IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING CLOTHES, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBRES AND FABRICS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Coton, of Blackpool, in the County of Lan-
caster, Painter, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
WASHING CLOTHES, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBRES AND FABRICS."
Sealed the 17th January 1865, and dated the 20th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Coton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
July 1864.
I, JOHN COTON, of Blackpool, in the County of Lancaster, Painter, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WASHING CLOTHES, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBRES AND FABRICS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates to the "swiller" of washing machines and the
method of working the same, and has for its object a more effectual method
of squeezing and rubbing clothes, wool, or other fibres and fabrics when.
undergoing the process of washing in the tub of such machines.
At the front and back of the inside of the tub are a number of ribs placed
at suitable distances apart, the rails in the swiller being provided with ribs or
feathers, which on each stroke of the swiller enter the spaces between the
first-mentioned ribs, squeezing and rubbing the clothes between the said ribs
and the ribs or feathers on the swiller rails; or, instead of the ribs, I construct
the back and front inside of the tub with a number of grooves or corrugations,

page_text: into which the ribs or feathers on the rails of the swiller enter, as above
described.
Motion is given to the swiller as follows:-At the back and on each end
of the tub is an arm curving partly over the said tub, having a boss at its
extremity to which the swiller is hung. At the front and on each side of the 5
machine is an upright arm working on a stud, the said arms being connected
to each end of the swiller by means of a crank, and provided at the top with
a handle or rail for working the same.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Coton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
COTON, of Blackpool, in the County of Lancaster, Painter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Coton, Her special licence that I, the said John Coton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Coton, 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 MACHINERY FOR
WASHING CLOTHES, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBRES AND FABRICS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Coton, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 Coton, 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 relates to the swiller of washing machines, and the method

page_text: of working the same, and has for its object a more effectual method of
squeezing and rubbing clothes, wool, and other fibres and fabrics when under-
going the process of washing in the tub of such machines.
At the front and back of the inside of the tub are a number of ribs placed
at suitable distances apart, the rails in the swiller being provided with ribs or
feathers which on each stroke of the swiller enter the spaces between the
first-mentioned ribs, squeezing and rubbing the clothes between the said ribs
and the ribs or feathers on the swiller rails; or, instead of the ribs, I con-
struct the back and front inside of the tub with a number of grooves or cor-
rugations, into which the ribs or feathers on the rails of the swiller enter, as
above described.
Motion is given to the swiller as follows:-At the back and on each end
of the tub is an arm curving partly over the said tub, having a boss at its
extremity to which the swiller is hung. At the front and on each side of
the machine is an upright arm working on a stud, the said arms being con-
nected to each end of the swiller by means of a crank, and provided at the
top with a handle or rail for working the same.
In order that my Invention may be distinctly understood, I have attached
to these Presents a Sheet of Drawings illustrative thereof, in which Figure 1
is an end view of so much of a washing machine as this Invention refers to ;
Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same; and Figure 3 is a sectional plan
through the line A, B, of Figure 1, in which Figures the same letter refers
to the same part in the different views.
A, A, are the ribs placed inside of the tub B; C is the swiller, the rails
c, c, of which are provided with projecting ribs or feathers c', c¹, so that on
each stroke of the swiller the said ribs or feathers c¹, c', will enter the spaces c²
between the ribs A, A, squeezing and rubbing the clothes between the ribs
A, A, and the ribs or feathers c¹. At D is shewn an arm curving partly over
the said tub (a similar arm being at the opposite end of the machine) to a
stud d; in the boss d¹ of the said arm is suspended the swiller C, so as to
swing or oscillate freely thereon, motion (by the attendant) being imparted
by the use of the hand rail d³ to the upright arm E, working on the stud e,
is communicated by the crank F (working on the stud g on the fixing g¹). to
the swiller C.
Having thus fully described the nature and particulars of this my said
Invention for "Improvements in Machinery for Washing Clothes, Wool, and
other Fibres and Fabrics," I would remark, in conclusion, that I claim as my
Invention the general arrangement and construction of the swiller rails and
ribs or feathers thereon, together with the method of suspending the said

page_text: swiller, and the means or apparatus employed for actuating the same, as
fully described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, or any mere
modification of the same acting in substantially the same or in a similar
manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Coton, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Signed and sealed by the within-
named John Coton, in the
presence of
WALTER BRIERLEY,
Patent Agent,
JOHN COTON. (L.S.)
Halifax & Blackburn.