IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO WASHING, WRINGING, AND MANGLING MACHINES
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Owen Greening
and Joseph Atkinson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
...with their, Petition, on the 5th July 1867.
We, EDWARD OWEN GREENING and JOSEPH ATKINSON, of the City of
Manchester, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO WASHING, WRINGING, AND MANGLING
MACHINES," to be as follows:--
This Invention has for its object improvements applicable to washing,
wringing, and mangling machines having two or more rollers between which
the clothes are passed in order to subject them to the required pressure,
whereby the manufacture of such machines is rendered cheaper and con-
siderably simpler, and a single person is enabled conveniently to work them,
instead of having one person to actuate the rollers whilst another passed
the clothes between the rollers as has hitherto been necessary. Now
these improvements consist in dispensing with the heavy weights and "levers
or nietallic springs, and substituting vulcanised india-rubber or other wasbers
formed of any suitable elastic material to apply the necessary pressure"

page_text: to the rollers, such washers having a metallic washer between each of them,
and being disposed upon the lower end of the ordinary link rods used for
weighting the rollers, which rods in machines constructed according to this.
Invention pass through a .lug, or between lugs projecting from the iron sides
of the machine, and against the under surface of which lugs the washers
impinge when the clothes pass through the rollers, the pressure being regulated
by the screwed nut upon the lower rod impinging against the upper surface
of the ordinary cross head which joins the link rods together.
My improvements also consist in actuating the rollers by means of a worm
wheel keyed upon the axle or shaft of one of the rollers, into which worm
wheel is geared a worm disposed upon a short driving shaft working in
bearings upon the side of the machine at right angles to the line of the rollers,
and upon the end of which driving shaft a winch or cranked handle is fixed,
so that it is conveniently disposed for the person using the machine to turn
the rollers with one hand, whilst the clothes may be passed between the rollers
with the other hand.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Edward Owen
Greening and Joseph Atkinson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, EDWARD
OWEN GREENING, and JOSEPH ATKINSON, of the City of Manchester, Manu-
facturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Edward Owen Greening and Joseph Atkinson, Her special license
that we, the said Edward Owen Greening and Joseph Atkinson, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edward Owen
Greening and Joseph Atkinson, our 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 "Im-
PROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO WASHING, WRINGING, AND MANGLING MACHINES," upon

page_text: the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Edward Owen Greening and
Joseph Atkinson, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, 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 immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Edward Owen Greening and Joseph
Atkinson, 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements applicable to washing,
wringing, and mangling machines having two or more rollers between which
the clothes are passed in order to subject them to the required pressure,
whereby the manufacture of such machines is rendered cheaper and con-
siderably simpler, and a single person is enabled conveniently to work
them, instead of having one person to actuate the rollers whilst another
passed the clothes between the rollers, as has hitherto been necessary. Now'
these improvements consist in dispensing with the heavy weights and levers'
or metallic springs, and substituting vulcanised india-rubber or 'other washers
formed of any suitable elastic material to apply the necessary pressure
to the rollers, such washers having a metallic washer between each of them,
and being disposed upon the lower end of the ordinary link rods used for
weighting the rollers, which rods in machines constructed according to this
Invention pass through a lug or between lugs projecting from the iron sides
of the machine, and against the under surface of which lugs the washers
impinge when the clothes pass through the rollers, the pressure being regulated
by the screwed nut upon the lower rod impinging against the upper surface
of the ordinary crosshead which joins the link rods together.
4
Our improvements also consist in actuating the rollers by means of a worm
wheel keyed upon the axle or shaft of one of the rollers, into which worm
wheel is geared a worm disposed upon a short driving shaft working in
bearings upon the side of the machine at right angles to the line of the rollers,
and upon the end of which driving shaft a winch or cranked handle is fixed
so that it is conveniently disposed for the person using the machine to turn
the rollers with one hand whilst the clothes may be passed between the rollers
with the other hand.
That this our said Invention may be the more readily seen and understood
we have hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings drawn to a scale of about one

page_text: inch and a half to the foot illustrative of our improvements applicable to
washing, wringing, and mangling machines, similar letters marked on the
Drawings and herein-after mentioned being used to denote similar parts.
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation, Fig. 2 an end view, and Fig. 3 is a
plan of a wringing and mangling machine having our improvements applied
thereto; Fig. 4 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of our improved compound
spring for producing the necessary pressure between the rollers of washing,"
wringing, and mangling machines..
.
A is, the framework of the machine bolted together in the ordinary manner.
by the bolts or stays B; C is the top roller, and D is the bottom roller mounted
in the framework A, and geared together by the star or spur wheels E, E;
Fis the bottom roller shaft, upon which is keyed the worm wheel G.gearing
into the worm H upon the driving shaft I, which revolves in bearings in the
bracket, J, such bracket either forming part of the cast-iron side of the
machine or, being in a separate piece bolted or otherwise secured to such side.
Motion is communicated to the driving shaft I by the winch or cranked handle
K. L is the ordinary connecting link rod which hangs upon the bearing M
of the top roller C, the lower ends of such link rod passing through the
ordinary crosshead N, and there being screwed to be made adjustable by the
nuts O; P is a strong bracket or lug forming part of and projecting from the
side of the framework A, baving a hole formed in it to allow the bolt or rod R
to pass through, upon the lower portion of which bolt or rod are placed series
of metallic washers S and thick vulcanised india-rubber rings T, which together
form the compound spring for producing the necessary pressure between the '
rollers, the degree of such pressure being regulated by the nut U screwed
upon the bolt or, rod R, which causes the metallic washers S and vulcanised
india-rubber rings T to impinge against the under side of the bracket or lug
P, and draws down the link rods L by the nut screwing against the top
surface of the cross head N. .The construction and application of the compound
spring may be more perfectly understood by reference to Fig 4, in which view
the letters of reference are the same as those used in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the
bracket or lug P being shewn in section. The strength of the compound
spring will depend upon, and be only limited by the number of the metallic
washers and rings formed of india-rubber or other suitable elastic material
used in its construction. It will be apparent that the driving shaft being at
right angles to the rollers is found to be very convenient for actuating the
machine, as a single person can work it with one hand whilst the clothes are
passed between the rollers with the other hand, and the simplicity of the
working parts as compared with the complicated spur gearing hitherto used
DIT

page_text: for communicating the requisite motion to the rollers, is a great advantage in
materially reducing the weight of the whole machine and enabling it to be
manufactured cheaper, and whilst being used there is less risk of breakage,
as the teeth of the worm wheel are necessarily coarse, and the worm is made
proportionately strong, and if desirable the worm wheel and the worm may
be made of wrought iron.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this our
said Invention, together with the best methods with which we are acquainted
for carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be distinctly under-
stood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise form, relative proportions,
or dimensions of the several parts or portions of our improvements as illus-
trated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, as the same may be considerably
varied without departing from the Invention; neither do we lay claim to the
whole machine, as the framework and the method of mounting the rollers is
not new; but what we do claim is,-
Firstly, the use and application of a worm and worm wheel for actuating
the rollers of washing, wringing, and mangling machines, as herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, or any mere
inodification of the same.
And, secondly, the use and application of compound springs formed of
metallic washers and rings made of vulcanised india-rubber or any other suitable
elastic material for the purpose of producing the necessary pressure between the
rollers of washing, wringing, and mangling machines, as herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, or any mere modifica-
tion of the same.
"In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Owen Greening, on behalf of
the said Joseph Atkinson and myself, have hereunto set my hand
and affixed my seal, this Third day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
EDWARD OWEN GREENING. L.S.)