IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND DRYING TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William M°Naught, of St. George's Foundry,
Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND DRYING TEXTILE
FABRICS AND MATERIALS."
Sealed the 2nd June 1863, and dated the 6th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William M°Naught at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th December 1862.
I, WILLIAM M NAUGHT, of St. George's Foundry, Rochdale, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND DRYING TEXTILE FABRICS
AND MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in inducing a current of water to flow from one end
of a trough to the other and then back again by a separate channel. In
the water in this trough the materials and fabrics to be operated on are
'immersed, and they are acted upon, when passing along the trough, by
'agitators, and are removed from the trough to any ordinary squeezing appa-
ratus or to a continuous centrifugal machine, forming a part of my Invention,
which may be used for other drying purposes. The manner of carrying my
Invention into effect may be varied to a considerable extent, but that arrange-
ment which I prefer consists of a shaft passing along the washing trough, to
which a series of screw propellers and agitating arms are attached. The

page_text: materials or fabrics to be washed are introduced at one end of the trough and
carried forward by the propellers, and agitated by the arms in passing to the
other end of the trough, and the materials or fabrics are thence removed by a
perforated scoop or spittle and transferred, by means of a fork or scraper, to
a pair of squeezers or to the continuous centrifugal machine above mentioned,
which consists of an interior and exterior perforated cone or cylinder, which
are both rotated in the same direction, but one slightly faster than the other.
The material to be operated upon is introduced by a worm or feeder into one
end of the annular space between the interior and exterior cone or cylinder,
and is propelled along and delivered from the other end of the annular space
by, a worm wound round the outside of the interior cone or cylinder, which
acts by reason of the difference in the speeds of the two cones or cylinders,
and thus the material is continually fed in at one end and discharged at the
other without stopping and starting the machine. The current of air produced
by the cones or cylinders may be used to propel the material delivered through
trunk into a receiving chamber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William McNaught in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MCNAUGHT, of Saint George's Foundry, Rochdale, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, 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 William M.Naught, Her special licence that I, the said William
McNaught, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William McNaught, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND DRYING TEXTILE FABRICS AND MATERIALS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William M'Naught, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe

page_text: 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 William M.Naught, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
My Invention for washing textile fabrics and materials consists of a machine
of which different views are shewn at Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, where the same
letters refer to the same parts in each view.
Figure 1 is a lengthway vertical section, Figure 2 is a plan view, and
Figure 3 a cross section, which are respectively three views of a trough which
contains the materials and the water.
The materials are introduced by an endless creeper as is usual in such
machines, shewn at a', which it is not necessary to describe. There is a
shaft a, to which are attached a series of arms b, the inclined faces of which
are segments of a screw; these arms agitate the materials and at the same
time force the water and materials upon an inclined endless perforated scoop,
similar to that of a dredging machine, indicated by the dotted line c, and
shewn on a larger scale at Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7, or an endless perforated
lattice, constructed in the same manner, actuated by g wheels, herein-after
described. The water or liquor in which the materials are immersed is driven
through the said perforations, and the materials are deposited on the scoop or
lattice and delivered at d, either into a pair of ordinary squeezers or into the
centrifugal bydro-extractor herein-after mentioned; the liquor then flows
along a channel e and through an orifice at the opposite end at f, to be again
acted upon by the propellers along with the materials. In this channel there
are projections from the bottom at g, g, to intercept any sand or other heavy
impurities which may either pass through the perforations of the lattice or
through certain narrow slits made for that purpose in the intermediate circular
bottom h.
Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 shew the mode of construction of the perforated
apparatus for separating and delivering the materials from the liquor. Figure 4
shews the end of one of the iron (or other metal) laths of which it is com-
posed; these laths overlap each other similar to Venetian window blinds, as
shewn at Figures 5, 6, and 7; and hoops, such as the one shewn at a, Figure 4,
are slipt over the prongs, as shewn at.b, b, b. These hoops form cogs, and are

page_text: shewn working in a cog wheel at Figure 5. Four of these cog wheels are
fastened on the shafts d, d, and actuate the said laths; these laths are per-
forated with as many holes as practicable, parallel openings or slits being very
objectionable for some materials. The hoops are prevented from slipping off
the prongs by allowing the ends of the prongs to project through the hoops
and bending them slightly upwards and downwards, or by confining them by
guards, one of which is shewn at b, b, b, Figure 7. At Figure 6 the laths are
shewn bended like scoops, but this is unnecessary if the angle of inclination
be less than about thirty degrees, and would not answer so well for some sorts
of material as the straight ones, shewn in Figure 5. There is a revolving
scraper, fan, or fork, shewn at i, Figures 1 and 2, actuated by the spur
wheels k, l; this can be applied, in cases where it is necessary, to throw the
material from the machine. If it is judged proper, there may be a revolving
rake at the beginning of the trough close to the feeder, as shewn.
The mode in which the machine operates has been sufficiently indicated in
the foregoing description; but I may here remark, that the rapidity of the
circulation depends on the size and number of perforations in the lattice and
on the size of the orifice f. When desirable to impede the circulation it may
be done by closing the said orifice by a door or otherwise, or by the insertion
of one or more partitions across the trough. It will be seen that the lattices
are not shewn in the centre of the trough; this is on account of the tendency
of the "propellers" to throw the materials to the side of the trough opposite
to which they enter. Although I have mentioned and prefer segments of
screws, yet I do not propose to confine myself thereto, as a continuous screw
would drive materials through a trough in a similar manner.
The arrange-
ment of the parts may also be much varied, as the perforated latticework
might project at right angles to the trough, or might even return in another
trough and deliver the materials at the same end as they are fed in; the
.current would thus flow round laterally.
The second part of my Invention consists of a continuous-acting hydro-
extractor, shewn at Figures 8 and 9, where a, a, represent two standards
which support two shafts b, b', on which are the friction bowls c, c; these
bowls have each a V groove which supports and steadies each end of a cylinder
or cone d, the outside of which is perforated with holes or slots. The shaft b¹
is made to rotate by means of the pulleys l, and thus conveys rotary motion to
the cone d. Supported by the standards a, a, is also an interior cone or
cylinderf, with a worm or thread wound round it, driven by the spur wheels g
from the shaft 61. These wheels are so proportioned as to cause a slight
difference between the speed of the inner and outer cone, and this difference

page_text: causes any materials which may be in the outside cone or cylinder, and
retained against the periphery by centrifugal force, to be carried along by the
worm or thread. On the inside cone, at h, is a hopper or receptacle for
feeding the machine, at the bottom of which is a worm, steadied upon the
spindle of the interior cone, the boss of which, forming a socket or bush for
the same, extends through the standard a for the purpose of receiving a
driving pulley i; the rotary motion of this worm acting upon materials put in
the hopper drives them into the cone.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which it is to be performed, I desire it to be understood that
I claim,-
The combination of machinery for washing textile fabrics and materials, as
herein-before described and shewn in the Drawings.
Also, the peculiar lattice used for elevating the materials when con-
structed substantially in the manner herein-before described and shewn in
the Drawings.
Also, the combination of machinery for drying purposes herein-before
described and shewn in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William M°Naught, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
WILLIAM M NAUGHT. (L.S.)