AN IMPROVED STEAM WASHING, DISINFECTING, AND DELIVERING MACHINE
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Flower Hart, Master of Sudbury Work-
house, Sudbury, in the County of Suffolk, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED STEAM WASHING, DISINFECTING, AND DELIVERING MACHINE."
Sealed the 11th April 1871, and dated the 15th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Flower Hart at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents; with his Petition, on
the 15th October 1870.
I, JOSEPH FLOWER HART, Master of Sudbury Workhouse, Sudbury,
in the County of Suffolk, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED STEAM WASHING, DISINFECTING, AND DELIVERING
MACHINE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object to furnish an improved washing and
disinfecting machine, which shall be worked by steam, and be simple
in construction, cheap and effective in doing its work quickly and
thoroughly.
The body of the washing machine may be made of wood or any
suitable material and any shape. A perforated steam. pipe is. inserted

page_text: either in the middle, sides, or round the body of the machine. This pipe
is confined by upright pieces of wood or iron, or any other metal or
substance so fixed as to allow the circulation of the water. above and
below it. The steam causing the water to boil over the sides confining
the pipe, it makes a circular motion through the clothing, linen, or i
other fabric which may be placed in troughs alongside of it.
This circular motion is further assisted and increased by a spreader.
The spreader causing the water to boil evenly over and through the
clothing or other material to be washed. The extreme heat caused by
this method disinfects the material. This spreader consists of a piece of 1
plain wood or metal fixed so as to receive the boiling water with a piece
of wood or metal pressed down on it so as to leave as small or large an
opening as is desired for the rapid or slow circulation of the water.
I also claim for this machine a means of delivering the clothing or
other material into any vessel without in any way injuring them, by 1
having a rod fastened to one side of the washing trough, which works in
a pivot and is turned by a winch placed on the outside of the machine.
The troughs of the machine may be made of wood, wire, or any other-
perforated metal.
I also claim that by means of covering in of the top of the machine 2
the washing may be done without an escape of steam, by carrying the
waste steam through a pipe fixed in the centre of the top or other
position of the body of the machine.
I likewise use a finely perforated cover for the washing troughs to
carry away the scum or any filth which may rise to the surface of the
troughs, and which can be removed at pleasure.
This machine is intended to wash linen, cotton, or any other fabric, or
any kind of material, and may be constructed from wood, iron, or any
other metal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 3
filed by the said Joseph Flower Hart in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
FLOWER HART, Master of Sudbury Workhouse, Sudbury, in the County
Suffolk, send greeting.
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Flower Hart, Her special
licence that I, the said Joseph Flower Hart, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Flower Hart,
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
"AN IMPROVED STEAM. WASHING, DISINFECTING, AND DELIVERING MACHINE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Flower
Hart, 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 Joseph Flower Hart, 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 following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):-
My Invention of "An Improved Steam Washing,. Disinfecting,, and
Delivering Machine," has for its object to furnish an improved washing
and disinfecting machine, in which steam is employed, such machine
being simple in construction, economical, and effective in action.
The body of the machine may be made of wood or other suitable
material, and of any convenient form. A perforated steam pipe is
inserted either in the middle, or at the sides, or round the interior of
the said body. The pipe is confined on each side by upright pieces of
wood or iron, or other suitable metal or material so fixed as to allow
of the circulation of the water (eniployed for washing) above and below
it. The steam' by causing the said water to boil over the sides which
confine the said pipe, makes the water circulate through the clothing,

page_text: linen, or other fabric intended to be washed, and which is placed for the
purpose in a trough or troughs alongside of the steam pipe.
The circulation of the water is further assisted and increased by a
spreader, which causes the water to boil evenly over and through the
clothing or material to be washed. The extreme heat caused by this
method of operation disinfects the material under treatment. The
.spreader referred to consists of a piece of plain wood or metal fixed or
suspended at the upper part of the trough, which in combination with
another curved piece of wood or metal fixed or suspended over it serves
to regulate the rapidity of circulation of the water by adjusting the
extent of the opening between them as required, and to carry the water
into the middle of the machine.
The delivery of the clothing or material (after being washed and
disinfected) into any convenient receptacle without in any way injuring
it, is effected by suspending the washing trough at the outer side on a
rod, which serves as a pivot, and can be turned as required by a winch
at the outside of the machine.
The trough or troughs may be made of bars and hoops, or open wire-
work, or perforated wood or metal.
By covering in the top of the machine, the washing may be done
without an escape of steam, the waste steam being carried through a
pipe fixed in the centre of the top or other position in the body of the
"machine.
f
I likewise use a finely perforated cover for the washing troughs to
carry away the scum or any filth that may rise to the surface of the
water, and which can be removed as required.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed
to describe it more particularly by the aid of the accompanying Drawings,
in which are represented a single and a double machine.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2 is a transverse section, and Fig. 3
a plan or horizontal view of a single machine, and Fig. 4 represents in
section a double machine. In these several Figures the same letters of
reference indicate corresponding parts.
A, A, is the frame or standards of the machine; B is the body, which
may be varied in form, as shewn in Figures 2 and 4, or otherwise; C is
.

page_text: a flap covering an opening through which the clothes are put into the
body; D is the trough for containing the clothes or material to be
washed and disinfected. This trough, Fig. 2, is formed of longitudinal
bars or rods a, a, and hoops b, b, or it may be made of open wire or
perforated metal. It is suspended on a rod or pivot E, which on being
turned by means of the winch F will cause the trough to be carried into
the position shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 2, and allow the washed
clothes to drop out as required. G is the steam pipe, which is perforated
on its upper side so as to admit of the issue of steam from it into the
water collected over it. The space on each side of this pipe is confined
by the piece of metal H at the upper side of the trough and by the
body B, so that steam issuing from the pipe and water acted upon by it
will be forced upwards towards the top of the trough; I is a flap or
piece of wood suspended at one side of the trough, which in combination
with a curved piece K forms what I have called a spreader. These two
pieces I and K. together form a passage through which the water over
the steam pipe is forced by the pressure of the steam issuing from the
pipe into the top of the trough in such a manner as to cause a circulation
of the water with the required rapidity through the clothes or material
contained in the trough. L is a perforated cover for the trough resting
on two rods or bars, as shewn. This cover receives the scum or filth
forced upwards through it, and which may be removed as required by
withdrawing the cover, which is provided with a handle for the purpose.
M is a pipe for the escape of steam, and N is an outlet for waste water.
Clothes or material to be washed and disinfected are put into the
trough D, and water is supplied to the body B and the flap C is closed.
Then on steam being admitted into the pipe G, it will issue through the
perforations in the top of the pipe and force the water over it through
the spreader I, K, and thereby maintain a circulation more or less rapid
of the water through the clothes. When these are finished washing the
steam is turned off, the flap C raised, and the trough D turned into the
position shewn by dotted lines in Fig. 2, thereby allowing the washed
clothes to drop out.
The construction of the double machine will be readily understood
on reference to Fig. 4.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what I claim

page_text: 1
First. The arrangement of the parts of the machine represented and
described, by means of which the water is caused by the pressure of
steam to circulate through the clothes or material under operation.
Secondly. The arrangement shewn and described for delivering the
clothes from the machine after they are washed.
Thirdly. The use of the means described for disinfecting purposes.
And, lastly. The means used to carry off the steam and prevent its
escape into the room where the machine is used.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Flower Hart, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
JOSEPH FLOWER HART. (L.S.)
WILLIAM T. BRUNSDEN,
The Workhouse, Sudbury, Suffolk,
Schoolmaster.