IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING OR CLEANSING TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Jack, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING
OR CLEANSING TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS."
Sealed the 23rd September 1857, and dated the 30th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Jack at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th March
1857.
I, DAVID JACK, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WASHING OR CLEANSING TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS," to be as
follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to an improved system or mode of washing or
cleansing textile fabrics and materials, and has for object increased efficiency,
rapidity, and economy in the operation. An essential feature of the improved
system is the exposure of the fabrics or materials in a stretched state, and
moving at a comparatively slow rate to streams of water or other cleansing
liquid, forced or projected against them by the centrifugal action of rapidly

page_text: revolving hollow-bladed water throwers or fans, supplied with the water or
liquid through their shafts or spindles made hollow for the purpose.
In one arrangement of apparatus for practically carrying out the Invention,
in the treatment of woven fabrics several pieces of the goods are made into
one continuous length by joining their ends together, and this length being
stretched to its full width is first passed through a tank or vessel of water
or other liquid, to remove any loose impurities, being guided by rollers along
a zig-zag or tortuous route, to increase the effect of this preliminary washing
or cleansing. On leaving the tank or vessel, the fabric, which is kept stretched
to its full width, passes over and round a series of guide rollers, arranged in
a framing in such a manner as to expose the fabric to the action of two
centrifugal water throwers or fans, these two water throwers acting directly
on opposite sides of the fabric, which is guided so as first to expose one side
to the lower water thrower, for example, afterwards exposing its other side
to the upper water thrower. It is preferred to arrange one water thrower
above the other, the fabric being exposed to the action of the lower one first
in order, but it is not essential that this arrangement be strictly adhered to.
After being subjected to the action of the water throwers, the fabric passes
between a pair of squeezing rollers, which serve to draw it through the
apparatus as well as to express the redundant moisture from it.
Each centrifugal water thrower consists of a hollow shaft or spindle mounted
in suitable bearings in the framing, and fitted at one end with driving gearing,
arranged to give it considerable rotatory speed, whilst at the other end it
communicates by means of a revolving joint with a pipe supplying water or
other liquid. The hollow spindle communicates with hollow arms or blades
fixed upon it, and formed with openings at or near their outer ends, and
when the spindle is in sufficiently rapid motion the water is thrown outwards
from the ends of the arms or blades with considerable force, and striking the
fabric exposed to it in a stretched state exerts considerable cleansing action
upon it. The speed of the water throwers may be varied, so as to exert a
greater or less force on the fabric, and the rate at which the fabric is drawn
through the machine may also be varied, so as to expose the fabric to the
action of the water throwers during a longer or shorter period. It is obvious
that the apparatus may be constructed with only one centrifugal water thrower
if desired, or more than two throwers may be used, the fabric in the latter
case passing from one to the other in succession.
In subjecting yarns or textile materials to the action of the apparatus, a
continuous length, formed if necessary by connecting a number of skeins
together, is passed through the apparatus in the same way as the woven

page_text: fabric, a sufficient width being taken up to take advantage of the entire
breadth of the streams of water issuing from the water throwers, whilst
the yarns are spread as much as possible to insure a uniform action upon
them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Jack in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
JACK, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Mechanic, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year, of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said David Jack, Her special licence, that I, the said David Jack, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David
Jack, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING OR
CLEANSING TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said David Jack, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
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 David Jack, 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
in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say -
My said Invention relates to an improved mechanical system or mode of
washing or cleansing textile fabrics and materials, and has for object increased
efficiency, rapidity, and economy in the operation. An essential feature of the

page_text: improved system is the exposure of the fabrics or materials in a stretched state
to streams of water or other cleansing liquid, forced or projected against them
by the centrifugal action of rapidly revolving hollow-bladed water throwers or
fans, supplied with the water or liquid through their shafts or spindles, made
hollow for the purpose.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I have
hereunto appended a Sheet of explanatory Drawings, in which I have shown
the most approved apparatus for carring out my Invention in practice, and
to which Drawings the herein-after contained references apply.
Figure 1 on the said Sheet of Drawings, is a side elevation and Figure 2
is a vertical section, of a washing machine. constructed according to my said
Invention; and Figure 3 is a vertical section through one of the water
throwing fans, and taken at right angles to the section, Figure 2. In the
treatment of woven fabrics, several pieces of the goods may be made into a
continuous length by joining their ends together, and the fabric being stretched
to its full width may be first passed through a tank or vessel of water or
other liquid to remove any loose impurities, being guided by rollers along
a zig-zag or tortuous route to increase the effect of this preliminary washing
or cleansing. On leaving the tank or vessel, the fabric, which is kept stretched
to its full width, passes over and round a series of guide rollers, arranged in
a framing in such a way as to expose the fabric to the action of two centrifugal
water throwers or fans, these two water throwers acting directly on opposite
sides of the fabric, which is guided so as first to expose one side to the lower
water thrower, for example, afterwards exposing its other side to the upper
water thrower. It is preferred to arrange one water thrower above the other,
the fabric being exposed to the action of the lower one first in order, but it
is not essential that this arrangement be strictly adhered to.
The apparatus represented on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto appended
consists of a rectangular casing or box, formed by two opposite cast-iron side
standards or frames A, and closed in by boards B, portions C of which boards
at the front and back of the casing are hinged to form doors to give access to
the interior. Bearings D are formed in the side standards to receive the end
journals of the shafts E of the two water throwers or water throwing fans F,
arranged one directly over the other. In Figure 2 the upper fan is shown in
end elevation, and the lower one in transverse section. In constructing one
of these fans, two plates or discs of a triangular form with concave sides are
fixed on the shaft E, one near each end, and curved plates are bolted by their
ends to flanges cast on the end discs in such a way as to form three hollow
blades, and to cover in the space between the end discs, with the exception

