Improvements in Clothes Wringing Machines.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 27th July, 1899
Complete Specification Left, 24th Aug., 1899-Accepted, 30th Sept., 1899
Improvements in Clothes Wringing Machines.
I, JAMES GRIEVE LORRAIN, M.I.E.E., M.I.Mech. E., of Norfolk House, Norfolk
Street, W.C., in the County of London, Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention (as communicated to me from abroad)
to be as follows:-
This invention is characterised by the following features.
A clothes-wringer comprising vertically-movable frames provided with bear-
ings for the upper roll-shaft, a bell-crank lever fulcrumed on one of the bearing-
frames at the upper end of same, a bar having rocking connection with the
upper inner corner of the bell-crank lever and pivotal connection with the bearing
frame farthest from the one aforesaid, a link in pivotal connection with the lower
end of the said lever, a spring in adjustable tension connection with the link and
a depending branch of the bar, and a pressure-regulating device in connection
with the top bar of the wringer-frame exertive against the former bar.
A clothes wringer comprising vertically-movable frames provided with bear
ings for the upper roll-shaft, a bell-crank lever fulcrumed on one of the bearing-
frames at the upper end of same and provided with upper lateral trunnions and
lugs, a bar having hook branches at rest on the trunnions under the lugs of the
lever and having pivotal connection with the bearing-frame farthest from the
lever-fulcrum, a spring having one end thereof in pivotal link connection with
the lower end of said lever and its other end in adjustable tension connection
with a depending branch of the bar, and a pressure-regulating device in con-
nection with the top bar of the wringer-frame exertive against the former bar.
A clothes-wringer comprising a pressure-bar approximately parallel to the
wringer-rolls one of which is mounted in stationary bearings and the other in
vertically-movable bearings, a lever in pivotal connection with the bar, a spring
having adjustable tension connection with the bar and lever, and a pressure-
regulating device in connection with a cross-bar of said frame.
A clothes-wringer comprising a drive-shaft having link-belt and sprocket gear
connection with one of the roll-shafts and spur-gear connection with the other
roll-shaft, one end of the drive-shaft and a roll-shaft in gear therewith being
mounted in stationary bearings, the bearings for the other end of said drive-
shaft and the other roll-shaft being vertically movable, a pressure-bar approxi-
mately parallel to said rolls, a lever in pivotal connection with the bar and
lever, a spring having adjustable tension connection with the bar and a pressure-
regulating device in connection with a cross-bar of said frame.
1
0711 1
Tl
1800
J. G. LORRAIN,
Communicatee.

page_text: A communication from abroad by GUSTAVUS A. PADDOCK, of Beaver Dam, State
of Wisconsin, United States of America.
I, JAMES GRIEVE LORRAIN, M.I.E.E., M.I.Mech.E., of Norfolk House, Norfolk
Street, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention (as communicated to me from abroad) and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
My invention has for its object to provide simple, economical, and easily-
operating clothes-wringers in which the rolls may have ready wide separation
without detriment to the driving mechanism and also to insure the proper pres-
sure at all times without disturbing the adjustment of the regulating device.
Therefore said invention consists in certain peculiarities of construction and
combination of parts hereinafter particularly set forth with reference to the
accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed.
Figure 1 of the drawings represents a partly-sectioned tub-side view of a
clothes-wringer constructed in accordance with my invention, certain parts of
the same being broken;
Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5, sectional views respectively indicated by lines 2 2,3 3,
44, and 5 5 in the first figure;
Figure 6, a detail perspective view of a bell-crank lever embodied in the
wringer; and
Figure 7, a detail plan view, partly in horizontal section, illustrating the
swing-clamp similar to one of those shown in preceding figures applied to a
notched-end frame-standard.
Referring by letter to the drawings, A. indicates the top bar of the wringer-
frame, A¹ a leg made fast to the lower notched portion of a longitudinally-
slotted frame-standard A2, and As indicates the other longitudinally-slotted frame-
standard of the machine. The top bar is bolted in the slots of the frame-
standards, at the upper ends of the same, and fast to said standards, near their
lower ends, is a watershed N and backboard h, a clothes-board s being trunnioned
to the aforesaid standards above said watershed. The general construction and
arrangement of parts thus far specified are common in the art of clothes-wringers,
hard-wood being the material employed in the manufacture of said parts.
