Improvements in Ironing and like Machines.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application 10th May, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 9th Feb., 1893-Accepted, 11th Mar., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Ironing and like Machines.
I, SAMUEL BARRETT of Keighley in the County of York, Laundry Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows, that is to say :-
It relates more particularly to improvements in that class of ironing machines
wherein a roller, upon which the articles to be operated on have to be placed,
rotates in connection with a stationary or comparatively stationary heated iron;
although part of said invention is also applicable for use in connection with
other classes of ironing or like machines, and my said invention consists firstly of
arranging and constructing the heated iron and the parts upon which it is mounted,
in such a manner that the pressure of said iron upon the articles under operation
may be regulated as desired or it may be altogether removed from operating contact
therewith, while its smoothing or ironing surface may be heated in an appropriate
manner. My invention further consists of improvements in the formation and
construction of the rotary roller above referred to, whereby the water of conden-
sation may be drained off, in this manner keeping the outer surface of said roller
drier and in better condition for performing its functions than it is when constructed
as heretofore, and it is this part of my invention which is applicable with equal
advantage to any class of machine whether for ironing, smoothing or glossing and
finishing linen or other articles.
I attain the object of the first part of my invention by mounting the heated iron
on the arm of a lever which is for pressing it into contact with its roller. The
pressure imparted through this lever being effected by suitable rod and spring
mechanism that may be adjusted by the screwing of a nut mounted upon or in
connection with the said rod, while to enable the iron to be raised entirely clear of
the roller an appropriate eccentric or crank-piece is made to be operated by a
handle which, together with said eccentric are mounted in the lever arm carrying
the said heated iron.
The heated iron is constructed so as to have a chamber for mixing the air and
gas as well as a combustion chamber the flames in which are made to impinge upon
These chambers are
the outer or smoothing surface-plate of the heated iron.
divided into compartments which are fed separately from each other by the
combustible substance so that only that portion of the iron under immediate use at
any one time, need be heated.
To enable this class of heated iron to be employed for certain classes of work
such as for ironing pocket handkerchiefs or the like, its outer edge is somewhat
curved so that at whatever part of the roller the article is placed to be ironed its
selvages are the first to be laid hold of by this iron and so such is kept straight and
stretched while passing through the machine or under said iron.
For certain purposes a heated roller having rotary motion imparted to it by any
suitable belt or other driving means and otherwise operated by any suitable pedal
or other mechanism may be added or mounted to operate in contact with the roller
above described behind the heated iron, so that if this latter has not a sufficiently
large smoothing or glossing surface the former by its pedal or other mechanism may
be brought into operation, while whenever necessary the driving gear of the work
or bottom roller is so arranged that its motion may be regulated to be in either
direction to carry the articles operated upon either to or from the operator. A
cloth or other belt passing around rollers beneath the work roller, is arranged
to bring the articles under operation from the back to the front part of the
machine.

page_text: To attain the latter part of my invention I cut or otherwise form grooves on the
peripheral surface of the roller or cylinder, these grooves and their intervening
ridges being so formed in proximity with cach other, that all or any moisture or
water that may fall on said surface will be drained to the bottom of the grooves,
from which, by openings or slots being made through the peripheral rim, said
moisture or liquid will fall within and so may be carried from said roller or
cylinder.
The peripheral surface of the roller after being grooved as above described is
.then covered with gauze one or more layers in thickness, and upon this gauze is
wound an appropriate thickness of any porous fabric to cover all of said outer
surface in order that as the moisture or vapour is driven by the heated iron or
other heated surface from the fabrics or materials being ironed or smoothed or
otherwise operated upon, into the porous surface of the roller, it (said moisture)
may escape or be drained therefrom as set forth.
Dated this 9th day of May 1892.
SAMUEL BARRETT,
Per Samuel Hey,
Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Ironing and like Machines.
I, SAMUEL BARRETT of Keighley in the County of York, Laundry Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :--
It relates more particularly to improvements in that class of ironing machines
wherein a roller, upon which the articles to be operated on have to be placed,
rotates in connection with a stationary or comparatively stationary heated iron;
although part of said invention is also applicable for use in connection with other
classes of ironing or like machines, and my said invention consists firstly of
arranging and constructing the heated iron and the parts upon which it is mounted,
in such a manner that the pressure of said iron upon the articles under operation may
be regulated as desired or it may be altogether removed from operating contact there-
with, while its smoothing or ironing surface may be heated in an appropriate manner.
My invention further consists of improvements in the formation and construction of
the rotary roller referred to whereby the water of condensation may be drained off,
in this manner keeping the outer surface of said roller drier and in better condition
for performing its functions than it is when constructed as heretofore and it is this
part of my invention which is applicable with equal advantage to any class of
machine whether for ironing (wherein said roller is of considerable length;,
smoothing or glossing (in which case the roller is not nearly so long as it is in the
other case) and finishing linen or other articles.
In the accompanying sheets of drawings which are illustrative of my invention :-
Figs. 1 and 2 are side or front and end elevations of a machine for ironing,
smoothing or blocking collars cuffs or similar small articles.
Fig. 3 is end elevation of a portion of the machine illustrated by Figs. 1 and 2,
and shows the addition of parts hereinafter described.
Figs. 4 and 5 are part sectional end and front elevations showing my improved
construction of heated iron for contact with the rotary roller.
Fig. 6 is front elevation of the roller and iron, the latter being shown in section.
Figs. 7 and 8 are side and sectional end elevations showing my improved forma-
tion of roller.
Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the same roller.
Figs. 10, 11 and 12 are drawings illustrative of the same method: of construc-
tion to that followed in the production of my improved roller, carried out in the

