A MACHINE FOR WASHING AND CLEANSING CLOTHS
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BAYLIS, junior, of Painswick, in the County of Gloucester, Clothier, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-seventh day of November, in the second year of His reign, give
and grant unto me, the said William Baylis, my exors, admors, and assigns,
His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority that I, the said
William Baylis, my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might miake, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
"of "A MACHINE FOR WASHING AND CLEANSING CLOTHS;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said William Baylis, shall
not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly
cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
William Baylis, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):
:-
My Invention of a machine for washing and cleansing cloths of various
kinds, and the advantage proposed over other methods heretofore employed
for that purpose will be fully understood by the following description and the
Drawing hereto annexed.
By the usual modes of cleansing all descriptions of cloth during the process
of manufacture very serious damage is frequently done to the fabric, and also
a considerable power unnecessarily expended. The object of my improvement
is to obviate these objections, and effectually to cleanse the cloth without
subjecting it to injury.
One advantage attendant upon my improved mode of operating is, that a
very small power is required to keep the apparatus in action, and the machine
itself, occupying but little room is an object of importance in. most manu-
factories. In securing a piece of cloth upon my improved plan the ends are
-fastened together and passed over cylindrical rollers, shewn at a and b in the
Drawing, of which Fig. 1 is a section, and Figure 2 a front view, c, c, c, c,
being the section of, a trough filled with water up to the dotted line, in which
fullers' earth or other saponaceous substances may be mixed if necessary.
Within the trough a curved or inclined channel is formed for the better
conducting of the cloth. The roller a is covered with short tufts of bristles
or, wire in order to make the cloth adhere, so as to be carried round by the
revolution of the roller, or which may be effected by other means. The,
operation of the machine will be seen by the following description:-Let
a rotary motion be communicated to the axle d by. manual labour or from any
other first mover; a pinion m upon this axle taken into a cog-wheel n upon
the. axle of the axle of the, roller b (shewn by dots in Figure 1) will cause
to revolve, and a band or chain passing over band wheels upon the axles of
band a will connect them together, and cause, the,, cylindrical rollers b and a
to revolve with uniform velocities. The, cloth is to be. cleansed upon the
-cylinder. b. by means of compression produced by sudden but slight blows
given in rapid succession from the hammer e, covered with leather, which may
be varied in force, so as to avoid injuring the texture of the thinnest cloth, by
the substitution of different weights at f; secured by pins to the top of the
hammer. As the axle d revolves with considerable swiftness the snail h, h,
attached thereto in its progress raises the lever g, and lets it fall alternately,
b

page_text: so as to give a rapid succession of blows by means of the hammer to the cloth
upon the roller b; at the same time, a small stream of water i is conveyed to
the cloth, which is carried forward by the slow progressive motion of the
rollers a and b and of the guide rollers and l. By these means the cloth is
let fall down the curved or inclined channel within the trough into the water,
from whence it is drawn up by the revolution of the cylindrical rollers a and b,
as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Baylis, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Second day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-two.
Inrolled the Second day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-two.