and revolving in one continuous
direction, but when the middle indentation is secured, the agitator is out of
gear and stationary. When the lower indentation of the vertical rod is secured
upon the catch, the "agitator" is again put into driving gear, and caused to
revolve in an opposite direction to that which it may hitherto have done; this
is effected by employing a catch box h on the shaft of the "agitator," which by
its elevation and depression brings into action by appropriate keys at required
intervals the bevil wheels e and g, which give the alternate rotatory motion to
the "agitator" b; or, if preferred, the agitator may be driven by gearing
suitably arranged at the side or bottom of the chamber. j represents an air
pump, worked from the spur wheel on the shaft l, for the purpose of
exhausting the air contained in the chamber a, m being the exhaust tube; n is
a "force pump," through which the chemical washing or bleaching liquid in
the cistern o is forced into the cylindrical chamber a; p is a pipe of ingress

page_text: and egress, for connecting the chemical cistern with the cylindrical chamber;
2
is an air valve, weighted to such an extent that it only comes into operation
or allows the admission of air into the cylindrical chamber when the interior
exhaustion admits of an outward pressure of about fourteen and a half pounds
on the square inch; and are fast and loose pullies, for putting into and
out of working gear the force pump n, through the medium of the crank arm-s
and connecting rod t; u and u are the fast and loose pulleys for working the
air pump j, through the medium of the spur wheel k upon the shaft. 1 and the
connecting rod v. Both the shaft and the shaft of the force pump have the
same bearing at the pedestal u.
It will now be observed, that to commence the bleaching or washing opera-
tion the cylindrical chamber a must first be filled through the orifice c with the
goods; when this is accomplished, the primary course to be adopted is to open
the tap or valve of the air pump and close all other orifices of the cylindrical
chamber a and set the air pump to work. As the exhaustion of the air
continues, and a partial vacuum becomes formed, the tap a (having pipes con-
necting the chamber a with the cistern containing the bleaching or washing
liquid) may be opened, when the bleaching liquid immediately rises within the
cylindrical chamber, occupying the entire vacuum. The air pump being now
stayed in its action and its tap or valve closed, the force pump must be put in
operation, which will have the effect of still further condensing the bleaching
liquid in the cylindrical chamber. When this has been sufficiently carried
out, the agitator b is set in motion, which carries the goods round with it and
against the bleaching liquid, until the liquid itself partakes of the motion of
the agitator. It is now advisable to reverse the motion of the agitator by the
means before described, (and this reversal may take place as often as considered
necessary,) when it will be found that the goods or fabrics have become
saturated throughout.
To allow the liquid to escape from the cylindrical chamber a, it will now
be necessary to open the air valve q, when the liquid will descend through the
pipes to the bleaching cistern, in the mean time the force pump being allowed
to continue playing, the bleaching liquid is continuously rained and scattered
over and upon the already saturated fabrics through a "rose " on the end of
the pipe of the force pump. This may be continued at the will of the
attendant operative until the process is completed, when the goods may be
readily taken from the cylindrical chamber through the orifice c; the chamber
may now be refilled, and the above operation repeated. In the process of
bowking or scouring, we place the usual steam puffing pipe in the centre of
the air-tight chamber, and when the vacuum has been formed in the said

page_text: chamber steam is allowed to pass through the puffing pipe by opening a tap,
which will cause the liquor or ley (that has been previously introduced into
the chamber) to rise through the puffing pipe, and then fall with increased
density upon the goods, and thereby effect a more speedy saturation of the
goods. It will be evident that the cloth or fabrics may be submitted to the
various processes required in the operations of washing, scouring, or bleaching,
without being removed from the chamber until finished.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be performed, we wish it to be distinctly understood that
we claim the novel application, employment, and use of a closed chamber in
connection with air and force pumps, for the purpose of washing, scouring,
or bleaching goods or fabrics, as well as the arrangement of the several parts
of the machinery or apparatus, as herein particularly set forth and described,
and fully illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, as employed for such
purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Banks, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
WILLIAM BANKS. (L.S.)