IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR WASHING OR CLEANSING
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by, the .said Samuel Smith. Shipley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th January 1855.
I, SAMUEL SMITH SHIPLEY, of Stoke Newington, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR WASHING OR CLEANSING " to be as follows:-'*
My improvements consist in the application of gas to machines or apparatus
for washing. or cleansing linen, wollen, or other' fabrics, materials, or articles,
for the purpose of keeping the water or ley used therein in a boiling state, or
at a constant and uniform temperature; whilst the articles are being cleansed
in the machine.
Such machines may either consist of a revolving wash vessel or pan with a
perforated false bottom, upon which rests the articles being cleansed; and
a number of beaters or stampers mounted therein; or may consist of a
stationery outer case, upon the bottom of which the gas may act directly, or
in a secondary degree through the agency of any good transmitter of heat,
and an inner revolving wash vessel with any suitable arrangement of rubbers
or beaters...

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, and
of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, filed by the said Samuel Smith
Shipley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
SMITH SHIPLEY, of Stoke Newington, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her, heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Smith Shipley, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel
Smith Shipley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Samuel Smith Shipley, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS FOR WASHING OR CLEANSING," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Smith Shipley, 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 bo
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar mouths next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Smith Shipley, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say-
Hitherto machines have been constructed in various ways for washing and
cleansing linen, woollen, and other fabrics, clothes, and articles of dress
and domestic use; but the most approved plan hitherto in use, according to
my experience, is by the combined use of steam admitted from above through
a tube or hollow shaft, and the arrangement of stampers or beaters mounted
in a frame over a revolving tub or receptacle for containing the articles to be
cleansed, which revolving tub has a false bottom of perforated metal under
which the radial hollow and perforated arm or tubes branching out from
the central steam pipe are fixed, the use of which being to admit steam

page_text: from a suitable steam boiler at such a pressure or temperature as may be
necessary to keep the ley or suds in a boiling state during the operation of
cleansing.
But inasmuch as the fixing of a suitable steam boiler is impracticable in many
situations; and in all cases where such is used it involves a considerable outlay
of capital, occupies much more room, requires constant care and attendance,
and from inattention may become dangerous to life and property; it more-
over is only suited, in an economical point of view, to large establishments,
where many machines and a steam engine are employed constantly and
profitably, so that this arrangement of apparatus cannot be used advan-
tageously by the majority of persons to whom such an apparatus would prove
of great value.
Or the
My improvements consist in the construction of an apparatus in which all the
advantages due to a high temperature and steam may be generated, or the ley
kept in a boiling state by the application of the heat from ignited gas, whether
such gas be produced from coal, or otherwise applied either directly to the
bottom of the revolving vessel, which has a false bottom whereon the clothes,
&c. rest, or through some good absorber and distributer of heat.
outer vessel, to which the gas heat may be applied direct or through a suitable
medium, need not revolve, but an inner vessel, perforated and containing the
articles to be cleansed, may revolve within and at a suitable distance from
the bottom of the outer vessel or case, avoiding thereby the risk of injuring
by scortching the articles being cleansed. Or the outer fixed vessel may have
a rib or ring on its internal surface, at a suitable distance from the bottom,
upon which a strong perforated metal plate or disc, or a perforated wooden
dise with or without a ring of metal on its under side, and of a diameter to
work accurately within the circular vessel; and upon the projecting ring or
fillet near the bottom of such vessel, so as to form a revolving false bottom to
such vessel, such discs, like the revolving vessel before described, must be
mounted upon a spindle or shaft working in a suitable step, bearing in the
bottom of the fixed pan or vessel.
The annexed Sheet of Drawings illustrates my Invention. The several
letters of reference on the Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, refer to the same parts in
each Figure. Fig. 1 is a side view of a machine designed according to my
Invention; Fig. 2 is an elevation, partly in section Fig. 3 is a plan of Figs.
1 and 2; Fig. 4 being two views of the beaters, shewing the lifting studs and
the holes for adjusting the rise and fall of the beaters.
In Figs. 1, 2, and 3, A, A, the main frame of the machine supporting the
outer metal case, tube, or vessel, to the bottom of which the heat is applied ;

page_text: B, a spandril: springing out from the crown of the arched frames A, A; C, a
bracket (of which there are two) supporting the upper guide frame, in which
the beaters slide freely; D, the bracket or bearing (of which there are, two)
supporting one end of the shaft or roller E; E. a shaft or roller; around the
periphery, and throughout a portion of its length, are arranged spirally, or in
.any other suitable manner, a series of lifters, F, F, &c., which act
upon the pro-
jecting studs of the beaters, and as the roller or shaft E revolves, each lifter
comes. in contact with the under side of the stud of each beater corresponding
thereto; and raising it up to a point, at which the lifter in its revolution is
-withdrawn from under it, and so permits the beater to fall freely; G, a drum
or pulley fixed on the end of the shaft E, by which motion may be communi-
cated to the machine; or a fly wheel and handle may be fixed on to the end of
the shaft E, to enable the machine to be worked by hand; H is a small band
wheel or pulley, upon which the band H* runs, and communicates motion
to the wheel I, which is shewn as keyed on to the shaft I*, there being .a
worm J also fitted on to the shaft I*; but in the middle thereof this worm
or screw J takes into and drives the worm wheel J*, which, being fixed upon
the upper end of the upright shaft or spindle of the revolving pan or perforated
disc, gives motion thereto.
t
Instead of the worm and wheel arrangement described, a pall and ratchet
motion may be applied, so as to cause the inner vessel or disc to revolve at
intervals, and in accordance with any convenient arrangement for lifting the
beaters or working the rubbers.
The wooden beaters K, 'K, K, are mounted in the guide frames L and L,
and in which they work freely up and down; there are several holes in the
shank of each beater to take the stud end of the pins M, M, which may
be made and fitted in any manner convenient and easy of adjustment. O is
the outer or stationary vessel or pan, which may be of cast iron tinned or
galvanized, or of copper tinned, or of any other suitable material to withstand
the heat and steam, and so surfaced as not to soil or iron-mold the articles
therein; this pan is shewn as supported by four feet Ox, Ox, &c. from the
sides of the main frames A, A, and it may be lined externally with felt or
any other non-conducting material. P. is the inner or revolving vessel or pan,
which is smaller in diameter, and fitted at a suitable distance from the bottom of
the outer pan or vessel, the bottom or bottom and side of which smaller pan are
perforated so as to admit the water, by, or suds passing through freely; it may
be made of galvanized or tinned cast iron, of cast iron glazed on the surface, of
copper tinned, or of any other suitable material; or the bottom may be a disc.
of wood of suitable thickness and perforated. This wooden disc or bottom

page_text: เ
plate, or the inner pan P, is firmly fixed to an upright shaft Q, which is stepped
into a socket bearing hole in the centre of the bottom of the outer pan O,
and at the upper end takes its bearing in the plummer block of the spandrill
B; and on the upper-end of the upright shaft or spindle Q is keyed securely
a worm wheel-J*, which is acted upon and worked by the worm or screw J.
The outer pan has a cock, by which the dirty water, ley, or suds is emptied
therefrom:
:
A gas service pipe Ris shewn, to which is attached a burner, S; which
may either be a series of rings with jet holes drilled therein, or any other
arrangement of burner or burners by which the heat of the gas can be
economically applied to the bottom of the pan or vessel to heat the water,-ley,
or suds, in which clothes or other articles are to be washed or cleansed... The
supply of gas is regulated by a tap or cock in-the usual-manner:
The mode of working this machine is as follows:-The clothes, or other
articles to be washed or cleansed, are placed or packed in the inner revolving
pan P, or,on to the revolving perforated disc plate or false bottom, and the
beaters are raised up so as to be above the surface of the articles placed or
packed, as described.
**
.be
The pins or studs M are inserted into the proper holes, to insure their being
lifted sufficiently high by the lifters F; to cause them, to fall through a distance
and with a weight. sufficiently great to insure the articles washed or cleansed
being properly treated, whilst the holes in the upper ends of the beaters
admit of accurate adjustment to correspond with the lifters F, F, &c., by which
means periods of revolution may be arranged; during which motion may be
given to the inner pan or disc and the articles therein or thereupon;-so that
they may not be liable to accumulate in one-place, but may be uniformly
submitted, each piece in its turn, to the action of the beaters: This may.
effected by a ratchet wheel being substituted for the worm wheel J*, acted
upon by a pall worked from a crank substituted for the worm J on the
shaft Ior by any similar contrivance by which a step-by-step motion may
be communicated to the articles in course of treatment and the vessel.or
surface in or upon which they are placed. The water or ley is then put into
the pan, and the gas being lighted, the machine is ready for working when
the temperature of the ley is raised sufficiently high for the purpose of
cleansing the articles.
:
Upon motion being communicated to the drum G, or to the fly wheel and
handle fixed upon the shaft E, the lifters F alternately come into contact with
the adjustable studs of the beaters K, K, K; at the same time the worm or
screw J, fixed, upon the shaft. I*, is caused to revolve, and so. acts upon the

page_text: worm wheel J*, causing the inner pan or perforated disc to revolve slowly under
the beaters; or where a step-by-step motion is used instead of the slow
continuous motion produced by the worm and wheel, the shaft I* is caused
to revolve in a similar manner as that just described; and the crank or stud
wheel fixed thereupon, instead of the worm, causes a suitable pall attached
thereto to take into the teeth of a ratchet wheel fixed on the upper end
of the vertical shaft or spindle attached to the pan or perforated disc.
A stud wheel with an adjusting slot is preferred to a crank, as thereby
the throw of the pall and the amount of revolution of the pan or per-
forated disc may be regulated by one tooth of the ratchet wheel, or several
teeth thereof, being acted upon or moved at each stroke of the crank pin or
stud wheel.
Figure 5 and 6 shews another arrangement of my Invention, wherein the
gas burner is enclosed in a casing having a flue pipe and door attached thereto;
the flue pipe is shewn with a regulator or throttle valve to regulate the
passing away of the heated air or products of combustion; the door opening
into the close case admits of the burner or burners being lighted and cleaned.
Instead of the gas acting directly upon the bottom of the fixed vessel, I have
shewn a layer of pumice stone or other suitable material carried upon a net
work of metal grating, or by other suitable means, in which manner the
head from the gas is more uniformly distributed over the bottom of the
pan or vessel than by the direct application of the jets of gas. In this
machine there is no inner pan, but a disc of wood perforated, as before
described, with a ring of metal screwed or otherwise attached to the under
side thereof, or with small friction rollers attached thereto, so as to run
upon or fit against a circular ring projecting from and extending round the
inside of the fixed pan or vessel, at a suitable distance from the bottom;
or, instead of a wooden disc fitted with a ring as described, a strong perforated
plate, with radiating ribs cast on the under side thereof, so as to withstand any
strain from the beaters or otherwise, the surface of which metal disc may be
galvanized and tinned, or otherwise protected, or a perforated wooden plate,
may be fitted on to its upper surface, and whereon the clothes or articles to be
washed or cleansed may be placed.
Instead of beaters, such as have been described, wooden drums slightly
corrugated on their peripherys, and revolving opposite to each other at dif-
ferent speeds, or wheels with large broad cogs, may be substituted; such
wheels may be mounted upon horizontal spindles, fixed in any convenient
position, and adjustable to the quantity and height of articles contained in the
machine, and with an arrangement of levers for increasing the weight or

page_text: pressure of such wheels upon the clothes or articles being treated; or one of
such toothed wheels may be used in addition to the beaters before described,
it being placed on the opposite side thereto.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in which the same is
carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim the com-
bination of beaters, however lifted or acted upon with a revolving vessel,
whether such vessel or plate carrying the articles to be washed be moved by a
slow continuous motion, or at intervals by a step-by-step motion, when such
combination is applied in a machine for the purpose of washing or cleansing,
when the water, ley, or suds is heated by steam generated in a separate vessel
or boiler.
But I claim, firstly, the application of gas to the machines herein-before
described, whether the gas be applied in the manner herein described, or in
any other manner to washing machines so constructed.
Secondly, I claim the improved arrangement of the parts of the machine
whereby the heat is applied to a fixed or non-revolving pan or vessel, either
directly thereto or through the medium of a good conducting and distributing
material, applied between the gas jets and the bottom of the fixed or non-
revolving pan or vessel.
Thirdly, I claim the application of the revolving rubbers or wheels, as
described, to be used above or in conjunction with beaters.
Fourthly, I claim the combination of a crank or adjustable disc wheel with a
pall and ratched motion or any tappet arrangement, when applied to any part
of the upper end of the vertical spindle or shaft, for giving motion at intervals
to the perforated disc plate, or the inner perforated pan or vessel, for carrying
the articles to be washed or cleansed in washing machines, wherein the water,
ley, or suds is heated in such machines by gas.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Smith Shipley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
SAMUEL SMITH SHIPLEY. (L.S.)
Witness,
JAMES E. HALL,
10, Salisbury St., Adelphi,
July 14th, /55.