AN IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Cranston, of London, Edinburgh, and
Glasgow, Hotel Proprietor, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED WASHING
MACHINE."
Sealed the 11th March 1868, and dated the 17th September 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Cranston at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th September 1862.
I, ROBERT CRANSTON, of London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, Hotel Pro-
prietor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "AN IMPROVED
WASHING MACHINE," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to an improved machine for washing clothes and
other like articles, and it is proposed to designate it as "the Waverley Hotel
Washing Machine."
The principal feature of the machine is a drum consisting of two discs or
frames fixed upon a horizontal spindle or shaft, and having ropes or rods
stretched from one to the other at close intervals round them. The spindle
of the drum is mounted in bearings in side frames or standards, and is provided
with external gearing to be driven by hand or power, or it is formed with
cranks to be driven by a treadle. Above the drum there is fixed a cistern

page_text: from which water or soap solution is distributed upon the drum by means
of a perforated pipe. To each side of this pipe there are arranged brushes
which are capable of adjustment, and which bear with their own weight upon
the drum surface. At points still further to each side corrugated rollers are
arranged to bear on the drum surface, being hung by arms from points highor
than themselves so as to be capable of vibrating to and from the drum surface.
A box is fitted in beneath the drum to catch the water dripping therefrom.
The clothes or other articles to be washed are fixed upon the drum by being
doubled over rods forming part of the drum surface, four or other convenient
number of movable rods being arranged round the drum surface for that
purpose. The clothes or other articles being fixed to the drum and supplied
with water and soap, the drum is made to rotate, when the action of the
brushes and the vibrating corrugated rollers effects their thorough cleansing
and washing without the possibility of injury.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Cranston in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th March 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RODERT
CRANSTON, of London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, Hotel Proprietor, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Robert Cranston, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Cranston, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Robert Cranston, my executors, 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 WASHING MACHINE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Robert Cranston, 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

page_text: to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Cranston, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, and on reference to the accompanying Drawings, that is
to say :-
My said Invention relates to an improved machine for washing clothes and
other like articles, and I propose to designate it as "the Waverley Hotel
Washing Machine."
And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing one
modification of my improved machine. Figure 1 is a front elevation; Figure 2
is a side elevation, and Figure 8 is a plan of the machine. The samo referenco
letters mark the same or like parts in all the Figures.
The framing of the machine may be of either wood or iron, in the Drawing
it is represented as consisting of two cast-iron frame pieces A connected by
transverse tie rods B.
The principal feature of the machine is a drum C, consisting of two discs
or wheel shaped frames d, fixed upon a horizontal spindle or shaft E, and
having rods facross from one to the other at close intervals round them near
their edges. The spindle E of the drum is mounted in bearings in the sido
frames or standards A, and is provided with external gearing to be driven by
hand or power. On the outer end of the spindle E thero is a spur wheel G,
with which there gears a pinion H carried by a stud upon the frame piece A,
and fitted with a handle I for turning it by: if steam or other like power
is to be applied to the machine, pulleys for belts may be fitted either upon tho
drum spindle E or in connection with the pinion H. Or provision may bo
made for working the machine by treadles such as are indicated by dotted
lines at J, connected by rods K to reversed crank pins on the opposite ends
of the drum spindle E. The frame pieces A project at their middles a little
above the drum C, and there is fixed to them across the top of the drum a
cistern or box L from which water or soap solution is distributed upon the
drum by means of a perforated pipe M. This cistern L and pipe M may
however be dispensed with in many cases, provided sufficient water is put
into the box or trough N below the drum revolving partly immersed in such
box N. This box N is fitted in between the frame pieces A, and rests partly
upon two of the tie rods B, it also projects to one side to receive the drippings

page_text: from a pair of squeezing or wringing rollers P fitted to the machine at one
side. A gutter Q is formed across the bottom of the box N with a discharge
valve at one end, and this gutter is covered inside by a perforated board or
plate to prevent small articles from getting into it. The central olevated
portions of the side frames A do not serve only to carry the cistern L, but are
also formed with guide grooves R, S, on each side of the centre, the inner
grooves R being to receive the ends of brushes T, and the outer ones to
receive the end spindles of fluted or corrugated rollers U, which brushes and
rollers rest by their own weight on the drum or on the clothes that may be
lying round it. The brushes and rollers fit with sufficient looseness in their
grooves to permit of their moving into and out from the centre of the drum,
and the rollers also rotate on their spindles. The rollers may be carried by
vibrating arms permitting of their moving inwards and outwards. Additional
brushes may be fixed in the box N, as indicated by dotted lines at V, to act
upon the under side of the drum. The clothes or other articles to be washed
are fixed upon the drum by being doubled over rods forming part of the drum
surface, a convenient number of the rods f being made moveable for that
purpose. For small articles, buttons, or hooks, are provided on certain of the
rods f, and the small articles are conveniently attached thereto. The clothes
or other articles being fixed to the drum and being supplied with water and
soap, either by means of the upper cistern L, or by the box N below, being
sufficiently filled, the drum is made to rotate when the action of the brushes,
and of the vibrating or reciprocating corrugated rollers effects their thorough
cleansing and washing without the possibility of injury. For convenience the
machine has fitted to one side of it a pair of squeezing rollers P, so that the s
water may be for the most part wrung out of the clothes before they leave
the machine. These squeezing rollers P are mounted in a light frame W,
bolted to the front frame piece A. The rollers are pressed together by means
of a cross head X, connected by links at the sides to levers Y centred on pins
in the uprights of the frame W, and acted upon by strong rubber springs Z.
The drum C may be constructed in various ways so as to act in the same
way. Thus ropes may be stretched across between the discs d, instead of the
rods f, or the drum may be formed with a closed or solid cylindrical surface
with rods or tooth-like bars or ridges fixed or formed upon it. The fluted
or corrugated rollers U may be made in the form of sectors instead of being
completely circular.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I

page_text: believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the constructing of
washing machines substantially in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Cranston, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
ROBERT CRANSTON. (L.S.)