IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING MACHINES
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bainbridge Brooker
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th November 1881.
WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE BROOKER, of Bootle, in the County of Lancaster.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING MACHINES."
My Invention for improvements in washing machines consists mainly of the
following arrangements.
The body of the machine may be said to be simply a barrel or drum with a
strong metal ring round each edge, said barrel or drum being carried on flanged
wheels running in bearings on a wooden or metal frame fastened to the floor or
other convenient place. The frame and wheels are similar to a railway bogey
turned upside down. At one or both ends of the barrel or drum is a hole sufficiently
large to hand clothes in or out of it. Rails are placed endways between the ends
of the barrel or drum, and boards are also placed under the rails extending between
the ends of the barrel or drum. When the articles intended to be washed are
placed inside the barrel or drum, and it is made to revolve, the rails being so
placed as to form a kind of scoop, raises the clothes and carries them round until
they fall out of the scoop to the bottom of the barrel or drum again, and by this
motion they are scrubbed and knocked about in the soap. After this has been
done sufficiently the rinsing begins. A jet of water is directed into the interior of
the barrel or drum through the feeding hole. As the clothes or materials are
being raised upwards by the rails the water will find its way through them and
fall on the boards. These latter are so placed and sloped that the water will find
its way to a hole or opening, and thus make its exit through the end of the
barrel and down a pipe fastened thereto and away to wherever it may be directed.
By passing the water through the clothes the soap and dirt held in solution aro
washed away. The driving of the barrel or drum may be effected in various ways,
but I generally prefer to use a belt round the barrel and a countershaft for
simplicity and noiselessness, but cog wheels or friction wheels might be used if
necessary, or a handle or handles attached to the barrel or drum may be used to
cause it to revolve.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Bainbridge Brooker in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th May 1882.
WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE BROOKER, of Bootle, in the County of Lancaster..
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING-MACHINES."
Figures A and B show side views (in elevation and section respectively) of my
improved machine; Fig. C shews plan of frame with drum removed; Fig. D,
arrangement of sluice boards; Fig. E, modified form of machine with brake. In
these Figs. 1 is drun; 2, feeding hole; 3, part of same covered by a movable
lid; 4, outlet pipes; 5, valves for same; 6, rails forming scoop; 7, frame; 8,
Loarings for shafts; 9, flange wheels; 10, belt-pulley connecting with drum; 11,
grip pulley; 12, belt round drum and pulleys 10 and 11; 13, feet holding frame
firmly in position; 14, shape of drip trough; 15, grip pulley lever; 16, sluices; 17,
rails supporting sluices; 18, shafts carrying wheels 9; 19, fast and loose pulley
for driving belt; 20, collars to keep flange wheels in position; 21, rack (actuated
by pawl 22) on grip pulley lever; 23, crank carrying pawl; 24, pawl spring; 25,
spindle carrying crank; 26, iron break strap; 27, screw regulator to break strap;
28, lever haudle to turn spindle 25; 29, rihs for the materials being washed to fall
upon.
The machine consists of a barrel or drum 1 with a strong metal ring or hoop
round it near each end, running on flanged wheels 9, which run in bearings 8,
fastened to an iron or wooden frame 7, secured to the floor or other convenient
place, said frame 7 and flanged wheels 9 being somewhat similar to a railway
bogey turned upside down. In one or both ends of the drum or barrel 1 there is
an aperture 2 for putting in or taking out clothes and materials, water, soup, etc.
The drum 1 is preferably made of wood, and in the interior and between the
feeding hole 2 and the staves of the same a number of rails 6 are placed parallel
with the axis of the drum, extending the full length thereof, and so placed as to
form a kind of scoop, so that when the drum 1 revolves in that direction which
shall carry the mouth of the scoop forwards the clothes or materials will be gathered
into the scoop and carried upwards and over until the scoop having become mouth
downwards, the clothes or materials fall out and down to the botton again, this
action being repeated at every revolution of the drum 1. These rails 6 forming, a
scoop are of same length as the drum 1, and the ends are made flush with tho
outside surfare of the ends of the drum 1, which ends are bored to receive same in
position. The ends of the rails 6 form a curved line extenling from the staves of
the drum 1 to the side of the feeding hole 2, and partly encircling the same. In
the interior of the drum and near the scoop just described are placed sluice boards
16 in such a position that when the drum 1 revolves they will follow immediately
after the scoop or elevator 6. Each sluice consists of three boards, two of them
rectangular and of such a length in one direction as to reach between the ends of
the drum, and in the other direction extend the length of the scoop, but being
placed at an angle with each other form a mid-chanuel between them under the
scoop and parallel with the axis of the drum. The third board is triangular in
shape and placed over the mid channel formed between the other two and thus
gives a slope downwards to one end of the said channel. The form of this arrange-
ment is shewn in Fig. D. The object of the sluice boards 16 is to prevent the
water as it runs through rails 6 from the clothes when they are being raised from
falling to the bottom of the drum 1, they therefore catch the water, and by their
