Improvements in Washing Machines.
Year: 1896

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Washing Machines.
We, JOSEPH PICKERING, of 107, Rice Lane, Walton, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, and JOSEPH THOMAS PICKERING, of 12 Fazakerley Road,
Walton, Liverpool, Laundry Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in washing-machines of the kind described
in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me No. 8148 of 1892 the objects of
this invention being more quickly and thoroughly to cleanse clothes and the like and
to simplify the construction of such machines.
According thereto, for some or all of the round bars placed between the inner
periphery of the dasher and each of the curved vanes, I substitute a bar of double-
channel or H section, and I arrange this bar parallel to the axis of rotation and it
may be with its central web radial, the arrangement being such that as the dasher
revolves, the har or each bar will not only carry clothes partly around with it and
drop them off into the washing-liquid but will also take up in one of its channels, a
quantity of the said liquid with which the clothes will be swilled by being discharged
upon them as they are dropping off the bar. In some cases more than one of such
bars may be arranged in the way described between each curved vane and the inner
periphery of the washer, the number employed depending upon the class of articles
to be cleansed.
In the machine described in the said prior specification, a separate shaft and a
separate driving belt were required for reversing the rotation of the dasher. In lieu
thereof I now provide on the main driving shaft a worm engaging with a worm-wheel
mounted on a stud and provided with a crank-pin connected with the strap-guide which
is automatically moved by a weighted tumbler-lever so as quickly to shift the crossed
and open driving belts as required, as soon as it has been moved over its centre of
motion by the action of the crank pin.
Instead of providing the watertight casing with a hinged door, I find it
advantageous to make the door or covering to slide in any convenient manner so as
to be out of the way when open. This door is so arranged that the door or lid
giving access to the interior of the dasher, and which is preferably pivotted, will
open outwardly and downwardly so as to form a guide for preventing the clothes,
whilst being inserted and withdrawn, from dropping into the space between the
watertight casing and the rotary dasher.
As will be obvious, some of my improvements may be used without the others.

page_text: I, JOSEPH PICKERING, of 107, Rice Lane, Walton, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Engineer, and JOSEPH THOMAS PICKERING of Fazakerley Road, Walton,
Liverpool, Laundry 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 :-
This invention relates to improvements in washing-machines of the kind described
in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me No. 8148 of 1892, the objects of
this invention being more quickly and thoroughly to cleanse clothes and the like and
to simplify the construction of such machines.
According thereto, for some or all of the round bars placed between the inner
periphery of the dasher and each of the curved vanes, I substitute a bar of double-
channel or H section, and I arrange this bar parallel to the axis of rotation and, it
may be, with its central web radial, the arrangement being such that as the dasher
revolves, the bar or each bar will not only carry clothes partly around with it and
drop them off into the washing liquid but will also take up in one of its channels, a
quantity of the said liquid with which the clothes will be swilled by its being
discharged upon them as they are dropping off the har. In some cases more than
one of such bars may be arranged in the way described between each curved vane
and the inner periphery of the dasher, the number employed depending upon the class
of articles to be cleansed.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention as applied to a machine of the
kind referred to and suitable for what is known as French cleaning.
Fig. 1 is a sectional back elevation of the machine; and
Fig. 2 is an end elevation thereof;
Fig. 3 is a plan of the same with the dasher lid open; and
Fig. 4 shows a cross section taken on the line A. B. of Fig. 3.
1 is a watertight casing of sheet metal bolted to external flanges 2 of end frames 3,
which are provided with suitable bearings and stuffing boxes. Arranged to revolve
within the casing 1 is a cylindrical dasher formed of brass tubes 4 that are connected
to circular discs or end plates 5, to which short trunnions 6 are attached. 7 are the
curved vanes described in the prior specification hereinbefore mentioned and 8 are the
bars of double channel or H section arranged between them and the inner periphery
of the dasher with the object that as the dasher revolves the bars 8 will not only carry
the clothes partly around with them and drop them off into the washing liquid but
will also take up in their corresponding channels quantities of the said liquid with
which the clothes will be swilled by being discharged upon the clothes as they are
dropping off the bars. Figs. 5 and 6 represent in cross section and internal elevation
respectively a simpler arrangement for effecting the same object. In this case the
inner side of each double channel is formed by an imperforate curved vane 7 which
is of the kind hereinbefore referred to and the remainder of the double channel is
formed by a bar 8 of T section the bead of which takes the place of some of the
tubes 4 of the dasher.
In the machine described in the said prior specification, a separate shaft and a
separate driving belt were required for reversing the rotation of the dasher. In lieu
thereof I provide on the main driving shaft a worm engaging with a worm-wheel
mounted on a stud and provided with a crank pin connected with the strap guide
which is automatically moved by a weighted tumbler-lever so as quickly to shift the
crossed and open driving belts as required, as soon as it has moved over its centre of
motion by the action of the crank pin.

