Improvements in Driving and Back-delivery Mechanisms Applicable for Washing Machines.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 9th July, 1888
Complete Specification Left, 8th Apr., 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 11th May, 1889
Improvements in Driving and Back-delivery Mechanisms Applicable
for Washing Machines.
We, HENRY CROFTS LONGSDON of the firm of William Summerscales and Sons of
Keighley in the County of York, Machine Makers and THOMAS GEORGE NEWTON
of the same place, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows, that is to say :-
It relates to improved arrangements of the parts forming the driving and back-
delivery mechanisms of washing machines whereby said mechanisms are made to
operate more effectively.
Relative to the driving mechanism the object of this invention is attained by the
application, or arrangement of means whereby the well known intermittent rotary
movement of the washing drum is put into and out of operation.
As is well known this intermittent rotary motion of the washing drum is obtained
by means of two driving belts, the one being to revolve it in one direction and the
other to revolve it in the opposite direction, said belts being moved or shipped
from their loose pulleys to the central fast pulley, for this purpose, by means of guides
attached to a sliding bar.
To impart the necessary motion to this sliding bar we mount upon it a suitably
shaped dagger-pin. This dagger-pin operates within a box and upon it is mounted a
spring in such a manner as to tend always to press said dagger-pin so that its outer
end shall project from its box, and in a suitable approximate position with this
dagger-pin is mounted a horizontal shaft to which is attached a finger which is made
to engage with said dagger-pin so as to operate same when said shaft is rotated by a
handle placed at its outer end.
Mounted in an approximate position so as to operate within a suitable distance of
the above described sliding bar, is an upright lever which receives continuously
oscillatory motion by means of a cam and worm wheel arrangement to which motion
is imparted by the worm being attached to the outer loose pulley operated by one
of the driving belts. This driving belt is made sufficiently broad so that when
Duinn Q1

page_text: shipped to the central fast driving pulley it does not entirely leave its loose
pulley but is sufficiently in contact therewith to impart its motion thereto
continuously.
The upper outer end of the above described oscillatory-lever is formed of a suitable
quadrantal shape and has a suitable opening made therein so that when the above
described dagger-pin is operated by the handle on the horizontal shaft, said dagger-
pin is made to enter said opening by which means the sliding bar is joined to
the oscillatory lever, and the motion necessary for shipping the belt, is put into
operation.
Upon the outer end of the shaft upon which the driving and loose pulleys above
described are mounted is placed a grooved wheel in the periphery of which is
made an opening, said opening being for the reception of the outer end of a
suitable lever which is hinged on the handle mounted upon the above described
finger-shaft. This lever is arranged so that it may be operated simultaneously
with the said handle so that when the dagger-pin is withdrawn from the opening
in the oscillatory-lever for the purpose of arresting the motion of the washing
drum, the outer end of the lever attached to the operating handle is made to enter
the opening in the periphery of the grooved wheel, by which means the motion
of the washing drum is not only arrested but is securely held and prevented from
being placed in motion until the handle is again moved by the operator.
Respecting the back-delivery motion which consists of the well known arrangement
of rollers around which are made to pass strips of india rubber (caoutchouc) etc.,
this invention relates to an arrangement whereby the distance between said rollers
may be varied for the purpose of regulating the tension of said strips of india
rubber etc.
This is attained by mounting the roller which is in close proximity with the bottom
pressing roller of the machine in suitably shaped segmental slots or openings formed
in the framework, so that this roller may be moved to a greater or less distance
from the other roller, yet not be taken out of contact with the machine's roller from
which it receives its motion.
It will readily be seen that the above described arrangement of parts though only
mentioned as being in connection with a washing machine, may with equal advantage
be applied to wringing and mangling machines.
.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Driving and Back-delivery Mechanisms Applicable
for Washing Machines.
We, HENRY CROFTS LONGSDON of the firm of William Summerscales and Sons of
Keighley, in the County of York, Machine Makers and THOMAS GEORGE NEWTON of
the same place Engineer, 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, that is to say :-
It relates to improved arrangements of the parts forming the driving and back-
delivery mechanisms of washing machines whereby said mechanisms are made to
operate more effectively, and in order that our said invention may be more readily
understood, we hereunto append sheets of drawings illustrative thereof, to which by
figures and letters reference is made in the following description.
Fig. 1 is a front view of the parts forming the driving mechanism and fig. 2 an
end elevation of same.
Fig. 3 is a detail drawing hereinafter referred to.
Figs. and are end and top views respectively of our improved parts in con-
nection with the back-delivery mechanism.
In all the drawings only such portions of the machine, are shewn, as are necessary
to illustrate the application of our invention.
Relative to the driving mechanism the object of our said invention is attained by
the application or arrangement of means whereby the intermittent rotary movement
of the washing drum is put into and out of operation.
The intermittent rotary motion of the washing-drum is obtained in the common and
well known manner, by means of two driving belts a a', shewn in broken lines fig. 1,
the belt a being to revolve it in one direction and the belt a¹ to revolve it in the
opposite direction, said belts a a¹ being moved or shipped from their respective loose
pulleys bb to the central fast pulley c, for this purpose, by means of the guides d d¹
which are mounted upon the bar e.
This bar e is loosely mounted in the bearings ff in such a manner that it may be
slided or moved backward and forward, or in the directions indicated by the
arrows g g¹, as desired, for the purpose of effecting the movement of the belts a a¹ as
above described, and as is well understood.
To impart the necessary motion to the sliding bar e we mount upon it a suitably
shaped dagger-pin h. This dagger-pin h operates within a box k and upon it is
mounted the spring / see fig. 3. which is so constructed that, by reaching from contact
with the outer or cap end of the box k to the shouldered part ' formed on the pin h,
it will always press said pin h and cause same, whenever free, to find a normal position
with its outer end h² extending or projecting from its box k.
The shaft m is mounted in suitable bearings e¹ attached to the bar e so that while
loose to rotate about its own axis yet it is so attached to the bare that as said bare

