IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING MACHINES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Morris, of New Kent Road, in the County of
Surrey, Ladder and Barrow Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN WASHING MACHINES."
Sealed the 30th June 1857, and dated the 7th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Morris at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th January 1857.
I, JAMES MORRIS, of New Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, Ladder
and Barrow Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My improved washing machine consists of a case or vessel, in which is
fitted a frame, the top edges of which are formed in a hollow curve or are, with
a number of bearings for receiving the ends of rollers extending across the
case; over this frame another and correspondingly shaped frame, also provided
with rollers, is fitted. The lower frame is stationary, and the upper frame so
fitted as to be rocked. The upper roller frame is connected by stays to a
transverse bar, and held suspended and steady by counterbalance weights
outside the case or otherwise. The machine is used in the following manner :-
Water is poured into the vessel, the upper roller frame raised, and the clothes
or other articles to be washed (having been previously soaped) laid on the
lower set of rollers; the upper frame is then replaced, when the clothes will.

page_text: be between the two sets of rollers; the top frame is then rocked or worked to
and fro, and the rollers thereby made to revolve in such manner as to wash
the clothes or other articles between them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Morris in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MORRIS, of New Kent Road, in the County of Surrey, Ladder and Barrow
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Morris, Her special licence that I, the said James Morris,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Morris, 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 WASHING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Morris,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 James Morris, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My improved washing machine consists of a case or vessel, in which is fitted
a frame, the top edges of which are formed in a hollow curve or arc, with a
number of bearings for receiving the ends of rollers, extending across the
case. Over this frame another and correspondingly shaped frame, also provided

page_text: with rollers, is fitted. The lower frame is stationary, and the upper frame so
fitted as to be rocked. The upper roller frame is connected by stays to a
transverse bar, and held suspended and steady by counterbalance weights
outside the case, or otherwise. The machine is used in the following manner :-
Water is poured into the vessel, the upper roller frame raised, and the clothes
or other articles to be washed (having been previously soaped) laid on the
lower set of rollers. The upper frame is then replaced, when the clothes will
be between the two sets of rollers; the top frame is then rocked or worked to
and fro, and the rollers thereby made to revolve in such manner as to wash
the clothes or other articles between them.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed is a longitudinal, and Figure 2
is a cross section of my improved washing machine. A is a trough supported by
the legs B, B. These legs are inserted in staples, and can be removed
at pleasure. C, C, are two frame pieces placed or fixed one on each side in
the trough A, and in these pieces C, C, the gudgeons or journals of the rollers
D, D, are centred, and are free to revolve. A swinging frame E, E, in which
are centred similar rollers F, F, is supported by forked arms G, G, which unite
at G, G. The single pieces or arms G', G', are passed through mortices in
the rocking shaft H, and are kept in place by pins I, which are passed through
one of a series of holes in the arms G', G¹, immediately above the rocking
shaft H. This series of holes is formed for the purpose of inserting the pins
I, I, through either set of holes to regulate the distance of the swinging frame
from the centre of the rocking shaft H. The journals of the shaft H rock or
oscillate in vertical slots J, J, formed in the standards K, K, which are secured
to the side of the trough A, A, in a similar manner to that of the legs B, B,
by being inserted in staples, or they may be fixed to the sides of the trough
A, A, by bolts and thumb nuts. Holes are formed in the shaft II, in which
cords L, L, are inserted and secured. These cords rise from the shaft II, and
are passed over grooved pulleys M, M, which are inserted in mortices in the
upper ends of the standards K, K, and are free to turn on their centre pins
ab, α. The cords are carried down the outside of the standards and trough A,
and have their ends secured to the ends of the counterbalance weight N, which
is bar shaped, and of such a length as to pass underneath the trough A, between
the vertical positions of the two cords L, L. To operate with the machine
the swinging frame with its attachments are raised by the attendant from the
lower series of rollers D, D, the ends of the shaft H steadying the whole by
sliding upward in the slots J, J. In this position they are kept by the counter-
balance weight N connected to the cords L, L, and pulleys M, M. The
articles or materials to be cleansed having previously been sufficiently soaped

page_text: are introduced into the trough above the rollers D, D; the swinging frame
E, E, and the rollers F, F, are next drawn down until the latter rest upon
them. The rollers F, F, are then pressed down on the articles or materials
by the attendant laying hold of the handles or bars 0, 0, 0. A swinging or
oscillating motion being then given to the frame and rollers, an action very
similar to hand rubbing is exerted upon the articles between the two sets of
revolving rollers. When the machine is not in use the legs B, B, may
be withdrawn from the staples C, C; the standards K, K, may in like manner
be removed, as well as the counterbalance weight N, and the whole of the
moveable parts may be compactly stowed in the trough A in order to render
the machine conveniently portable.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the construction and arrangement of washing machines, as herein-
before described and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Second, the employment in washing machines of two sets of rollers, one of
which is caused to roll over the other upon the articles or materials to be
washed, the rolling being effected by means of a frame, to which one set
of rollers is attached, and to which a swinging or oscillating motion is imparted
in any convenient manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Morris, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventh day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-seven.
JAS MORRIS. (L.S.)