Made fast to the leg A¹ of frame-standard A2 is a bracket o¹, that constitutes
a bearing for a set-screw O, one end of which is swiveled in a plate o, having
a lower right-angled prong p, that moves in space between said leg and bracket
to keep said plate in vertical position when said screw is adjusted. The parts
in the last-described assemblage, with the exception of the wringer-frame, are
made of metal and constitute one of the clamps by which the wringer is held
on a tub or other support.
In pivotal connection with a bracket R, fast to frame-standard A³, is a yoke P,
and a set-screw Q, having bearing in one end of the yoke, is provided with a
swivel-button designed to come against a tub or other support, the last described
assemblage of parts being metallic and constituting the other clamp for holding
the wringer on a tub or other support. In Fig. 7 the frame-standard A³ is
shown as having a notched lower end provided with a swing-clamp comprising a
bracket R¹, yoke P¹ in pivotal connection with the bracket, and a set-screw Q
having its bearing in one end of the yoke, said screw being provided with a

page_text: swivel button, this clamp being similar to one of the others above specified.
While I have shown the clamps as part of a complete clothes-wringer, said clamps
are similar to what is already common in the art, and therefore they are not
specifically claimed herein.
The vertical slots in the frame-standards are shaped at their lower ends to
provide bearing-spaces m¹ for the shaft m of the lower wringer-roll M, and in
sliding engagement with said slots are the bearing-frames H G for the shaft / of
the upper wringer-roll L, these bearing-frames being for the most part above the
latter shaft. As herein shown, the bearing-frames that slide in the vertical slots
of the frame-standards may be cast metal and have hard-wood blocks h¹g arranged
therein for contact with shaft of the upper wringer-roll. The block is made
to serve as a bearing for the drive-shaft J, herein shown provided with a crank k,
and the other bearing for the drive-shaft is herein shown as a notched block j,
made fast to the frame-standard A².
A sprocket-pinion I is made fast to one end of the drive-shaft, and the other
end of said shaft is fast in a spur pinion K. The sprocket-pinion is connected
by a link belt i with sprocket-wheel I', fast on the shaft of the lower wringer-
roll M, and the shaft of the upper wringer-roll L is fast in a spur-wheel K¹ in
mesh with the spur-pinion K, aforesaid..
The bearing-frame H is shown in the form of parallel arms above the block h¹,
and the upper ends of these arms are connected by a cross-bar that constitutes
a fulcrum for one hook-end arm of bell-crank lever D, the other arm of this
lever being in the form of a hook for a link c, with which one end of a spiral
spring C is connected, the other end of the spring being in connection with the
eye end of a screw 1', that extends through one arm of an angular casting b,
herein shown as having lateral trunnions that bear in recesses at the upper ends
of side arms constituting part of the bearing-frame G. Another casting a has
hook branches that bear on trunnions extending laterally from the upper inner
corner of the bell-crank lever D), and the latter casting and the one bare shown
connected to ends of a wooden bar B, that is approximately parallel to the
wringer-rolls.
A. tension-nut f is run on screw F between side bars of bearing-frame G to
oppose the depending arm of casting b, and the wooden bar B is shown provided
with a recessed metal block constituting a socket for the point end of a pressure-
regulating screw E, for which a bearing is provided in the top bar A of the
machine.
The bell-crank lever D is provided with lateral lugs in opposition to the hook
branches of casting a to prevent pressure on the wringer-rolls, except the
regulating device be adjusted, these lugs being well illustrated in Fig. 6.
In practice rotary motion of the drive-shaft is communicated to the lower
wringer-roll by the sprocket and link-belt gear above specified. Like motion is
also communicated from the drive-shaft to the upper wringer-roll by means of
When material is run between the
the spur-gear set forth in the foregoing.
rolls, the upper one of the same is lifted against a predetermined degree of yield-
ing pressure that is regulated at will, as by adjustment of the screw E herein
shown. The spur-gear above specified moves upward with roll L, but there is no
bind or increase of friction in the gearing, no matter what thickness of material
is passed between the rolls.
