IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOOR SWEEPERS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Newton Wilson, of 144, High Holborn,
in the County of Middlesex, Sewing Machine Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOOR SWEEPERS
99
Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOOR SWEEPERS"
Sealed the 12th September 1860, and dated the 17th March 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Newton Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on
the 17th March 1860.
I, WILLIAM NEWTON WILSON, of 144, High Holborn, in the County of
Middlesex, Sewing Machine Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOOR SWEEPERS," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in arranging a circular or spiral brush which
revolves in a suitable case or frame in such a manner that the bearings which
support the brush shall rest upon the floor or surface to be swept; for this
purpose the bearings are made to act as levers, one end being fixed and the
other resting by its own weight upon the floor; by this means the brush
adapts itself to any surface to which it may be applied. The dust is taken
up by the action of the brush into tin or other suitable receptacles, which can
be emptied at pleasure. The handle is attached to the case at each side by a
connecting bar, and where it is desirable to give pressure to the action of the
brush upon the floor or carpet, a double connection of the handle is effected

page_text: on each side, one part being attached to the case, and the other forming a
portion of the bearing in which the brush revolves, or connected with it so as
to admit of a varying pressure, as desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Newton Wilson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th September 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
NEWTON WILSON, of 144, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Sewing
Machine Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Newton Wilson, Her special licence that I, the said
William Newton Wilson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Newton Wilson, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FLOOR SWEEPERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Newton Wilson, 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 William Newton Wilson, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention of improvements in floor sweepers consists in the use of a
cylindrical brush contained in a box running horizontally over the floor, in
which the brush acts by its own weight only in one case or form of the

page_text: apparatus, but in the second it either acts by its own weight or is pressed
down at the discretion of the operator.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 shew the details of the
first of these forms, and Figs. 5, 6, 7, that of the second.
Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section, in which A represents the wooden
core of the brush, the wheels, &c.; Fig. 2 is an outside end view. B, B, are
small wheels or rollers to support the box on the floor; C is a handle of any
convenient length, fixed by a joint to the top of the box. Fig. 3 is a trans-
verse section of the box, shewing the end of the cylindrical brush in dotted
lines, a driving friction wheel D; a¹, pinion on the end of the brush spindle,
&c.; Fig. 4 shews a side view of a link or lever for connecting the driving
wheel D with the brush spindle, and with the foot e, for running on the
carpet or floor.
The same letters denote the same parts wherever they
occur.
On this box being drawn over the floor the brush will be kept at a uniform
height by the feet e, e, of the links sliding over the floor, and as the ends of
the hairs of the brush are just in a line with the soles of the sliding feet, the
hairs will touch the carpet, take up the dust and dirt, and carry it over the
edge of the hinged dust pans E, E, where it will be deposited, to be emptied
when required. These dust pans are kept shut by a hook, button, or other
suitable means. The wheel D is covered by an elastic substance d, d, on its
circumference, and being free to run on the floor it takes hold by friction,
causing it to turn in its axis as the box is moved forward or backward by
the handle. The side of this wheel is furnished with pins or teeth forming a
spur wheel, which works into and drives a pinion G, fixed in the axes or
spindle of the brush, causing it to revolve. The pivots of the brush turn in
the hole n of the before-mentioned link (Fig. 4), the other end of the link m
being supported by the fixed pin on which the wheel D runs. The brush
falls or rises according to any uneveness of the floor, and therefore is self-
adjusting to any varying surface.
In the second forin of sweeper the pivots of the brush work in the ends of
the handle at o, as seen by Figs. 5 (which is an end view of the box); Figs.
6 & 7, being vertical sections of the same. The pivot by which the handle
is attached to the box is at p; the inner end of one of these pivot pins forms
also the pivot for the friction wheel D. It will be seen that by elevating the
handle C, the brush will be lifted from the floor, and by depressing it the brush
will press with greater force on the floor. Fig. 8 represents another form of
the connecting extremity of the brush handle. This brush is caused to revolve

page_text: on its axis by the friction wheel, with its elastic circumference and tooth wheel
and pinion as described before for the other box. The tufts of hair may be
fixed in the brush body or core in wave lines, longitudinally, or in spiral lines,
but I prefer the latter manner.
The novelty I claim in this Invention is, first, the self-adjustable brush, and
secondly, that of a varying pressure produced by the angle at which the handle
is held, together with the general features of construction, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Newton Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
W. N. WILSON. (L.S.)