Improvements in Machinery or Mechanism for Washing or Cleansing, Dyeing and Drying Clothes, Fabrics, and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Nov., 1000
Complete Specification Left, 10th Aug., 1899-Accepted, 16th Sept., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 10th Aug., 1899-Accepted, 16th Sept., 1899
Improvements in Machinery or Mechanism for Washing or Cleansing,
Dyeing and Drying Clothes, Fabrics, and the like.
I, HENRY CROFTS LONGSDON, Managing Director of the Firm of W. Summer-
scales and Sons, Limited, of Keighley, in the County of York, Laundry Engineers
and Machine Makers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows, that is to say:-
It relates to improvements in machinery or mechanism for washing or cleansing,
dyeing and drying clothes, fabrics and the like and consists in constructing same
in such a manner that without being a complicated production the resultant
machine or mechanism will perform the functions desired of it, efficiently.
In carrying my invention into effect I make use of a cage having its walls
perforated or full of openings and of such a shape that it will fit within a cylinder
or cistern in which it has to rotate as well as reciprocate, and in which it may
be entirely or only partly enclosed.
To transmit motion to this internal cage, I mount it on a vertical shaft which
is supported in bearings carried by lever arms or otherwise. To this shaft I
transmit rotary motion by bevel or other gear wheels or by any suitable driving
belt arrangement, while by arranging said shaft to slide vertically through its
lateral bearings and driving wheels (these latter having elongated keyways or
feathers to allow same) any crank or cam mechanism may be employed for
operating the lever devices upon which said shaft is mounted thus vertically
reciprocatory motion may be transmitted to the cage above described.
By the employment of the mechanism constructed as set forth, on the clothes
or fabrics to be treated being placed in the internal cage, the mechanism for
transmitting reciprocatory motion may be put into action so that the said cage
is made to descend into the water, washing liquor or the like contained by the
cistern, which is thus caused to rush through the perforations in said cage
and pass through the articles or fabrics it contains, until the cage has reached
the lowest point of its path downwards, its return or upward movement effecting
a reversal in the flow of the liquids consequently every part of all the articles or
fabrics is acted upon by it so that the treatment in this connection is as desired.
After the fabrics have been thus subjected to the actions of the liquor or liquid
as long as may be desired, the reciprocatory movements are arrested, and the
cage is raised to its highest position within the cistern, on which the other
driving mechanism is put into operation and the cage is rotated at such a rate of
speed that the liquid or moisture remaining in the fabrics within same, is forced
centrifugally from it to be collected within the cistern to flow back to the other
liquid beneath thus the fabrics are relieved of the bulk of the superfluous
moisture and are sufficiently dried to allow their removal from the cage.
From the foregoing description it will be seen that the mechanism may be
used for the ordinary washing of clothes, or by the use of a solvent such as
benzine instead of water, soap etc., clothes that have to be cleansed or that have
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page_text: to have the grease spots removed from them may be treated in this machine and
all the solvent be retained or prevented from escaping therefrom, while for dye-
ing purposes, dyeing liquor has only to be substituted for the washing liquid and
the machinery made to act in the same way as before stated.
D1041 ax of Nawal 1900
H. C. LONGSDON.
Per Samuel Hey,
Agent.
Improvements in Machinery or Mechanism for Washing or Cleansing,
Dyeing and Drying Clothes, Fabrics, and the like.
I, HENRY CROFTS LONGSDON, Managing Director of the Firm of W. Summer-
scales and Sons, Limited, of Keighley, in the County of York, Laundry Engineers
and Machine Makers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, that is to say:-
It relates to improvements in machinery or mechanism for washing or cleansing
clothes, fabrics, fibrous substances and the like and consists in constructing same
in such a manner that without being a complicated production the resultant
machine or mechanism will perform the functions desired of it, efficiently.
In the accompanying sheets of drawings
Fig. 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, of a machine made in accordance
with my invention.
Fig. 2 is a view of the parts show by Fig. 1 as seen from above.
Fig. 3 is a drawing in detail of a part hereinafter described.
In carrying my invention into effect I make use of a cage a having its walls
perforated or full of openings a¹, said cage a being of such a shape as to fit within
a cylinder b in which it has to rotate as well as reciprocate and in which it may
be entirely enclosed as shown by the drawings, or only partly enclosed if
desired.
and
To transmit motion to this internal cage a I mount it upon a vertical shaft c
which is supported in bearings d (see also Fig. 3) carried by the lever arm f.
To this shaft c I transmit rotary motion by means of the driving belt
pulley gl or in place of these any suitable arrangement of toothed gearing wheels
and shafts may be used, while by arranging said shaft c to slide vertically through
its bearings and pulley g (an elongated key way or feather in the shaft allow-
ing such vertical motion to be effected) as the crank wheel & revolves the arm f
is caused to oscillate about its centre f¹, through the space shown in broken lines,
to impart vertically reciprocatory motion to said shaft c and consequently to
the cage a which is secured to it. The rotary motion of the crank wheel is
derived from the driving pulleys 1 (operated by a driving belt), shaft 12 and
worm which meshes with the teeth on the crank wheel k.
By the employment of mechanism constructed as set forth, on the clothes or
fabrics to be treated being placed in the internal cage a, the lever f may be made
to transmit motion to its shaft c and cage a to cause this latter to descend into
the water, washing liquor or the like contained by the cylinder 6 which is thus
caused to rush or flow through the perforations a' and pass through the articles
or fabrics contained by said cage a until this cage a has reached the lowest point
of its path downwards, the return or upward movement of same causing the flow
of the water or liquid to travel in the opposite direction, consequently every part

page_text: of all the articles or fabrics is acted upon by it so that the treatment in this con-
nection is as desired.
After the fabrics have been thus subjected to the actions of the liquor or liquid
as long as is necessary, the reciprocatory movements of the cage a may be arrested
and said cage a may be held in its raised position shown by Fig. 1 on which the
driving belt g is brought into action to rotate the cage a at such a rate of speed
that the liquid or moisture remaining in the fabrics within said cage, is forced
centrifugally from it to be collected within the cylinder to flow back to the
other liquid beneath, thus the fabrics are relieved of the bulk of the superfluous
moisture and are sufficiently dried to allow of their removal from the cage.
From the foregoing description it will be seen that the mechanism may be
used for the ordinary process of washing clothes or by the use of a solvent such
as benzine instead of water, soap etc., clothes that have to be cleaned or that
have to have grease removed from them may be treated in this machine and all
the solvent be retained or prevented from escaping therefrom, while for dyeing
purposes, dyeing liquor has only to be substituted for washing liquid and the
mechanism made to act in the same manner as before stated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is: -
1. Mechanism for treating clothes, fabrics and fibrous substances, the same
being constructed and arranged to operate substantially as herein specified.
2. In a machine of the class described, a cage mounted to rotate as well as to
have reciprocatory motion transmitted to it substantially as specified.
Dated this th day of August 1899.
H. C. LONGSDON.
Per Samuel Hey,
Agent.