page_text: of narrow slits G running from end to end at the angles or extremities of the
blades. The shaft E is made tubular, and is connected by a conical joint
at H to the branch I of a water-supplying pipe J. The shaft E is perforated,
and the water finds its way from it into the space surrounding the shaft,
finally issuing from the fan through the three slits G. It is preferred to
supply the fans with water from a slightly elevated reservoir, so that the water
may flow into them freely. The construction of the fan may be modified,
either as regards its proportions, or as regards the number of blades, or of the
slits G, as may be found convenient or desirable in practice. The fabric
which is being operated upon enters the machine at K, having first passed
through a tank L, in which it parts with any loose impurities. This tank L
is supplied with cold water by the pipe M communicating with the pipe J,
and with hot water or steam by the pipe N, and it is fitted with a series
of guide rollers O, round which the fabric passes, following the zig-zag or
tortuous route marked by the line P, the letter P also marking the line of the
fabric through the entire machine. On leaving the tank L, the fabric passes.
over an ordinary grooved breadthener Q to insure its being stretched to it's
full width, and it is thence guided into and through the machine by a series
of guides rollers R, these guide rollers being so situated, and the fabric being
conducted over or round them in such a way, that first one side of it is
exposed to the lower water-throwing fan F, and then the other side is
similarly exposed to the upper fan. The rollers R may be carried in either
fixed or adjustable bearings; adjustable bearings S being shown in the
Drawing, and admitting of the fabric being made to pass nearer to or further
from the fans F. The fabric ultimately passes between a pair of squeezing
rollers T, which draw it through the machine, and at the same time serve to
express the redundant moisture from it. The water-throwing fans F are
driven by means of pinions U fast on the externally projecting ends of their
shafts E, and opposite to the ends at which these shafts are supplied with
water. The pinions U are both in gear with a large spurn wheel V fast on
a short horizontal shaft W, and arranged to give a considerable rotatory
speed to the fans F. The spur wheel V is also in gear with the first of a
train of wheels X, imparting to the drawing and squeezing rollers T a motion
which is very slow compared with that of the fans F. The shaft W may be
put into and out of gear with a driving shaft by means of any of the various
contrivances in use. A convenient arrangement is represented in the Draw-
ings, and in it a frictional coupling box Y is employed. This coupling box is
fast on a short tubular shaft loose on the shaft W, but having fast on it a
bevil wheel Z, in gear with a bevil wheel on a vertical or other constantly

page_text: b
revolving shaft, not shown in the Drawing. The shaft W has sliding longi-
tudinally upon it with a groove and feather a frictional clutch a, which is
shifted into or out of gear with the box Y by the spanners on the rocking
shaft c.
The shaft c has fast on it a spanner d, connected by a link e to a
spanner fon a short stud passing through the standard supporting the shaft c,
and having fast on its other end the long hand lever g. The shaft c has also
fast on it a spanner h, connected by a link rod i, passing across to the other
side of the machine to a spanner j on a vertical rocking shaft k, and this
shaft actuates the levers of cocks on the branches I of the water-supply
pipe J by means of spanners and links: With these arrangements one hand
lever g serves to put the moving details into or out of gear, and to admit or
shut off the water supply for the fans F.
When the machine is in action, and a sufficiently rapid motion is imparted
to the fans F, the water is thrown outwards through the slits G at the ends
of the blades with considerable force, and striking the fabric exposed to it in
a stretched state exerts an efficient cleansing action upon it. The speed of
the water-throwing fans may be varied, so as to exert a greater or less force
on the fabric, a speed of about 300 revolutions per minute being, however,
found to answer very well in practice; and the rate at which the fabric is
drawn through the machine may also be varied, so as to expose the fabric to
the action of the fans during a longer or shorter period. The arrangement
of the apparatus may obviously be modified in various ways.
it may be constructed with only one water-throwing fan or with more than
two such fans, the fabric in the latter case passing from one to the other.
succession.
Thus, if desired,
In subjecting yarns or textile materials to the action of the apparatus,
a continuous length, formed if necessary by connecting a number of skeins
together, is passed through the apparatus in the same way as the woven
fabric, it being desirable to spread the yarns or materials laterally, so as to
take advantages of the entire breadth of the streams of water issuing from the
water-throwing fans, and to render the action upon them as uniform as
possible.
Having now particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I must observe, in
conclusion, that I do not restrict myself to the precise details which I have
described, as my Invention is susceptible of various forms and modifications;
but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent,
is, the system or mode of washing or cleansing textile fabrics and materials,

page_text: wherein they are exposed in a stretched state to streams of water or other
cleansing liquid forced or projected against them by the centrifugal action
of rapidly revolving hollow-bladed water throwers or fans, as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Jack, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
DAVID JACK. (L.S.)