IMPROVE MENTS IN WASHING AND WRINGING MACHINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas George Shaw, of Dartmouth Row, Black-
heath, in the County of Kent, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN WASHING AND WRINGING MACHINES."
Sealed the 5th February 1858, and dated the 8th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas George Shaw at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th August 1857.
I, THOMAS GEORGE SHAW, of Dartmouth Row, Blackheath, in the County
of Kent, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND WRINGING MACHINES," to be as follows, that
is to say:
My improved apparatus consists of a box or trough of any required shape,
and made of wood or any other suitable material, upon the upper part of which
two bearings or plummer blocks are fixed, which carry a cranked spindle, to
one end of which spindle may be attached a fly wheel, and at the other end a
winch handle if the machine is to be driven by hand, or a rigger or pulley if
driven by steam or other power; or the winch handle may be attached to one
of the arms of the fly wheel, as may be found most convenient. Upon the
cranked spindle, before mentioned, I place two or more connecting rods which
work through an oscillating guide bar, and are fitted at their lower extremities
with a dasher or beater, made of wood or other material, and perforated or
otherwise as may be found most convenient. I also place in the box or
trough, before mentioned, any convenient number of wooden rollers, the sur-
faces of which I render unequal by turning corrugations or notches
upon them
in a direction at right angles to their axes. To one side of the before-named
box or trough I attach a wringing machine, composed of a wooden box fitted

page_text: with a perforated bottom, which box may be made to communicate with the
interior of the trough of the washing machine. This box is fitted with a
moveable wooden piston attached to a lever, by means of which any required
pressure may be given to the articles placed between the perforated bottom
and the moveable piston. The operation of the machine may be described as
follows: The necessary quantity of water having been placed in the box or
trough, as above described, the linen or other material to be washed is thrown
in, and the cranked spindle being made to revolve, sets in motion the guide
rods and dasher or beater, before named; but the motion of the dasher or
beater is converted from the reciprocating motion which would be produced
simply by the revolution of the cranked spindle to a compound reciprocating
and oscillating motion through the agency of the oscillating guide bar, before
mentioned, and the linen or other material is thus drawn from side to side of
the machine, and gently rubbed against the floating corrugated rollers, before
described, until the operation of washing is completed. The goods are then
taken out of the washing machine and placed in the wringing machine, and
the necessary pressure having been given to them through the lever and piston,
before mentioned, the impure or dirty water returns to the washing machine,
and the goods are ready to be dried.
Should it be found necessary to rinse the goods in clean water they can be
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas George Shaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GEORGE SHAW, of Dartmouth Row, Blackheath, in the County of Kent,
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas George Shaw, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas George
Shaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas George Shaw, 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

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN WASHING AND WRINGING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas George Shaw, 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 Thomas George Shaw, 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 :-
My improved apparatus consists of a box or trough of any required shape,
fitted with a dasher or beater of wood or other material; which beater is put
in motion by guide rods working upon a cranked spindle, or by being attached
to eccentrics fitted upon a spindle. The upper part of the box or trough is
fitted with an oscillating guide bar through which the guide rods work, and
the action of this guide bar converts the reciprocating motion which would be
produced simply by the revolution of the cranked spindle or eccentrics to a
compound reciprocating and oscillating motion. I also place in the box or
trough any convenient number of rollers made of wood or other suitable
material, the surfaces of which I render uneven by making corrugations or
notches upon them in a direction at right angles to their axis. These rollers
I loosely attach to one another by means of strips of leather, or any other
flexible material, and they form a kind of stage or series of floating rubbers.
To one side of the before-mentioned box or trough I also attach a wringing
machine, composed of a box made of wood or other material, and fitted with a
perforated bottom, which box may be made to communicate with the interior
of the trough of the washing machine. This box is fitted with a moveable
piston attached to a lever by means of which any required pressure may be
given to the articles placed between the perforated bottom and the moveable
-piston.
In the Drawings annexed hereto, Figure 1 represents a vertical section of
the machine through D, E, Figure 2; Figure 2 a section through A, B,
Figure 1 and Figure 3 a plan of one series of rollers represented in section
in Figure 2 at C, C, and the letters refer to the same parts in each of the
Figures. L is the trough or box made of wood or other material, which may
be lined with zinc or other metal, if required; 0, 0, uprights to carry the
cranked spindle F, to which is attached the fly wheel N and the winch handle

page_text: M; G, G, are the guide rods working through the oscillating guide bar H,
and which are attached to the dasher or beater I. This beater may be per-
forated, if required, and I. insert into the upper surface of the dasher a number
of turned rods or pegs, represented in Figure 1 at K, which prevent the linen
or other goods passing over the dasher from side to side during the process of
washing.. P is a plug or cock through which the water may be withdrawn
from the machine; C, C, are rollers, the surfaces of which are rendered
uneven by hewing notches or corrugations upon them in a direction at right
angles to their axis. These rollers are loosely attached to each other by strips of
leather or other material, R, Figure 3, and when the machine is at work they
float near to the surface of the water and cause a gentle friction or rubbing
between them and the dasher or beater I. The action of the machine is as
follows: The requisite quantity of water having been placed in the machine,
together with a small quantity of soap, the linen or other material to be
washed is thrown in; the winch handle M being then turned, the guide rods
G, G, working through the guide bar E are put in motion; this gives to the
dasher or beater I a compound reciprocating and oscillating motion which
gently rubs the material to be washed between the dasher I and the floating
rollers C, and causes it to collect on one side of the machine. The motion
having been continued in this direction for a sufficient time should be reversed,
when the linen will be again subjected to the gentle rubbing of the floating
rollers, and the process will be completed; it may then be withdrawn from the
machine and pressed in the wringing machine before described (but not shown
in the Drawing) or wrung by any other means, and the goods will be ready for
drying.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would observe that I make no claim to the parts
separately, nor do I confine myself to the precise details shown, but what I
claim is, the combination of parts, herein described, whereby a compound
oscillating and reciprocating motion is produced in the dasher or beater I by
means of the guide bar H.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas George Shaw, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
THOMAS GEORGE (L.S.) SHAW.