IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND WRINGING CLOTHES, TEXTILE FABRICS, OR OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas John Searle, of No. 4, Darnley Road,.
Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND WRINGING CLOTHES, TEXTILE
FABRICS, OR OTHER ARTICLES."
Sealed the 20th October 1864, and dated the 27th April 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas John Searlo
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th April 1864.
I, THOMAS JOHN SEARLE, of No. 4, Darnley Road, Hackney, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
-MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND WRINGING CLOTHES, TEXTILE FABRICS, OR
OTHER ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for washing
and wringing clothes, textile fabrics, or other articles.
First, for the purposes of washing. In the construction of a washing
machine one or more vessels are used, and by preference two are employed,
and they are fixed at an equal distance from and as near as may be desired to
the axle or shaft which carries them, each opposite to the other, and when in
use they are caused to perform by the motion given to a pendulous weight or
weights connected with the axle or shaft. Each vessel when in motion describes
nearly a semicircle. Thus each vessel is made alternately to change positions
or nearly so with the other vessel. The oscillating motion of the pendulous
weight and the acquired momentum of the vessels is stopped by elastic stops,

page_text: so that the clothes, textile fabrics, or other articles, and the wash water or
fluid are alternately dashed or forced with a shock against the ends of the
vessels. The interior of each vessel may be plain, but it is preferred that
their inner surfaces should be composed of ridges or projections and valleys.
One end of each vessel has an aperture provided, the cover of which may be
removed to open the vessel when desired, but when in use the cover of each
vessel is closed fluid-tight. It is preferred that the vessels should be connected
to each other by one or more pipes and cocks, so that the wash waters and
fluids may be run from one vessel to the other as desired, also suitable means
are provided for ingress and egress of the water, wash water, or fluid into or
out of the vessels, so that the same may be changed as desired without the
necessity of opening the cover or covers of the vessels.
In combining a wringing apparatus with the above-described washing
machine, suitable wood or vulcanized india-rubber rollers are applied and
fitted to the same for the purposes of wringing.
To sustain the vessels forming the washing machine there are arms
extending from the axle or shaft which carries them, and on the said arms
are, if desired, an outer and inner circle ring embracing the washing vessels;
if desired there are extra surface-slotted segments provided for carrying the
spindles of the rollers and the bearings of the wringing machine, the said
slotted segments to be fitted to the extending arms or to the outer ring and
the arms of the washing machine. The bearings are provided with a means
of connecting them with the upper arm of the pendulous weight for support
and tension, and a screw or screws or other means act upon the lower arm of
the pendulous weight or weights. Vulcanized india-rubber cushions are used
to give elasticity to the bearings. For the purpose of rotating the rollers
toothed wheels are employed, or it may be an endless chain working over
chain wheels on the axles of the rollers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas John Searle in the Great Seal Patent Office on 3
the 27th October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JOHN SEARLE, of No. 4, Darnley Road, Hackney, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 3
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord

page_text: One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas John Searle, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
John Searle, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Thomas John Searle, 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 APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND WRINGING CLOTHES, TEXTILE
FABRICS, OR OTHER ARTICLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas John Searle, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 John Searle, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a vertical section, Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3 an end
elevation of a machine constructed according to my Invention.
a, a, is a pendulous vessel suspended to the axis b above, so that in use it
may oscillate to and fro. The form of vessel shown is that which I prefer,
but other forms of vessels may be used; the interior of this vessel a, a, may
be plain, but it is preferred that its inner surfaces should be composed of
ridges c, c, c, as in the Drawings. This vessel is when in use closed water-
tight in all parts, consequently the vessel acts as a pendulous weight at the
ends of the arms by which it is suspended from the axis above. The
peculiarity of this Invention consists in that the fabrics and wash water fluid
are placed in a close pendulous vessel, and are alternately dashed from end to
end of the vessel a, which can be the case by reason of the wash water being
prevented making its escape in consequence of the vessel being closed at all
parts. is an opening covered by the plate or door e, which when closed is
to be securely fastened by screws, as shown or otherwise; e¹ is a cock for

page_text: drawing off the wash water or fluid; f is a handle by which the vessel can be
caused to oscillate; 9 are vulcanized india-rubber stops by which the vessel is
stopped by the blocks h, h, coming against them in the swing of the vessel a ;
i, i, are holes or sockets to receive the uprights of ordinary wringing rollers in
order that the fabrics when desired may be pressed as they are lifted out of
the vessel.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not make any
claim to the mechanical parts separately; what I claim is the combined
arrangement herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas John Searle, have hereunto set
my band and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
THOS. J. SEARLE. (L.S.)