IMPROVED MACHINERY APPLICABLE TO WASHING AND CHURNING, AND THE MIXING OF FLUIDS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Wells Sullivan, of Adam Street, Adelphi, in
the City of Westminster, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
MACHINERY APPLICABLE TO WASHING AND CHURNING, AND THE MIXING OF
FLUIDS." A communication from abroad by Charles Sullivan and William
Francis Hyatt, of New York City.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Wells Sullivan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd July 1860.
I, JOHN WELLS SULLIVAN, of Adam Street, Adelphi, in the City of West-
minster, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED MACHINERY APPLICABLE TO WASHING AND CHURNING, AND THE MIXING
OP FLUIDS," to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to provide an economical and efficient
arrangement of apparatus for washing clothes, but the same arrangement may
also be applied under obvious modifications (principally of size and material)
to the mixing of various liquid substances, to the beating up of eggs, and
other like operations. The apparatus when constructed as a washing machine
consists mainly of an outer and inner cylinder, mounted concentrically on a
horizontal shaft that has its bearings in a trough or box. The outer cylinder,
which it is preferred to make of galvanized iron, has dashers of wood fastened.

page_text: on its inner periphery, and the inner cylinder is furnished with similar dashers
on its outer periphery. The outer cylinder is mounted loosely on the horizontal
shaft, and it is driven in an opposite direction to the rotation of the inner
cylinder by an arrangement of bevil gearing through a crank handle applied to
the shaft.
The machine may also be constructed by placing the cylinders upon a frame
in an upright instead of a horizontal, thus dispensing with the trough or box,
the rotating in opposite directions being obtained by placing the crank handle
at the side of the franc.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Wells Sullivan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WELLS SULLIVAN, of Adam Street, Adelphi, in the City of Westminster,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
l'atent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
lid, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Wells Sullivan, Her special license that I, the said John Wells
Sullivan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Wells Sullivan, 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
"IMPROVED MACHINERY APPLICABLE TO WASHING AND CHURNING, AND THE MIXING
OF FLUIDS," being a communication from abroad by Charles Sullivan and
William Francis Hyatt, of New York City, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Wells Sullivan, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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 John Wells Sullivan, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: first two or three turnings of the machine to allow of the discharge of the air.
In order to wash clothes with this machine the cylinder is to be half-filled with
hot water, and the clothes having been wetted and well soaped, are placed in
the cylinder. The cover is then to be applied and secured, and the machine
is to be turned from about two to six minutes, the direction of rotation being
occasionally reversed, when the operation will be completed. The trough or
box a is for the purpose of catching any water or suds that may flow from the
cylinder. The apparatus when made on a small scale suitable for beating
eggs may with advantage be set up vertically in a suitable frame. In this
case an opening will be provided in the top end of the cylinder for inserting
the yolks. When the apparatus is used for beating eggs or mixing liquid
substances, the central beaters may form a cylindrical grid instead of being
carried by a solid cylinder, as described with respect to the washing machine.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improved Machinery
applicable to Washing and Churning, and the Mixing of Fluids," as com-
municated to me from abroad, and having explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim effecting the several operations of washing,
churning, and mixing fluids by means of machinery constructed and operating
as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wells Sullivan, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of December, One thou-
sand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
JOHN W. SULLIVAN. (L.B.)

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
The chief object of this Invention, as communicated to me from abroad, is
to provide an economical and efficient arrangement of apparatus for washing
clothes, but the same arrangement may also be applied under obvious modifi-
cations (principally of size and material used in its construction) to the mixing
of various liquid substances, to the beating up of eggs, and other like,
operations.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn the Invention as applied to the.
construction of a washing machine, Fig. 1 being a plan view, Fig. 2 a longi-
tudinal sectional elevation, and Fig. 3 a cross section of the same. a, a, is a.
trough or box, which carries at its ends bearings for a horizontal shaft b. On.
this shaft is mounted loosely a closed cylinder c, made, by preference, of sheet
metal, as galvanized iron or sheet zinc. Fitted around the inner periphery of
this cylinder, and at equal distances apart, are wooden beaters d, which lie
parallel to the shaft b. Concentric with these beaters is a second series e,
arranged around a solid cylinder and fixed to the shaft b, so as to rotate there-
with. To one end of the cylinder ca bevil wheel ƒ is attached, and in the boss
of this wheel the shaft b revolves freely. The object of this arrangement is to
permit of the two sets of concentric beaters d, e, receiving rotary motion in
opposite directions, which will render their action most efficient. Keyed to
the shaft 6 (which receives rotation from a crank handle or otherwise) is a
small bevil wheel 9, which takes into an intermediate wheel h mounted loosely
on a cross shaft or stud i; and on the boss of this wheel is a second ring of
teeth k for taking into and driving the wheel f. Access is gained to the interior
of the cylinder c by a removable door / formed of two thicknesses of sheet
metal. These pieces of metal embrace between them a ring or sheet of india-
rubber, which forms a packing for the joint. The under plate exceeds in size
the dimensions of the opening in the cylinder, and thereforo overlaps the edge
thereof within the cylinder. Beyond the lip of this under plate of the lid the
india-rubber projects. When, therefore, the lid is clamped in its place by
means of the clip bolts m with which it is provided, a water-tight joint will be
formed. The lid is provided with a handle, and to allow of its withdrawal it
must be tipped a little endwise before lifting it. Through the lid an opening
is made, as shewn at Fig. 3, which opening is closed with a spring valve n.
The object of this valve is to allow of the use of hotter water than is ordinarily
employed in washing, by providing a ready means of escape for the expanded
air contained in the cylinder c. The valve should be lifted after each of the