IMPROVEMENTS IN SCOURING AND IN WASHING WOOL, HAIRS, AND YARNS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Mason, of Rochdale, in the County of Lan-
caster, Machinist, and Louis Christian Koeffler, of the same Place, Dyer
and Bleacher, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCOURING AND IN
WASHING WOOL, HAIRS, AND YARNS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
EFFECTING THE SAME."
Sealed the 28th November 1854, and dated the 2nd June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Mason and Louis
Christian Koeffler at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 2nd June 1854.
We, the said JOHN MASON, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster,
Machinist, and LOUIS CHRISTIAN KOEFFLER, of the same Place, Dyer and
Bleacher, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
HENTS IN SCOURING AND IN WASHING WOOL, HAIRS, AND YARNS, AND IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in a method of admitting and discharging the
scouring or washing fluids, and in a novel arrangement and construction of appa-
ratus connected therewith. The vat in which the goods are to be placed is a
vessel furnished with a number of perforations at its lower part; the exterior
is provided with a flange; which rests upon the sides of an under chamber, so.

page_text: as to admit of the vat projecting downward therein, by which arrangement a
false bottom is formed for the whole.
The upper part of the vat is also furnished with perforations, communi-
cating with a chamber, adapted after the manner mentioned in reference to
the lower part. The goods to be scoured, having been introduced, are satu-
rated with the liquid from a reservoir placed above, and are kept in agitation
by a stirrer or stirrers, which are actuated by machinery mounted upon the
vat. These stirrers we connect with the driving power by friction apparatus,
in order to prevent a liability to breakage.
A pump is then put in motion, so as to draw off the liquid through the false
bottom and return it to the reservoir, after which a stream of water from an
elevated source is caused to flow into the space of the bottom chamber, and
pass upward through the goods, carrying with it the remaining ley and im-
purities, which will pass out through the upper perforations into the sur-
rounding chamber, and from thence by a pipe to any convenient situation.
The remaining water is drawn off by a pipe adapted to the bottom chamber.
By this method of operating it will be perceived that our improvement effects
the scouring and washing in one vessel. To adapt this apparatus as a washing
machine only, the reservoir for the ley will be dispensed with and water alone
used, which will be drawn off from the upper chamber, a stream being allowed
to pass upward from the lower chamber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Mason and Louis Christian Koeffler in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 2nd December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
MASON, of Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Machinist, and Louis
CHRISTIAN KOEFFLEB, of the same Place, Dyer and Bleacher, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
John Mason and Louis Christian Koeffler, IIer especial licence that we, the
said John Mason and Louis Christian Koeffler, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Mason and Louis Christian
Koeffler, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCOURING AND IN
WASHING WOOL, HAIRS, AND YARNS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR EFFECT-
ING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Mason and Louis Christian Koeffler, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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
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 Louis Christian Koeffler, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawing (that is to say) :-
Our Invention consists in a method of admitting and discharging the
scouring and washing liquors, and in a novel arrangement and construction
of apparatus connected therewith, the particulars whereof will be fully under-
stood by reference to the accompanying Drawing, which represents the appa-
ratus partly in section. The vat in which the goods are to be placed is a
vessel a, furnished with a number of perforations at its lower part 6. The
exterior is furnished with a fixed flange c, which rests upon the sides of an
independent under chamber d, so as to admit of the vat projecting downward
therein, by which arrangement a false bottom is formed. The upper part of
the vat is also furnished with perforations e, communicating with a surrounding
chamber f, which rests upon a second flange g attached to the vat; this
chamber is provided with a discharge pipe h. The lower chamber d is fur-
nished with two pipes i, j, the former being in connexion with a water tank
situate above the vat, and the latter with any convenient arrangement for
taking off waste water. The chamber d is also provided with another pipe k,
leading to a pump, which we prefer to be on the centrifugal principle, and the
position of which is shewn at A; the outlet of this pump communicates by a
pipe l, with a cistern m, the lower part of which has a discharge pipe n. Upon
the top of the vat are mounted standards, carrying a shaft o, driven by any
suitable motive power, which shaft is furnished with a crank pin p, moving in
the slot of an arım q, the upper end being mounted upon a centre pin r, and
the lower end provided with a grating. Upon the shaft o is a pulleys, com-

page_text: municating motion, as shewn in the Drawing, to the centrifugal pump A. The
goods to be scoured, having been placed in the vat a, (cocks on the pipes i, j,
being closed,) and saturated with the liquid from the reservoir m, are kept in
agitation by the revolution of the shaft o, imparting an oscillating motion to
the arm q.
When the required action has been completed, a clutch box of
the shaft t is thrown into gear, and the pump consequently put into operation,
so as to draw off the liquid and discharge it into the cistern m, after which
the cock of the pipe i is opened and a stream of water allowed to pass into
the chamber d, and from thence force its way upward through the goods,
carrying with it the remaining ley and impurities, which will pass out through
the perforations & into the chamber f, and from thence through the pipe h to
any convenient situation; the process of washing having been completed by
continuing the stream as long as may be necessary, the remaining water is
drawn off by opening the cock of the pipe j. The ley now in the cistern m
may again, if desired, be admitted to the same or other goods by the pipe m,
and the process repeated as before. The disc of the crank pin p is mounted
loosely upon the shaft o, but is caused to revolve therewith by means of a
friction cone, taking into another mounted fast upon the shaft, by which
arrangement the crank pin will cease to revolve, should an undue amount
of resistance be offered to the vibration of the stirrer q. After working some
time with tho ley a quantity of impurity will be added thereto; this may
be allowed to settle below the dotted line, and may be drawn off by the pipe u.
In order to adapt this apparatus for washing only, the reservoir m for the ley
will be dispensed with, water only being used, which after or during the
stirring will pass off by the pipe h, a stream being allowed to pass upward
from the lower chamber d.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be
understood that we claim as secured to us under the above in part recited
Letters Patent,-
Firstly, the use of an ascending stream of water passing through the materials
after they have been submitted to the scouring liquor, or for operating upon
them for washing without the previous use of scouring liquor, in the same or
other vessel.
Secondly, the application of a pump for withdrawing the scouring liquor and
returning it to a cistern from which it had been drawn.
Thirdly, the construction of vat, consisting of the parts a, d, f, above
docaribed

page_text: Fourthly, the general arrangement and construction of vat, and parts con-
nected therewith, whereby the means for agitating the goods and withdrawing
the scouring liquor are combined in an independent machine without detached
parts, and as applied also to other arrangements, causing a stirrer or stirrers to
be driven by friction connexions.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Christian Koeffler, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
L. C. KOEFFLER. (L.S.)