page_text: reciprocates so also does this shaft m, in this manner being relatively at rest with the
box k, thus enabling the finger m¹ to be mounted upon it, which; by being made to
enter an opening in the part of the pin / operates said pin / causing same to move
backward or forward as the shaft m is manually rotated by the handle m² mounted
thereon.
Mounted in an appropriate position upon the bearings n, so as to operate within a
suitable distance of the above described sliding bar e, is an upright lever n¹, and to
this lever n' is imparted continuously oscillatory motion by means of the cam o which
is formed within or upon the face of worm-wheel p, this wheel p being driven or
rotated by the worm p¹ which attached to, or formed in connection so as to rotate
with the loose pulley b'. The driving belt a¹ is made sufficiently broad so that
when shipped to the central fast pulley c, for the purpose of rotating the washing
drum, it does not entirely leave its loose pulley 61 but remains sufficiently in
contact therewith to impart its motion thereto incessantly thus maintaining the
motion of worm pl and consequently that of the lever n¹.
The upper outer end n² of the lever n' is formed of a suitable quadrantal shape
and has a suitable opening made therein so that when the pin his operated by the
handle m so as to project from its box k, when said lever n¹ is brought so that the
opening therein is opposite this said pin its outer end 2 will enter said opening
by which means the bar e will be joined to the lever n' and so the necessary parts for
shipping the belts a a¹ are put into operation.
Upon the outer end of the shaft r, upon which are mounted the pulleys b b' and c
and the gearing wheel through which motion is imparted to the washing drum,
is mounted to the balance s in the periphery of which is made an opening s', this
opening being for the reception of the outer end t of the sliding piece t which
is mounted upon the handle m². This piece is kept in its normal position
with its end projecting, by means of the spring t² whenever it is not being
operated by the handle lever t³. As will be seen the lever 3 is so arranged that
it may be operated simultaneously with the handle m², so that when the pin is
withdrawn from the opening in the lever n for the purpose of arresting the motion
of the washing drum, the outer end of the part t is made to enter the opening s',
by which means the motion of the washing drum is not only arrested but is
securely held and prevented from being again put into operation until the handle m
is again moved by the operative.
Respecting the back-delivery motion which consists of the well known arrangement
of rollers u u around which are made to pass strips of india rubber (caoutchouc)
etc. v, this invention relates to an arrangement whereby the distance between said
rollers uu may be varied for the purpose of regulating the tension of said strips
of india rubber etc. v.
This is attained by mounting the roller u upon bearing screws w carried by the end
frame x.
These screws w being mounted within segmental slots ¹ formed in the end
frame a concentrically with the bottom roller y in the machine, and said mounting of
the screws being such that they may be loosened so as to allow same to be moved
within said slots, by which means the roller u may be placed at a greater distance
from the roller u' and yet not be out of the desired proximity with the roller y.
It will readily be understood that though the above described arrangements of
parts are only described as being in connection with a washing machine, yet they
may with equal advantage be applied to wringing and mangling machines.
our said
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare what we
claim is:
1. The bar e with its guides d d, the box k, with the pin / formed as described, the
spring 1, shaft m, finger m', handle m², the lever n' having its end n² formed as shewn,
the cam o, the wheel p the worm p², and the pulleys 6 b and c in combination all
said parts being constructed and arranged to operate substantially as and for the
purpose herein specified.

page_text: 2. The reciprocating bar e, means for operating and putting same into and out
of operation, handles m¹ and t³, bart spring 12 and wheels having an opening s³
formed therein, in combination, the same being arranged to operate substantially
as specified.
3. The end frame x having a segmental slot x formed therein, the rollers u
and u¹, and the screws w in combination the same being constructed and arranged to
operate substantially as specified.