CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WRINGING MACHINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Scott Underhill, of Newport, in the County
of Salop, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
WRINGING MACHINES."
Sealed the 20th November 1857, and dated the 25th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Scott Underhill
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th May 1857.
I, WILLIAM SCOTT UNDERHILL, of Newport, in the County of Salop, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN WRINGING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in making the rollers used in the above-named
machines of vulcanized india-rubber or other elastic material, either solely or
in conjunction with wood or metal rollers, so that the elastic material will
admit of buttons or other similar attachments to clothing passing through
without injury, whilst at the same time the pressure is sufficiently great to
force out the water & render the articles comparatively dry.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Scott Underhill in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SCOTT UNDERHILL, of Newport, in the County of Salop, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of May, 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
William Scott Underhill, Her special licence that I, the said William Scott
Underhill, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Scott Underhill, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WRINGING MACHINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Scott Underhill, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Scott Underhill, 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 :-
This Invention has reference to that portion of the machines known as
wringing machines, termed the rollers; these rollers are usually made of wood
or other non-elastic material, and as all the articles which have been washed
or saturated have to pass between these rollers, in order that the water may be
squeezed out of them, it is often found from the extreme rigidity of wood
rollers, or rollers formed of non-elastic material, that buttons are broken and
torn from garments, and that delicate articles are liable to considerable
damage.
My improvements consist in making the rollers used in such machines of
vulcanized india-rubber or other elastic or resilient material, and I propose

page_text: to employ for this purpose, one or more of such rollers. When one is used it
will of course be in conjunction with ordinary wood or metal, or other hard
and non-elastic rollers, but all the rollers in the machine may, if preferred, be
covered with elastic or resilient material, so that they will admit the passage
of clothes or other articles between them, pressing them sufficiently for the
purpose of wringing out the water, but without injuring the articles by
breaking or tearing off buttons, or otherwise damaging them. In making
these rollers, I prefer the following mode of construction -A number of stout
vulcanized india-rubber rings are placed upon a spindle and fastened at either
end by screws or the equivalents thereof, which will keep them always in
position, the usual adjusting screws being retained to regulate the horizontal
position of the rollers, or the rollers may be made by fixing a tube of india-
rubber of sufficient thickness upon a spindle, though the mode first described
will probably be found the best in practice. The india-rubber possessing so
great resiliency, acts as a cushion, and prevents the garments or other articles
under operation from being too harshly pressed, and if only one such roller be
employed, working in conjunction with others of wood, metal, or other non-
elastic material, the pressure between the two will not be nearly so severe as
with two non-elastic rollers, whilst at the same time, it will be found sufficient
for the purpose; other elastic or resilient material, such as a compound of
india-rubber with fibrous or woven material may also be used for making or
covering these rollers.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim the improvements in wringing
machines, by making one or more of the rollers used in such machines of
vulcanized india-rubber or other elastic or resilient material, or covering such
rollers with elastic or resilient material, as herein more fully set forth and
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Scott Underhill, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
JOHN SMITH.
WILLIAM SCOTT UNDERHILL (L.S.)