AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR WASHING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING CLOTHES, WOOL, AND OTHER TEXTILE ARTICLES AND MATERIALS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR
WASHING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING CLOTHES, WOOL, AND OTHER TEXTILE
ARTICLES AND MATERIALS."-A communication from abroad by
Matilda Lang, of Melbourne, in the Colony of Victoria.
Sealed the 19th December 1871, and dated the 13th October 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th October 1871.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
5 Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS

page_text: FOR WASHING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING CLOTHES, WOOL, AND OTHER TEXTILE
ARTICLES AND MATERIALS," a communication, to be as follows :—
This Invention relates to washing, scouring, or cleansing clothes, wool,
or fibrous manufactured goods, and is designed to reduce the cost of
labour and materials employed therein without injuring the articles
treated.
I construct a table, the surface of which is roughened by corrugations
or otherwise, and around which are sides elevated a convenient height
above the surface thereof, giving it the appearance of a tray or trough.
I also construct a manipulator, which has the under surface roughened
by corrugations or otherwise, and on the upper surface thereof are con-
venient handles for moving it backward and forward by the hands;
or in the event of any other molive power being employed it could
be easily attached to any suitable mechanical arrangement for the
purpose.
The way in which I proceed to use this table and manipulator is as
follows: I first wet the articles to be washed with a solution of soap or
alkali, and fold them up in convenient spherical or cylindrical parcels.
When they will not preserve this form I place them in bags made in the
required shape. I then place these parcels one or more at a time, as
may be convenient, upon the surface of the table. I also pour upon the
surface of the table a convenient quantity of a solution of soap or alkali,
which is retained on the table by the sides thereof. I then apply the
roughened surface of the manipulator in such a way and with such an
amount of pressure that when I move it backward or forward it causes
the spherical or cylindrical parcels to roll backward or forward with it,
and it is during this operation that the dirt, or grease, or matter to be
removed or scoured away becomes loosened or separated from the fabric
or substance to be cleaned to such an extent or in such a way that it
can thereafter be removed by rinsing the articles treated in water.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert Lake, my
exccutors, 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
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR WASHING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING
CLOTHES, WOOL, AND OTHER TEXTILE ARTICLES AND MATERIALS," a communication
to me from abroad by Matilda Lang, of Melbourne, in the Colony of
Victoria, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Robert Lake, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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...

page_text: or fibrous manufactured goods, and is designed to reduce the cost of
labour and materials employed therein without injuring the articles
treated.
I construct a table, the surface of which is roughened by corrugations
or otherwise, and around which are sides elevated a convenient height
above the surface thereof, giving it the appearance of a tray or trough.
I also construct a manipulator, which has the under surface roughened
by corrugations or otherwise, and on the upper surface thereof are con-
venient handles for moving it backward and forward by the hands ;
or in the event of any other motive power being employed it could
be easily attached to any suitable mechanical arrangement for the
purpose.
The way in which I proceed to use this table and manipulator is as
follows:-I first wet the articles to be washed with a solution of soap or
alkali, and fold them up in convenient spherical or cylindrical parcels.
When they will not preserve this form I place them in bags made in the
required shape. I then place these parcels, one or more at a time, as
may be convenient, upon the surface of the table. I also pour upon the
surface of the table a convenient quanity of a solution of soap or alkali,
which is retained on the table by the sides thereof. I then apply the
roughened surface of the manipulator in such a way and with such an
amount of pressure that when I move it backward or forward it causes
the spherical or cylindrical parcels to roll backward or forward with it,
and it is during this operation that the dirt, or grease, or matter to be
removed or scoured away becomes loosened or separated from the fabric
or substance to be cleaned to such an extent or in such a way that it
can thereafter be removed by rinsing the articles treated in water.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondent, I wish it understood that I do
not claim the use of soapy or alkaline solutions or corrugated surfaces
for washing clothes, or wool, or fibrous manufactured goods, and I desire
it to be also distinctly understood that although I have stated what I
believe to be the best means for putting my process into operation, I
do not confine myself to those means, but I claim,―
First. The impartation of a rolling motion to clothes, wool, or fibrous
manufactured goods when made up into parcels of a spherical, or

page_text: cylindrical, or approximately spherical or cylindrical shape, in the
manner and for the purposes substantially as herein described.
Second. The use of a table or tray and a manipulator with roughened
or corrugated acting surfaces, for the purposes hercin described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
EDWARD C. JACKSON.
W. ROB. LAKE. (L.S.)