IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING SOAPING OR OTHERWISE TREATING WOVEN FABRICS WITH LIQUORS OR LIQUIDS"
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Hawthorn Peter Hawthorn and John Pemberton
Liddell of the firm of John Hawthorn and Company of Newtown in the
County of Chester Machinists for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WASHING SOAPING OR OTHERWISE TREATING WOVEN FABRICS
WITH LIQUORS OR LIQUIDS"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Hawthorn, Peter
Hawthorn and John Pemberton Liddell at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents on the 16th June 1883.
JOHN HAWTHORN PETER HAWTHORN and JOHN PEMBERTON LIDDELL of the
firm of John Hawthorn and Company of Newtown in the County of Chester
Machinists "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING SOAPING OR OTHERWISE
TREATING WOVEN FABRICS WITH LIQUORS OR LIQUIDS"
Our Invention relates principally to the machinery used in the washing or
soaping of printed fabrics and is also applicable wholly or in part to machines used
in the washing of other fabrics and in the dunging or treatment of fabrics in dyeing
or printing operations.
In the washing of printed fabrics it is important that the dextrine or gummy
paste or matters and other foreign matters shall be entirely removed from the
cloth. In ordinary soaping machines this removal is not always properly effected
owing to the speed with which the cloth travels through the machine and the
short time it is subjected to treatment therein.
The object of our Invention is to obviate this defect and this we accomplish by
leading the cloth loosely through the machine and allowing the cloth to accumulate in
compartments so that it is kept longer in the lye or liquor whereby the matters are
softened and more completely removed by the washing or scouring. We employ a
number of sets of washing apparatus and between these sets we permit the cloth to
accumulate so that instead of passing quickly through each compartment in a state
of tension it remains a comparatively long time in the compartment loosely lying in
folds or being interspersed in folds throughout the liquid. Any ordinary or suitable

page_text: washing apparatus may be used but we prefer to employ a wire cage drum or
perforated drum over which the cloth passes from one compartment to another and
a number of pipes which deliver jets or sheets of liquor on to the cloth as it is
passing over the drum the liquor being lifted by means of an ejector or of a pump
or by suitable means.
A portion of the liquor is driven through the cloth and through the perforations
or openings in the surface of the drum. The cloth passes from one washer into a
compartment and under a round bar near the bottom of the compartment to the
next washer. In one construction each compartment has a rounded and sloping
bottom to lead the folds of cloth from one side to the other the partition between
one compartiment and the other sloping towards the inlet end of the machine. The
said partition and hottom are narrower than the tank in which they are fixed and
-are-fixed-above-the-tank-bottom-so-that-there-is-a-space-on-each-side-for-the-
circulation of the liquor. The liquor for washing is withdrawn from the space
below the compartments and the heating of the liquor is also effected in the same
-space-by-means-of-perforated steam pipes or otherwise in order that the steam may
not have a disturbing effect upon the folds of cloth in the compartiments. A
partition or mid-feather extends from the bottom bar upward above the line of
liquor or water. We may use revolving beaters in addition to the cage drums.
We may arrange the driving apparatus so that any cage in a series can be started
and stopped without interfering with the others. For some purposes the main
tank or cistern would be divided into two or more compartments or two or more
tanks would be used and some of the washing apparatus or the last in the series
would be supplied with clean water.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Hawthorn, Peter Hawthorn and John Pemberton Liddell in
the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th December 1883.
JOHN HAWTHORN, PETER HAWTHORN and JOHN PEMBERTON LIDDELL of the
firm of John Hawthorn and Company of Newtown in the County of Chester,
Engineers "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING, SOAPING OR OTHERWISE
TREATING WOVEN FABRICS WITH LIQUORS OR LIQUIDS"
Our Invention relates principally to the machinery used in the washing or
soaping of printed fabrics and is also applicable wholly or in part to the machines
used in the washing of other fabrics and in the dunging or treatment of fabrics in
dyeing or printing operations in cases in which the cloth passes through the
machine in an open state.
In the washing of printed fabrics it is important that the dextrine or gummy
paste or matters and other foreign matters shall be entirely removed from the cloth.
In ordinary soaping machines the removal is not always properly effected owing to
the speed with which the cloth travels through the machine and the short time it
is subjected to treatment therein.
