Improvements in Machinery for Cleaning Glass Plates or Sheets.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Nov., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 6th Sept., 1890-Accepted, 11th Oct, 1890
PROVISIONAL, SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Cleaning Glass Plates or Sheets.
I WILLIAM JOHN WILSON of 6 Malden Road, Watford, Herts., Chemist do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
To carry out my invention I use rollers made of metal or other suitable rigid
substance and coated with a softer elastic material such as vulcanized india rubber.
Theso rollers aro arranged in pairs one roller over the other and caused to revolve in
such a way that a plate of glass placed between them is gripped and carried forward
in a horizontal plane. Before the plate has entirely passed through, its front edge is
gripped by another pair of rollers which continue its motion forwards and successive
pairs of rollers are arranged so as to carry the plate onwards as far as may be
necessary. As the glass passes along its upper and under surfaces are both brushed
by pairs of brushes moving between successive pairs of rollers. The brushes have a
rapid oscillatory motion in a horizontal plane and in a direction at right angles to that
in which the glass is moving.
The brushes and glass are kept wet by suitably arranged jets of water or other
cleansing fluid and the cleaned glass may be delivered by the unchine either in a wet
state or dried by passing between dry rollers or pads or squeegees. The brushes or
some of them may be replaced by pads of leather, sponge, folt or other suitable
material and a dry powder may be supplied to them instead of the liquid so that the
glass is polished dry instead of or after being washed.
Dated this 7th day of November 1889.
WM. J. WILSON.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Cleaning Glass Plates or Sheets.
1, WILLIAM JOHN WILSON of 6, Malden Road, Watford, Herts., do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to machinery for cleaning glass plates for photographic
purposes, and it consists essentially in the employment of successive pairs of trans-
versely reciprocating brushes acting on opposite sides of the plates in a direction_at
right angles to their line of motion, in combination with successive pairs of rollers by
which the plates are supported and fed forward between the brushes, the pairs of
rollers being arranged alternately with the brushes.
The invention further comprises successive pairs of jet tubes by which the
scouring and rinsing liquids are sprayed on the upper and under surfaces of the
plates.
The arrangement and operation of the brushes, rollers, and other adjuncts, is
illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, to which
reference must be had and wherein Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section,

page_text: Figure 2 a plan, and Figure 3 a cross-section (on a larger scale) of the improved plate-
washing machine. Figure 4 is a detail cross-section of one set of rollers, pipes,
and brushes. The same letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.
In Figure 4, a a are a pair of rubber-covered rollers, bb a pair of brushes, and c c a
pair of jet pipes, constituting one of the successive sets of apparatus of which the
imachine is composed. The rollers are mounted one above the other, grip the plate &
between them, and feed it forward between the jet tubes and brushes.
The jet pipes
have their orifices so arranged as to direct the jets upon the upper and under surfaces
of the plates as they are about to pass between the brushes.
A number of these sets of apparatus are mounted over a tank e, as shewn in
Figures 1 and 2, at a pitch or distance apart less than the breadth of the smallest size
of plate to be operated on, so that every plate of the series will be always gripped,
preferably, by two pairs, and never by less than one pair, of rollers. is the feed
table upon which the plates are laid and pushed forward by hand to the first set of
rollers, and is the table upon which they are delivered by the machine, after passing
through the whole series. The tank is divided by a transverse partition into two
compartments, the sets of apparatus over the first or larger compartment being for
scouring or washing and those over the smaller or second compartment for rinsing
the plates, the sets of jet tubes over the larger compartment being supplied with an
alkaline solution, supplied through a main C, and those over the lesser compartment
with plain water. Pairs of india-rubber squeegees h are provided, between which the
plates pass on their exit from each set of apparatus, for returning the surplus liquid
to the tank.
The brushes bb of each pair are carried by bars i mounted in guide boxes ; fitted
in vertical guides & mounted on the sides of the tank, the lower boxes being supported
by adjusting screws by which the acting faces of the lower brushes are adjusted all
in the same horizontal plane, the guide hoxes of the upper brushes being similarly
fitted in their guides and adjusted by distance and pressure screws u, v, so that the
brushes act upon the surfaces of the glass plates with sufficient pressure, being so set
that the bristles of the upper and lower brushes just touch when there is no glass
between them. The two brushes of each pair are connected, by short links 1, with
opposite arms mm of a rock lever so that the two brushos reciprocate in opposite
directions, which is preferred in order to avoid any tendency to displace the plates
laterally. The two brushes might however be arranged to move in the same direction
bnt with less advantage for the reason mentioned. The rock lever is mounted on a
shaft n common to all the sets of brushes and actuated through a lever o and
connecting rod p from a crank disc g driven at a high speed through wheel and
pinion from the shaft s. The pairs of rollers a a are mounted in journal boxes in
the same way as the brushes, the upper side of the lower rollers being all adjusted
accurately on a level with the working face of the lower brushes and the upper rollers
being spring pressed to increase their grip. They are driven by sots of bevel
gear from the shafts common to all.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I am aware
of the Specification of Letters Patent granted to A. H. Harman dated December 15th
1888 No. 18349 and 1 do not claim the method and apparatus therein described
and claimed, but what I claim is ;—
1. In a machine for cleaning glass plates, the combination, with successive pairs of
feed rollers, of pairs of transversely-reciprocating brushes arranged between the pairs
of rollers and adapted to act on both surfaces of the plates, as described.
2. In a machine for cleaning glass plates, the conibination, with successive pairs of
feed rollers and with pairs of transversely-reciprocating brushes arranged between
the pairs of rollers for operation on both surfaces of the plates, of pairs of jet pipes
adapted to direct the jets of liquid upon the surfaces of the plates as they pass between
the brushes, substantially as specified.

page_text: 3. The herein described plate-washing machine, constructed for operation substan-
tially as described and illustrated in the drawings.
Dated this 6th day of September 1890.
WY. J. WILSUN.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.