A MACHINE FOR WASHING, CLEANSING, AND SCOURING LINEN, WOOLLEN GOODS, AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
CAWKWELL, of Newark-upon-Trent, in the County of Nottingham, Miller,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of January, in the
fifty-third year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Richard Cawkwell,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Richard Cawkwell, my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
should and lawfully might, during the term of years therein mentioned,
make, use, excrcise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A MACHINE FOR WASHING, CLEANSING,
AND SCOURING LINEN, WOOLLEN GOODS, AND OTHER ARTICLES;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that if I, the said Richard Cawk-
well, shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said
Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same (relation
being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear..
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Cawkwell, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described

page_text: and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
descriptions and references thereto, that is to say:-
Fig. 1, a perspective view of a machine or apparatus for washing, scouring,
and cleansing linen and woollen goods, and other articles, by means of three
rollers, made of birch or other wood, and fixed to a frame placed over a
portable copper boiler, with a wrought-iron flue fastened underneath, con-
taining a fire-pot and grate. Fig. 2 represents the side, of the machine, the
portable boiler being about two feet and ten inches long, the sizes varying for
different purposes. Fig. 3 represents the end of the machine, the width of
the boiler about one foot and five inches. Fig. 4 represents the top of the
transferrable frame, with the rollers, levers, bar, crank, &c.
Fig. 5 exhibits the ends of the rollers, and their relative situations when in
the cheeks. Fig. 6, the metallic cheek in which the rollers revolve, and the
middle one is admitted to rise and fall according to the space occupied by
more or less linen, &c. being drawn between them; the compression to be
regulated by the treadle.
General References:--A, the copper or other vessel wherein the water is
heated and articles washed; B, b, the fire-case and flue, adapted either for
washing in the open air (as it appears in this delineation), or in a room, by
placing the tube under a chimney; C, the metallic check or stand in which the
rollers revolve upon their axis; D, the rollers, which, for the domestic
machines, are about 18 inches long and 4 inches diameter; E, the crank
to turn the upper roller, which, by being pressed upon the under rollers,
occasions them to turn; F, the levers, which are connected with the middle
roller by G, an iron link or hasp, the top ring incircling the upper axis, and
the lower loop embracing the lever; H, a strip of wood or bar that receives
the ends of both the levers; I, a cord or chain from the middle of the bar to
K, the treadle, whereon the person (when turning the rollers) may apply, a
proportionate weight by pressure with the foot as the articles are drawn throu
the rollers; L, a transferable frame, to which the operating powers of the
machine are permanently attached, and may be used over a tub or other vessel;
M, a wooden frame or stand to sustain the portable apparatus; N, the fire-
place and door; O, a receiver for the ashes, with a drawer, the situation of
which will either admit or preclude a supply of air to the fire; P, the staples
for confining the ends of the levers to the cheeks; Q, the endless tape or tapes
passing over the two lower rollers and under the upper roller to conduct. the
clothes 'thro'.
Method of Using the Machine.-Steep or soak the articles (to be washed)
in water and pass them over the parallel rollers and under the middle one,

page_text: pressing at same time upon the treadle, which will prevent the necessity of
wringing by hand; then soap them in the usual manner, and put them in the
boiling water, after which pass them five or six times between the rollers,
observing to increase the pressure the last time, which will render them fit for
soaping and rolling again, when they will be cleansed. The washing of small
articles will be greatly facilitated by connecting them together with pins, or
other ways.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Cawkwell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirteen.
RICHARD CAWKWELL. (L.S.)
AND BE IT. REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1813, the aforesaid Richard Cawkwell came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the. First day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirteen.