IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING MACHINES
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Henry Townsend at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st May 1877.
WILLIAM HENRY TOWNSEND, of Sheffield, in the West Riding of the County of
York, Dyer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING MACHINES,"
These improvements relate to machines or apparatus for washing and cleansing
clothes, linen, fabrics, or the like articles, and consist in a tub of wood, metal,
earthenware, or any suitable material or combination of materials for holding the
articles to be operated upon, mounted in a frame and rotated in a horizontal
direction intermittently, and consist in the use of one or more punchers, ponchers, or
dashers of wood or other suitable material or combination of materials, arranged to
reciprocate in a vertical direction inside the said tub for the purpose of striking the
articles being operated upon; the downward stroke of each of the said punchers
being completed when the said tub is at rest, the tub being rotated when the said
puncher or punchers is or are either ascending after striking the articles in the tub,
or descending to strike the said articles in the said tub, by which arrangement a
fresh surface of the articles under operation is brought under the puncher at each
downward stroke of the said puncher.
These improvements further consist in causing an agitation of the water or other
cleansing liquid in the tub by the employinent in conjunction with the said punchers
of a perforated lining in the said tub, the said lining being made of wood or other
suitable material.
One method of carrying these improvements into effect in what is called a hand
machine is to construct a frame of cast iron or other suitable material having in its
base a suitable step or bearing for the reception of a pivot pin fixed on the bottom
of the tub, and having fitted in its base two or more bearing wheels arranged to
revolve freely and carry the weight of the tub without undue friction; the sides of
the said framing are of sufficient height to carry the bearings of wheels and shafts
to give motion to the principal working parts of the machine.
The under side of the tub bottom is fitted with a pivot pin, and when in place this
pin will revolve freely in the step or bearing provided for it in the base of the
framing, and the said tub will rest on and be carried by the bearing wheels in the
base of the framing. The tub bottom will further be fitted with a ratchet wheel,
having teeth of a suitable pitch to give the required horizontal rotation to the tub;

page_text: this ratchet wheel being actuated by a ratchet pawl or trigger of ordinary design,
receiving motion from some convenient working part of the machine, the pawl or
trigger being capable of setting, so as to give any suitable horizontal circular
motion to the tub.
The puncher or punchers will receive its or their vertical reciprocating motion
from a cranked axle of wrought iron, steel, or other suitable material revolving in
bearings in the sides of the framing, and being actuated by wheels and pinions by
the first motion hand wheel of the machine. Each puncher or the rod giving motion
to it will be fitted with a spring or springs or any suitable elastic medium, so that if
in working some impediment is offered to the said puncher, completing its full
downward stroke, the elastic medium will prevent the parts of the machine being
strained or broken.
These improvements in washing machines may be equally well carried out in
machines with one, two, three, or more punchers, working in one tub, or in machines
to be worked by "hand" or "power," and can be carried into effect as a washing
machine only, or can be combined with any ordinary wringing apparatus so
arranged as to be washing and wringing at one time, or when washing not wringing,
or when wringing not washing.
When the improved washing machine is made with two punchers, the said
punchers will be so actuated as that one is ascending whilst the other is descending.