sloping position gather same together, thus allowing the water by the force of

page_text: gravitation to make its way towards and through an aperture formed in one end
of the drum and situate at the lower end of the slope in the sluice boards. The
above description of the sluice applies only when the drum and scoop are in that
position in which the clothes and materials have been raised some distance. Tho
sluice is inverted when the drum and scoop are turned in the opposite position
because the boards forming the sluice being fixtures always retain their relativo
position with respect to each other and the drum. They are securely fastened to
the drum, preferably by strong rails put through the ends of same parallel with
its axis; the ends of these rails may be flush with the outer surface of the drum
ends. To the aperture mentioned above for the exit of the water a pipe 4 is affixed
which points in a downward direction whenever the drum is in that position in which
the water will be making itsexit, i.c., when the scoop has raised the clothes some
distance upwards. To this pipo is attached a valvo or tap similar in principle to an
ordinary screw valve. This valve 5 is closed when the soaping of the clothes is
being done, after which process the valve is opened, a stream or jet of water is
directed into the interior of the drum through the feeding hole 2. This water
finds its way through the clothes and rails of the scoop 6 on to the sluice boards 16,
and out of the drum and through the above mentioned pipe and valve, and away
to wherever directed. By this means the soap and dirt held in solution are washed
away. To prevent the splash of water as it falls from the above mentioned pipe, a
narrow trough is placed athwart the end of the drum to receive the water as it
falls, and from whence it makes its way through an aperture in or near the
bottom in the most convenient place. That part of the feeding hole 2 which is
intersected by the sluice board 16 is covered by a movable lid of the same-shape
to be removed when necessary for examination and repair of the sluices, rails, &c.
The driving of the drum 1 is accomplished preferably by means of a belt 12
around the same and a countershaft as follows:-A pulley 11 is keyed on about
the middle part of one of the shafts 18 carrying the flange wheels upon which tho
drum rests.
This pulley is rather less in diameter than the flange wheels, so that
it may run clear of the drum. Round this pulley and the drum a belt 12 is fixed
and kept tight by a grip pulley 10 on a lever 15 attached to the foundation
frame 7, which lever is so made and placed that it can be loaded to the desired
grip. On the same shaft a fast and loose pulley 19 are fixed to receive the driving
belt, and an extra fast and loose pulley for reversing occasionally when washing
very long articles to take the twist out of them and to assist generally in the
efficiency of washing, may be used. The two flange wheels on this shaft, being
larger in diameter than the pulley carrying the drum helt, are not keyed on, but
run loose between collars, otherwise they would drag. (Small hand machines can
be made to turn by means of a handle affixed to and projecting from the end of
the drum, and do not require the sluice boards and outlet pipes and valves described
above, but a splash board should be placed instead of the sluice boards to prevent
the water from splashing out through the feeding hole. The form of this splash
board is the same as that part of the before mentioned sluice bari which intersects
the feeding hole. Small hand machines have a guard of iron extending like an
arch over the druin and resting upon and secured to the foundation frame to keep
the drum from being shaken off the flange wheels, and also to provide a steady for
the hand of the operator.) I use a break consisting of an iron band secured at one
end by means of an adjustable screw to the frame, the band passing over the top
of the drum and downwards to a crank fastened to a shaft turning in bushes in
the frame, the shaft placed parallel with the axis of the drum. On one or both
ends of this shaft there is a lever handle turning the shaft and crank about a
quarter round, and pulling the band tight round the drum, by that means, and by
the same means the grip is loosened on the belt by raising the grip pulley, and
thus the countershaft continues revolving without working the drum. Fig. E
5 shews a lever carrying grip pulley. At one end there is a rack 21, in which
pawl 22 catches, when the lever handle 28 is moved in that direction and pulls
that end of the lever down, thereby raising the pulley at the opposite end and

page_text: slackening the belt. When the lever handle is thrown back the break band is
loosened, and the pawl leaves the rack and allows the weight of the grip pulley to
operate and bear upon the belt. The object of having the rack rather long with
plenty of teeth is to allow for the shortening or lengthening of the belt from any
cause, so that there is always a tooth opposite the pawl for it to take hold of. I a
also use a number of ribs of wood or metal 29 fastened inside the drum parallel
with its axis on that part where the clothes strike when they fall so as to present
a rough surface for the clothes to scrub over and to break the bundle of clothes or
materials, so as to make them present a fresh surface to the action of the machine
as often as may be.
1
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed or carried out in
practice, I hereby declare that I claim the Invention of "Improvements in Washing
Machines," substantially as hereinbefore set forth and described, an important
point or feature thereof being the revolving drum placed on wheels (the drum 1
having no shaft through it), actuated and controlled, substantially as and for the
purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bainbridge Brooker, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty sixth day of May, in the year of
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
Witness,
W. G. MCMULLEN,
12, Litherland Road,
Bootle.
WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE BROOKER. (L.S.)