IMPROVEMENTS IN MANGLES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Watts at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th April
1868.
I, WILLIAM WATTS, of No. 9, Turners Court, St. Martin's Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANGLES," to be as follows:-
The said Invention relates to mangles for pressing and smoothing
linen and other articles constructed with a box or chest which is
weighted to produce the required pressure and which moves to and
fro upon rollers supported on a bed or frame, the linen or other articles
being wrapped around these rollers, which are therefore made removable.
The nature of the said Invention consists chiefly in the novel means
for giving to the moving part of the mangle a reciprocating or to-
and-fro movement upon its bed, and also in peculiar devices whereby
the tipping of the said moving part at either end to allow the rollers
to be put in place and removed is readily and conveniently effected.
The bed or stand of the mangle and also the box or moving part
may be constructed in the ordinary manner. Upon the side of the
box I place a stud or finger which may either be attached to the

page_text: end of a vibrating lever pivotted to the side of the box or may be
fitted to rise and fall in a groove or slot in the side of the said box.
At each end of the mangle I arrange a pulley to turn freely upon a
centre pin projecting from the side of the bed. An endless chain
passed over these pulleys works parallel with the side of the moving
box. I prefer to employ a chain with flat links jointed together by pins
or pivots. To one of the said links I attach a stud or bar which is
made hollow or otherwise fitted to connect with the stud or finger
projecting from the side of the moving box. One of the chain pulleys
is provided with a handle whereby the mangle is operated. By turning
this handle the chain is caused to travel around the two pulleys and
to impart the required to-and-fro motion to the moving box by means
of its connection with the vibrating stud or finger, which following the
link of the chain, wherein it is fixed, passes around the pulleys running
endwise in opposite directions according as it is carried above or below
the said pulleys. For effecting the adjustment or tipping of the moving
box I place upon one of the side pieces of the bed a pawl or catch
which is pivoted upon the said side piece and is formed with a mouth
or aperture in its free end. The said pawl is made adjustable and
is so arranged that its mouth can be brought in line with a pin or
finger fixed on the end of the moving box in the proper position to
enter the mouth of the pawl as the box comes to the end of the bed.
The pawl is then by the continued movement of the mangle turned
upward on its pivot and lifts with it the end of the box. The roller
being removed or inserted in place the box can be readily readjusted
by simply pressing the pawl downward. One of these tipping devices
is arranged to raise each end of the box.
catch constructed and arranged as above
desired object by means of a toothed wheel fitted upon the side of
the bed or frame and a pinion on the end of the moving box. When
the pinion is brought by the motion of the said box into gear with the
wheel the latter will turn upon its axis and carry the pinion and end
of the box upward as above described.
Instead of using a pawl or
described, I can effect the