IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING MACHINES FOR CLEANSING CLOTHES, RAGS, WOOL, OR OTHER ARTICLES."
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Atherton Bernard Furlong at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th October, 1879.
ARTHUR BERNARD FURLONG, of 67, Great Russell St., London, W.C., Gentleman.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING MACHINES FOR CLEANSING CLOTHES, RAGS, WOOL,
OR OTHER ARTICLES."
My Invention is a washing machine constructed to quickly and thoroughly clense
clothes, rags, wool, and other articles, without rubbing the same either between or
against abrading surfaces, thereby avoiding the weare and destruction common to
ordinary apparatus. I first construct a tank of any suitable size, having a central
thimble at the bottom, through which passes the spindle of a vertical rock shaft
mounted in a step secured at the base, to which are also secured standards sup-
porting the tank. The upper end of the spindle is angular, and tapering to fit a
tapering socket in the centre of a disk having a hub at the centre and an upright
flange, the periphery which is perforated. From the hub to the peripheral flange
extend a series of blades, which may either be verticle or inclined. An arm
attached to the rock shaft is slotted to receive a small friction pully, which revolves
on a pin attached to a rod sliding in hangers secured to the standards which
support the tank. A pitman connects the rod with a crank wheel on a shaft turning
in suitable bearings, and driven in any suitable manner. In power driven washing
macbines it is common to compass the articles between moving surfaces, or to carry
them by means of bars, or upon one moving surface against another surface which
is stationary. In either case the articles are abraded, and are seriously injured by
wear; the action is unequal, and the clensing operation imperfect. In the above
described machine there are no abrading surfaces, and the articles are acted upon
uniformly. The articles are placed upon the disk within the flange, and the driving
machinery is put in motion, when a rapid reciprocating motion will be imparted to
the shaft, and the disk will be partially rotated first in one direction and than in
another. This movement of the disk bas two effects; first, the articles will be
carried by the blades with the disk in one direction until the movement is changed,
when, secondly, they will be thrown upward, slightly turned or rolled upon each
other, and than carried in the reverse direction. As this operation is repeated, the
articles are turned, spread, and carried back and forth through the suds, while the
latter are driven through and over the articles with a rapid clensing action;
dirt removed from the clothes descending upon the disk is forcibly expelled with
the

page_text: the currants driven outward through the openings in the flanges, when they fall to
the bottom of the tank, so that they are not liable again to lodge among the articles.
It will be seen that all the articles are acted upon uniformally and simultaniously,
that there are no rubbing or abrading surfaces against or over which they are
forced, that there is no tendency to pack or rub the same. Although I have
described but a single tank, it is preferable to use a series of tanks arranged on a
line paralell to the shaft, from which all the rock shafts may be driven. Without
therefore limiting myself to the pecise construction and arrangements described, I
claim the combination of the tank, and a reciprocating disk provided with radial
blades and flange, substantially as specified; 2d, the combination with the disk of
the blade and flange having openings arranged so and for the purpose specified;
3d, the combination of the tank, reciprocating disk, rock shaft, arm rod, recipro-
cating in the hangers and connected to the arm, as set forth.