page_text: In the example shown in the drawings, 9 is a worm fixed on the main driving
shaft 10, which is provided with pinions 11 gearing into spur wheels 12 on the
dasher trunnions 6. The worin 9 gears into, and partly rotates, a worm-wheel 13
mounted on a fixed stud 14, which also forms the pivot for a weighted tumbler-
lever 15. In a convenient position below the pivot 14 a pin 16 projects from the
lever 15 towards the worm-wheel 13 and is so arranged that a crank pin 17 on the
face of the worm-wheel 13 will engage with it and move the tumbler-lever 15
through its vertical position, and thereby cause it to fall over towards one or other
of the positions indicated by dotted lin's in Fig. 1 according to the direction of
rotation, for the time being, of the worm-wheel 13. The lower end of the lever 15
is provided with a pin 18 which engages in a hole 19 in one end of a rol 20. The
crank pin 17 may be connected through the rod 20 with the strap guide of a
three-pulley driving arrangement such as described in the aforesaid prior specification,
and the tumbler-lever will then shift the crossed and open driving belts as required.
It is, however, preferred to employ in conjunction with the above described reversing
gear a frictional driving arrangement such as represented in the drawings, in which
there are two loose and conically hollow stationary belt pulleys 21 and 22 which are
arraiged to rotate in opposite directions, and a double cone 23 connected with the
driving shaft is brought into and out of engagement with them, as required, by the
reversing gear. As compared with a driving arrangement such as described in
the aforesaid prior specification, there is, with this driving arrangement (which
however, forms no part of the present invention) quicker reversal, less wear and tear
of the driving helts, and less liability to breakages of the machine due to its becoming
jammed, as in such a case the corresponding belt pulley would slip on the double
cone. As shown, the driving shaft 10 is made tabalar at one end, and somewhat
larger in diameter to receive the bosses of the pulleys 21 and 22 and the double
friction coue 23 (see Fig. 1) which is connected with an internal sliding shaft 24 by
a cotter 25 that slides in a slot made in the hollow driving shaft 10 and sufficiently
to allow the cone 23 to engage with either of the pulleys 21 and 22. The internal
shaft 24 is provided with a hand-wheel 26 for partly rotating it and also with a
groove 27 formed by two collars in which engages the forked end of a lever 28 that
is pivoted at 29 to a support 30 and whose other end is connected to the reversing
rod 20. On the working side of the machine there is provided a starting handle 31
and a fixed quadrant 32, the handle 31 being connected by a rock-shaft 33 which
extends across the end of the machine and carries an arm 34 that is connected to the
reversing rod 20.
Instead of providing the watertight casing with a hinged door as stated to be
done in the aforesaid prior specification I find it advantageous to make the door or
covering to slide in any convenient manner so as to be out of the way when open.
In the drawings 35 indicates the door or covering, which is made to slide in grooves
provided in the front part of the casing 1, suitable leather packing being provided
to form practically a tight joint between the adjacent parts of the door 35 and the
casing 1.
This door is so arranged that the door or lid 36 that gives access to the interior of
the dasher, and which is preferably pivoted at 37 will open outwardly and downwardly
so as to form a guide for preventing the clothes, whilst being inserted and withdrawn,
from dropping into the space between the watertight casing 1 and the bars 4 of the
rotary dasher.
At the bottom of one of the end frames 3 there is an opening, normally closed by a
door 38 for cleaning out the precipitated dirt that accumulates beneath the revolving
dasher. 39 is a pipe for draining off the washing liquid.
A suitable perforated steam pipe (not shown) may in some cases be arranged
between the dasher and each of the end-frames 3 for removing the dirt that
accumulates thereon.
The arrangement and construction of the vanes, the revolving dasher, and driving
mechanism, may whilst retaining the essential features of this invention, be somewhat
modified to suit the class of materials to be washed or cleansed, which may include

page_text: such varied articles as blankets, curtains and kid gloves without departure from the
essential features of this invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. In a washing machine having a rotary dasher, a curved vane of the kind
referred to, provided with two oppositely arranged channels, the arrangement being
such that as the dasher revolves, a quantity of the washing liquid will be taken up by
one of the channels and clothes or the like, being washed and carried partly around
with the vane, will be swilled by the discharge of the said quantity of washing-liquid
upon them as they are dropping from the vane.
2. In a washing machine of the kind referred to, reversing gear comprising a
worn on the main driving shaft, a worm-wheel engaging with the said worm and
provided with a crank pin connected with a reversing device, and a weighted
tumbler lever adapted to shift the reversing device as required on being moved
over its centre of motion by the crank pin.
3. In a washing machine of the kind referred to, the combination of a sliding
door or covering for the watertight casing and a door or lid that gives access to the
interior of the dasher and is arranged to open outwardly and downwardly so as to
form a guide for preventing the clothes whilst being inserted and withdrawn, from
dropping into the space between the watertight casing and the rotary dasher.
Dated this 21st dox of December 1806
For the Applicants,
W. LLOYD WISE,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.