Were the drive-shaft connected by spur-gear with both roll-shafts at opposite
ends of the machine, as has been heretofore attempted in the art, it is obvious that
there would be a double amount of friction, as by the side pressure of the cogs
against each other each of the shafts would be pressed sidewise against the bear-
At the same time none of
ing-box by the force used in propelling the rolls.
the downward pressure on the lower roll-shaft is taken off, but rather added to,:
as the pressure of the cogs against each other will increase the friction on the
lower side of said roll-shaft and make a corresponding amount on the upper side

page_text: of the drive shaft; but in my gearing above set forth I overcome the mechanical
defect heretofore experienced, for, as will readily be seen, all the pull of the link
belt is downward on the drive-shaft and correspondingly upward on the shaft of
the lower roll, thus simply transferring part of the roll-pressure from the latter
to the former. Therefore instead of having merely substituted one well-known
form of gear for another as a means of communicating rotary motion to the
lower roll from a drive-shaft in spur gear with the upper roll-shaft I make
provision to avoid increase of friction from the adding of another shaft to the
wringer.
The degree of spring-pressure is regulated by adjustment of tension-nut f
independent of the wringer-frame, and this pressure is brought upon the roller
by adjustment of the regulating device, herein shown in the form of a set-screw
operative upon bar B. The oscillating bell-crank lever D operates to auto-
matically maintain an equal roll-pressure whether the material operated upon
be thick or thin, and this function will be best understood by observing that if
lines drawn from the center of each lever-hook intercept each other at the axial
center of the trunnions pertaining to said lever their intersection will form an
acute angle. Now if the bell-crank lever swings down and outward on its fulcrum
incidental to spreading apart of the wringer-rolls the distance from the trunnions
of said lever to the link c, in connection with spring C, will decrease more
rapidly than the distance between the trunnions and the parallel arms of the
bearing-frame H.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion (as communicated to me from abroad) and in what manner the same is to
be performed, I declare that I claim is :--
1. A clothes-wringer comprising vertically-movable frames provided with bear-
ings for the upper roll-shaft, a bell-crank lever fulcrumed on one of the bearing-
frames at the upper end of same, a bar having rocking connection with the upper
inner corner of the bell-crank lever and pivotal connection with the bearing-
frame farthest from the one aforesaid, a link in pivotal connection with the lower
end of said lever, a spring in adjustable tension connection with the link and a
depending branch of the bar, and a pressure-regulating device in connection with
the top bar of the wringer-frame exertive against the former bar.
2. A clothes-wringer comprising vertically-movable frames provided with bear-
ings for the upper roll-shaft, a bell-crank lever fulcrumed on one of the bearing-
frames at the upper end of same and provided with upper lateral trunnions and
lugs, a bar having hook branches at rest on the trunnions under the lugs of the
lever and having pivotal connection with the bearing-frame farthest from the
lever-fulcrum, a spring having one end thereof in pivotal link connection with
the lower end of said lever and its other end in adjustable tension connection
with a depending branch of the bar, and a pressure-regulating device in con-
nection with the top bar of the wringer-frame exertive against the former bar.
3. A clothes-wringer comprising a pressure-bar approximately parallel to the
wringer-rolls one of which is mounted in stationary bearings and the other in
vertically-movable bearings, a lever in pivotal connection with the bar, a spring
having adjustable tension connection with the bar and lever, and a pressure-
regulating device in connection with a cross-bar of said frame.
4. A clothes-wringer comprising a drive-shaft having link-belt and sprocket
gear connection with one of the roll-shafts and spur-gear connection with the
other roll-shaft, one end of the drive-shaft and a roll-shaft in gear therewith
being mounted in stationary bearings, the bearings for the other end of said
drive-shaft, and the other roll-shaft being vertically movable, a pressure-bar
approximately parallel to said rolls, a lever in pivotal connection with the bar, a
spring having adjustable tension connection with the bar and lever, and a
pressure-regulating device in connection with a cross-bar of said frame.

page_text: 5. In a clothes wringer, a drive shaft having sprocket-wheel and link-belt
connection with one of the roll shafts, and spur-gear connection with the other
roll shaft.
1000
J. G. LORRAIN, C.P.A.,
Communicatee.