page_text: production of what is known as a hand-ironing board, the latter having a flat
surface, while the former has a cylindrically formed surface.
Like letters and figures of reference indicate like parts in all the drawings.
To attain the object of the first part of my invention I mount the heated
iron a on the arm b¹ of a lever b, which is for pressing it into contact with its
roller c.
The pressure imparted through this lever being effected through the
rod d by the spring e which is mounted thereon and which is supported by an arm
of the framework f; said force of the spring e being augmented or diminished or
regulated by the nut or screwed hand wheel g which operates upon the screwed
part of the rod d, while to enable the iron a to be raised entirely clear of the
roller c an appropriate eccentric or crank-piece h fitting into an opening made in
the part a' of the iron a is made to be operated by a handle k, which together with
said eccentric are mounted in the lever arm 6 so that when the handle k is in
position shown by Figs. 1 and 2 the iron a is in contact with the roller c while
when it (said handle k) is raised or turned into a vertical position the said iron a is
lifted from off the roller c.
To enable the removal of the iron a still further from the roller c, the rod d is
divided at d¹ and to its upper and lower parts is hinged the handle-lever m at m¹
and m² by which means this handle-lever m is moved into the position shown by
Fig. 24, the lever b is operated to raise the iron a as desired.
The iron a is constructed so as to have a chamber n for mixing the air and gas
supplied thereto by the pipes o and p respectively (see Fig. 5), as well as a com-
bustion chamber the wall or divisioning plate between said chambers n and r
being perforated in the well known manner through which perforations the flames
are made to impinge upon the outer or smoothing surface-plates of the said iron a.
This chamber n is again subdivided into compartments shown by Fig. 6 and
broken lines Fig. 5, and each of these compartments are separately fed by the
combustible substance so that only that portion of the iron under immediate use at
any one time, need be heated.
To enable this class of iron a to be employed for certain classes of work such as
for ironing pocket-handkerchiefs or the like, its outer edge a³ is somewhat curved
so that when the article is placed upon the roller c to be carried thereby under the
said iron a its selvages are the first to be laid hold of by this iron a and so said
article is kept straight and stretched while passing through the machine or under
said iron a.
For certain purposes or for performing certain classes of work a heated roller t
(having rotary motion imparted to it by any suitable belt driving means, or by
gearing wheels 2 and 3 the latter being attached to the roller c, this roller t being
otherwise operated by any suitable pedal mechanism 4) may be added or mounted
to operate in contact with the roller c and behind the iron a, so that if this iron a
has not a sufficiently large smoothing or glossing surface the roller t by its pedal
mechanism 4 may be brought into operation, while whenever necessary the driving
gear 5, 6 and 7, 8, through which the roller c is rotated may be regulated, by the
clutch mechanism 9, 10 and 11 to impart such rotary motion in either direction to
carry the articles operated upon either to or from the operator. A cloth or other
belt may be arranged to pass around rollers beneath the roller c in order to bring
the articles under operation from the back to the front part of the machine, or a
simple table arrangement 12 might be employed for this purpose.
с
To attain the object of the latter part of my invention I cut or otherwise form
grooves e (Figs. 7, 8 and 9) on the peripheral surface of the roller c, these grooves cl
and their intervening ridges e being so formed in proximity with each other that
all or any moisture or water that may fall on said surface will be drained to the
bottom of the said grooves c¹, from which, by openings or slots being made
through the peripheral rim of said roller c, said moisture or liquid will fall within
same and so may be conducted away.
The peripheral surface of the roller c after having the grooves c¹ and openings c
formed in it as above described is then covered with gauze or woven wire one or

page_text: more layers in thickness, and upon this gauze is wound an appropriate thickness
of any porous fabric to cover all of said outer surface in order that as the moisture
or vapour is driven by the heated-iron a or other heated surface from the fabric or
materials being ironed or smoothed or otherwise operated upon, into the porous
surface covering the roller c, it (said moisture) may escape or be drained therefrom
as set forth.
The same method of forming a draining surface on a level plane, to the one above
described as being formed on the periphery of a cylinder may be followed with
equal advantages where such a flat surfaced article is employed as is the case in
connection with a hand smoothing iron, or a flat or table smoothing machine, a
cavity beneath such surface as shown by Figs. 10, 11 and 12 being formed as
the receptacle for any liquid or moisture passing through the openings c.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In an ironing machine of the class described, the combination of a rotary
roller, a heated-iron for contact with same and means for moving or raising said
heated-iron from such contact substantially as set forth.
2. The combination of a rotary roller, heated-iron for contact with same and
lever, spring and adjustable connecting rod mechanism for supporting and operating
said heated-iron substantially as specified.
3. The combination of a rotary roller, as the roller c, a heated-iron, as the iron a
and a supplementary roller as the roller t together with pedal mechanism for
operating this latter roller substantially as set forth.
4. In an ironing machine, the combination of a heated-iron having a mixing as
well as a combustion chamber, with the other parts forming said machine substan-
tially as set forth.
5. The method of forming or constructing the iron of an ironing or like machine
so that several chambers or cavities are formed in same substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
6. The method of forming or constructing the iron of an ironing or like machine
for the ironing or smoothing of handkerchiefs or similar other articles substantially
as specified.
7. The method of forming or constructing the peripheral rim of the cylinder of
an ironing or like machine substantially as specified.
8. The method of and means for draining the moisture or liquid from articles
being treated with or subjected to the actions of a heated-iron or roller substan-
tially as specified.
9. The combination of a roller having its peripheral rim grooved and perforated
as described, with wire gauze or woven wire for covering same in one or more
layers substantially as set forth.
Dated this 8th day of February 1893.
SAMUEL BARRETT,
Per Samuel Hey,
Agent.