A MACHINE FOR THE WASHING AND IRONING OF LINEN, &c.
Year: 1787

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
TODD, of Fleet Street, London, Organ Builder, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Nineteenth day of May, in the twenty-seventh year of His
reign, did give unto me, the said Thomas Todd, His especial licence that I,
the said Thomas Todd, during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the King-
dom of Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A MACHINE FOR THE WASHING AND
IRONING OF LINEN, &c.;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said Thomas Todd, under my hand and seal, to
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and how
the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within one calendar month next after the date of the said.recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in pursuance of the said proviso, I, the said Thomas
Todd, do hereby declare that the several Plans or Drawings hereon made

page_text: contain the several parts necessary for the construction of, and also a compleat
form of, the said machine for the washing and ironing of linen, woollen, and
cotton stuffs, silks, carpets, and every other woven or knit fabric; and that the
said several Plans or Drawings, with the references thereto herein-after men-
tioned, contain a particular description of the said Invention, and which
references are as follow (that is to say):-
A, the end of the machine; B, the front; C, the bottom; D, the back;
E, the top with two oblong holes for the rods mark'd L; F, a small board on
the foreside of the top for preventing the rods coming out, and is screwed to
the top and ends; G, a small board placed along the inside of the front, to
prevent the water from splashing, to be put in without nails or screws, that
it may neither rust or hurt the linen; H, the feet; I, the handle which has
a piece mortis'd through it to carry the center up to its proper height; K, a
perforated board, or made full of holes, fixt to the rods L by two pieces of
dovetail'd wood mark'd O, without either nails or screws, only with six brass
rabbits at the bottom of the rods L; L, two rods with a cross bar screw'd or
rabitted together for the support of the pieces mark'd N; N, two pieces which
go from the cross bar of the rods to the center, mortised on each side of the
handle; M, two pieces across the back of the middle of the machine to the
back center of the handle; O, a stout piece of wood, dovetail'd in as a
supporter to the rods L and the board K; P, a thin piece of board to cover
the front of the board K and the rods L, and also to prevent the water from
flowing too fast to the back of the machine, and forces it back against the
linen. There are two iron screw bolts to fasten the handles in their proper
places, the holes to be bush'd with brass. The machines are made either with
or without covers, which may be put on or taken off at pleasure. Q, the
machine, is composed of the detached parts before described.
And I, the said Thomas Todd, do hereby further declare that the manner
in which the said Invention is performed is by means of compressing the
linen or other cloth between the surfaces of wood, or any other material, in such
a manner that the cloth is alternately compressed by the surfaces and swelled
by the fluid in which it swims or is immersed; and for the doing of which it is
not necessary that the form and shape of the machine or apparatus be limited
or confined to the particular structure or form above described, provided the
aforesaid effect be produced; neither is the manner of working the machine
confined to hand levers, wheels, flies, or any other particular construction of
machinery, provided the motion for compressing and expanding the cloth be
by any means effected.
But the construction of the machine as herein

page_text: described is conceived to be the best and most convenient that can be
adopted.
In witness whereof, the said Thomas Todd hath hereunto set his hand
and seal, this Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven.
stampt) in the presence of
CHAS RIVERS.
JOHN SPENCE.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of June, in
the year of our Lord 1787, the aforesaid Thomas Todd came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according
to the tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand
seven hundred and eighty-seven.