IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CARDERE
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sydney Simmons, of 107, Woodstock Road,
Finsbury Park, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CARDERE”
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CARPETS"
Sealed the 11th May 1875, and dated the 18th March 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sydney Simmons at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1875.
I, SYDNEY SIMMONS, of 107, Woodstock Road, Finsbury Park, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CARPETS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
cleaning carpets. For this purpose I employ an endless apron or
creeper of a strong net fabric, it is mounted upon rollers to which a
slow.rotary motion can be communicated.
The width of the net is equal to that of the widest carpet which the
machine is required to operate on. Over the net a shaft is mounted and

page_text: a number of straps of india-rubber or other flexible material are
attached, each by one end to the shaft. The shaft is driven at a high
velocity, and the carpet being attached to the net is drawn slowly
forward beneath the shaft and is beaten by the straps. The carpet is
supported at the point where the beaters act upon it by a spring mattrass
or support, and the carpet is kept tightly distended by bars placed over
and under it. By the friction of the carpet against these bars, as it is
drawn forward, any desired tension may be placed upon the fabric.
A blower is employed to blow away the dust as it is raised out of the
carpet, the nozzle of the blower is placed immediately in front of the
beaters, and a trunk in connection with an exhaust fan receives the dust
and carries it away.
After the carpet has passed beneath the beaters it is subjected to the
action of a revolving brush, and having been thus thoroughly cleaned
the colors are brightened by blowing steam on to the carpet from a per-
forated steam pipe, beneath which the carpet passes. Finally, the carpet
is passed over a steam heated roller.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Sydney Simmons in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SYDNEY
SIMMONS, of 107, Woodstock Road, Finsbury Park, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Sydney Simmons, Her
special license, that I, the said Sydney Simmons, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Sydney Simmons,
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

page_text: and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING CARPETS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Sydney Simmons, 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 to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Sydney Simmons do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for
cleaning carpets. For this purpose I employ an endless apron or
creeper of a strong net or other fabric; it is mounted upon rollers to
which a slow rotary motion can be communicated.
that of the widest carpet
Over the net or fabric a
The width of the net or fabric is equal to
which the machine is required to operate on.
shaft is mounted and a number of straps of india-rubber or other
flexible material are attached, each by one end to the shaft. The shaft
is driven at a high velocity, and the carpet being attached to the net or
fabric is drawn slowly forward beneath the shaft, and is beaten by the
straps. The carpet is supported at the point where the beaters act upon
it by a spring mattrass or support. A trunk in connection with an
exhaust fan receives the dust and carries it away.
After the carpet has passed beneath the beaters it is subjected to the
action of a revolving brush.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed.
elevations of a machine constructed according to my Invention.
a, a, is the frame, and b and c are two rollers at opposite ends of the
frame; their axes are adapted to receive and to be turned by crank

page_text: handles; & is a net or strong canvas fabric which extends from roller
to roller, and is also wound upon the rollers, so that by turning the
rollers the fabric d can be drawn along the length of the machine to
and fro. Or in place of this arrangement the fabric may be endless
and pass half around the rollers b, c, at cach end of the machine, Or in
place of making the fabric continuous from roller to roller, two separate
fabrics may be used, and these are secured at their ends to the end of the
carpet to be cleaned. The carpet to be cleaned is fastened securely
upon the fabric & by means of strong pins; c, c, are supporting rolls;
f is an axis driven at a high velocity, say, 120 revolutions per minute,
and it has upon it a drum f'; g, g, are a number of flexible beaters
attached to the drum f¹. I make these beaters of straps of india-
rubber and canvas; fabric or rope may be employed.
A few only of the beaters are shown in the Drawings, they are
however arranged at equal distances apart, from end to end of roller f¹1
in two spirals, as indicated on Figure 2.
The outer ends of the beaters may be free, as shown in the Drawings,
or connected together with a transverse band or rope. The beaters
strike the carpet as it is slowly drawn beneath them and beat out the
dust. Beneath the carpet, between the rolls e, e, is a bed ; this bed 2
may consist simply of wooden lats with spaces between them, but I
prefer to form it in the manner of a spring mattrass, as is shown more in
detail by the Figures 4. The webbing connecting the upper ends of the
springs I form of leather. i, i, are bars fixed in the machine to support
the springs is a rotary brush driven by an endless cord and pullcys
from the axis f, it serves to remove the dust from the face of the carpet.
The machine is enclosed in a casing to prevent the dust annoying the.
workpeople, and the case is ventilated by a fan in connection with a
trunk or trunks which draw in the dust near the points where it is raised
by the beaters and brush. The crank handles for turning the rollers b
and c are applied at the outside of the casing. Windows are provided in
the casing to permit of the progress of the work being observed.
Figures 5 show details of the means for securing the beaters g to the
drum f; bridge picces are fixed upon the face of the drum; the ends of
the beaters are inserted beneath them and secured by driving in wooden
wedges.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I

page_text: described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sydney Simmons, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-
five.