The object of our Invention is to obviate this defect and this we accomplish by
leading the cloth loosely through the machine and allowing the cloth to
accumulate in compartments so that it is kept longer in the lye or liquor whereby
the matters are softened and more completely removed by the washing or
scouring. We employ a number of sets of washing apparatus and between these
sets we permit the cloth to accumulate so that instead of pissing quickly through
each compartment in a state of tension it remains a comparatively long time in
each compartment or in certain of the compartments loosely lying in folds or being
interspersed in folds throughout the liquid.
In order that our invention may be fully understood we have attached hereunto
a drawing or diagram representing a longitudinal vertical section of a washing
machine constructed in accordance with our invention such drawings being made
to a scale of about three quarters of an inch to the foot. In the said drawings
a represents the cloth passing through the machine in the direction indicated by
the arrows. In the example the machine has six cisterns or compartments
marked A to F. These cisterns may be separately formed or a large cistern may
be divided by means of partitions into a number of compartiments. The first
cistern A is an ordinary washer containing water through which the cloth is led a
number of times up and down in the usual manner. The cloth passes from this
cistern over a roller g into a cistern B containing lye or scouring liquid. As the
cloth falls loosely into this cistern it is acted upon by a revolving beater h of a
suitable form this beater causing the cloth to fall in folds into the lyo. Before the
cloth is led out of this cistern a length is allowed to accumulate in the lye. When
a suitable length of the cloth has been passed into the cistern the end is passed
below the roller i near the bottom of the cistern and is brought up and passed over
a roller g¹ into a washing cistern C. A partition k extending downward nearly to
the roller i and upward above the lye separates the mass of cloth in the tank from
the ascending cloth which is passing out of the cistern. As the cloth passes
upward we prefer to pass it through an apparatus which keeps the cloth in the
centre of the machine. The cloth then passes over a roller or pair of rollers m
which spreads out the cloth and delivers it evenly and open or extended in the
direction of its breadth on to the roller. g'. The washing apparatus in the
cistern C is constructed in accordance with a former invention for which Letters

page_text: Patent bearing number 5016 and dated the sixteenth of November in the year
1881 have been granted to us.
We do not however confine ourselves to the use of
this form of scouring apparatus as any suitable arrangement of parts for washing
and scouring rinsing, beating or otherwise treating the cloth may be used. In the
example the cistern C is provided with three revolving beaters but the number
may be less or more than three. The cloth passes from this cistern over a roller g*
into a cistern D which is similar to the cistern B. The cloth is allowed to
accumulate in the cistern D as in the ease of the other cistern and is led to a
second washing and scouring cistern E which is provided with five revolving
beaters or with any suitable number of beaters. The cloth pa-ses from this
-cistern-into-the-last cistern. Ewhich contains or may contain water for "rinsing off"
the cloth. If preferred the first soaking cistern B may contain water instead of
lye. It will be seen that in three of the cisterns or compartments the cloth is
allowed to accumulate in the manner set forth but we do not confine ourselves to
any particular number of such cisterns or compartments as in some cases we
provide the machine with more than three-compartments in which the cloth is
permitted to accumulate in folds or otherwise to be loosely lying in the lye so as
to dwell in the lye in its passage through the apparatus for the purposes
hereinhefore mentioned the cloth in all cases being opened out to its full or nearly
to its full width.
Having now fully set forth and indicated the nature of our said invention and
-the manner in which we carry the same into practical effect we would have it to
be understood in conclusion that we claim :—
First. The combination of parts forming the apparatus or machine substantially
as and for the purpose or purposes set forth and indicated herein before and
in and by the accompanying drawings.
And secondly. The combination with washing and scouring or beating apparatus
-in a machine for the indicated uses of a cistern or compartment or two, three or
more cisterns or compartments in which the cloth is permitted to accumulate and
to lie in folds or otherwise to be loosely contained in the lye or liquid so as to give
increased time for the cloth to soak in its passage through the machine substantially
as set forth.
In witness whercof I the said John Hawthorn for myself and on behalf of the
said Peter Hawthorn and John Pemberton Liddell have hereunto set my hand
and seal this fourteenth day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eighty-three
Signed, sealed and delivered
in the presence of .
EDWARD K. DUTTON
41 John Dalton Street, Manchester.
JOHN HAWTHORN. (1.S.)