IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS, INSTRUMENTS, Army
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Gordon De Luna Byron, of New York,
in the United States of America, but at present of 89, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Colonel in the United States
Army,. for the Invention of“ IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS, INSTRUMENTS,
Army,. for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS, INSTRUMENTS,
OR APPLIANCES FOR WASHING AND RINSING.”
I, GEORGE GORDON DE LUNA BYRON, of New York, in the United
States of America, but at present of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Colonel in the United States Army, do hereby declare the

page_text: nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS, INSTRU-
MENTS, OR APPLIANCES FOR WASHING AND RINSING," to be as follows:-
It is well known that clothes and other articles when washed and
rubbed by the hands are not so much injured as when washed by a
machine, but the time occupied in the operation is so great that
machines are now generally used. Now the object of this Invention is
the production of an apparatus, instrument, or appliance the action of
which resembles as nearly as possible when in use that of the rubbing
action of hands or knuckles, and the construction is such that it in no
1
way injures the most delicate articles submitted to it.
I take a frame, made by preference of wood, the lower part or base of
which is of the width I desire to make the apparatus, the upper part
being embraced by a handle extending from frame to frame and by
which the apparatus or instrument is held by the operator. A convenient
width for the apparatus is about five inches but it may be made of other
sizes. In the. lower part or base of the apparatus and at the two outer
ends thereof 1 place rollers one on each side of the frame. These
rollers are threaded on their surface with threads resembling screw
threads, but there are no sharp edges to cut or injure the clothes
operated upon, but as it were a smooth but undulating surface throughout
their length. The thread of one roller is contrary to the thread of the
other roller, for example, if one thread is right handed the other thread
is left handed. At or about midway between these two rollers I place
another roller polygonal in shape but by preference octagonal.
Between this central roller and the two outer rollers I place two other
rollers similarly constructed to the undulating rollers before described
but the threads must be contrary to its adjoining outer roller. Sometimes
instead of using rollers as before described between the central roller
and the outer rollers I use fixed pieces with the surfaces thereof
undulating or corrugated.
When in operation the apparatus is moved to and fro over the article
or articles to be washed which preferably is or are laid upon the ordinary
washing board now so generally used; the instrument is somewhat pressed
on the article or articles and the result is that the plain or flat surfaces
on the central roller press and as it were grip them, while the rotary
motion of the other rollers or the rotary motion of the rollers combined
with the action produced by the roughened and fixed surfaces produce

page_text: on the articles an action similar to that produced on them when rubbed
by the human hand without injury to the articles being washed
and at the same time economy of time and labor is very materially
effected.
The top of the rollers may be covered with a shield or guard to pro-
tect the same if desired, and they are by preference made of wood, but
the frame may be of metal or of a combination of wood and metal.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said George
Gordon De Luna Byron in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th
December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
GORDON DE LUNA BYRON, of New York, in the United States of
America, but at present of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Colonel in the United States Army, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Geore Gordon De Luna Byron, Her
special licence that I, the said George Gordon De Luna Byron, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Gordon De Luna Byron, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agrec 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 APPARATUS, Instru-
MENTS, OR APPLIANCES FOR WASHING AND RINSING," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Gordon De Luna Byron, 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

page_text: same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office on or before the Fifteenth day of December One
thousand eight hundred and seventy.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Gordon De Luna Byron,
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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon, that
is, to say:
It is well known that clothes and other articles when washed and
rubbed by the hands are not so much injured as when washed by a
machine, but the time occupied in the operation is so great that machines.
are now generally used. Now the object of this Invention is the pro-
duction of an apparatus, instrument, or appliance the action of which
resembles as nearly as possible when in use that of the rubbing action
of hands or knuckles, and the construction is such that it in no way
injures the most delicate articles submitted to it.
The frame is made by preference of wood, the lower part or base of
which is of the width I desire to make the apparatus, the upper part
being embraced by a handle extending from end frame to end frame,
and by which the apparatus or instrument is held by the operator.
A convenient width for the apparatus is about five inches, but it may
be made of other sizes. In the lower part or base of the apparatus, and
at the two outer ends thereof, I place rollers, one on each side of the
frame. These rollers are threaded on their surface with threads resembling
screw threads, but there are no sharp edges to cut or injure the clothes
operated upon, but as it were a smooth but undulating surface throughout
their length. The thread of one roller is contrary to the thread of the
other roller, for example, if one thread is right handed the other thread is
left handed. At or about midway between these two rollers I place
another roller polygonal in shape but by preference octagonal. Between
this central roller and the two outer rollers I place two other rollers
similarly constructed to the undulating rollers before described, but the
threads must be contrary to its adjoining outer roller.
The accompanying Drawing shews my annaratus as I musfor to com

page_text: struct it. Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, an end elevation, and
Fig. 3, a plan of the under side or acting side of the apparatus. a is the
central polygonal roller, by preference octagonal as shewn, and b, c,
b, c, are pairs of rollers on each side of the central roller.
It will be observed that in each pair one of them b, b', is smaller than
the other c and c¹, and screwed or threaded opposite to the other; d, d,
are pieces that connect the frames e, e, together, and f is the handle.
When in operation the apparatus is moved to and fro on the article to
be washed, which preferably is laid upon the ordinary washing board
now so generally used, the apparatus is somewhat pressed on the article,
and the result is that the plain or flat surfaces on the polygonal roller
press and as it were grip them, while this in combination with the rotary
motion of the other rollers produces an action similar to that produced
on them when rubbed by the human hand, without injury to the articles
operated upon, while at the same time economy of time and labour is
very materially effected.
The top of the rollers may be covered with a shield or guard.
The rollers are by preference made of wood, but the framing may be
made of a combination of wood and metal.
The bushes or bearings in which the journals or gudgeons of the
rollers revolve may be made or lined of or with india-rubber, gutta
percha, or other material capable of destroying the sound or noise produced
by the rotation of the rollers.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I lay no
claim to the employment of fixed pieces with roughened surfaces, or to
the use of rollers with ribbed or simply grooved surfaces, but I do claim
as my improvements in apparatus, instruments, or appliances for washing
and rinsing,
First. The combination of one or more polygonal gripping rollers,
and one or more right and left handed screw threaded or spiral rollers,
all mounted in frames substantially as and for the purposes described.
Second. The employment of right and left hand spiral rollers, substan-
tially as described.

page_text: Third. The employment of a polygonal gripping roller or rollers,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Gordon De Luna Byron,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy.
Witness,
EDW. GRIFFITH BREWER,
89, Chancery Lane, W.C.
GEO. G. DE. L. BYRON. (L.S.).