IMPROVE- MENTS IN WASHING MACHINES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Morison, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WASHING MACHINES."
Sealed the 9th May 1876, and dated the 17th November 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Morison at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th November 1875.
I, THOMAS MORISON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING MACHINES," to be as follows, that is to
say:-
This Invention has for its object the construction of washing machines
in an inexpensive manner, but so as to be extremely efficient in action
whilst easy to work.
In carrying out the Invention the washing vessel is formed nearly in
the form of the lower half of a horizontal cylinder, and is according to
one modification made in one piece of strong earthenware, which is by
preference glazed.

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By another modification the vessel is made with the flat vertical ends
of wood and the cylindrical part of zinc or other suitable metal, the edges
of the metal being entered into grooves in the ends and the whole bound
together by tie rods or long screw bolts. In the middles of the tops
of the vertical ends bearings are provided for a horizontal rocking bar,
and through holes in this rocking bar there are fitted to slide rods which
have a horizontal handle bar fixed to their upper ends, whilst to their
lower ends there is fixed a horizontal knuckle bar by which the
mechanical operation on the clothes or articles to be washed is effected.
This knuckle bar is by preference round, and is furnished with a number
of rings of vulcanised rubber which are held in place by being sprung
into shallow grooves on the bar. The knuckle bar is connected by
rubber or other springs to the rocking bar above and the operator takes
hold of the handle above and thrusts the knuckle bar repeatedly down
on the articles in the vessel, at the same time moving the handle to and
fro so as to make the rocking bar oscillate, and so as to give different
angular directions to the strokes of the knuckle. bar.
If preferred rings or other projections formed on the knuckle bar
itself may be subsitituted for the rubber rings.,
The vessel is by preference formed with a shelf. at one side inclining
down towards the middle, and with its upper surface corrugated for the
purpose of rubbing thereon any parts of the articles being washed that
may require it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Morison in the Great Seal Patent Office 20
on the 16th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
MORISON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her-30
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November; in the
year of our. Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Morison, Her special
licence that I, the said Thomas Morison, my executors, administrators;; 35

page_text: and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Morison, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN WASHING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Morison, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Morison, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say:-
My said Invention has for its object the construction of washing
machines in an inexpensive manner, but so as to be extremely efficient
in action whilst easy to work.
And in carrying out my improvements I form the washing vessel
nearly in the shape of the lower half of a horizontal cylinder, and
according to one modification in one piece of strong earthenware, which
is by preference glazed.
By another modification the vessel is made with the flat vertical ends
of wood and the cylindrical part of zinc or other suitable metal.
A rocking bar is mounted across the top of the vessel and a pair of rods
sliding through holes in this bar have fixed at their bottom ends a
horizontal knuckle bar, by which the mechanical operation on the
clothes or articles to be washed is effected. The knuckle bar is con-
nected by springs to the rocking bar above and the operator takes hold
of handles at the tops of the rods and thrusts the knuckle bar repeatedly
down on the articles in the vessel, at the same time moving the handle
to and fro so as to make the rocking bar oscillate and so as to give to it
different angular directions. I combine a pair of wringing rollers with
the washing machine to make the apparatus.complete.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
one modification of my improved washing machine. In these Drawings
the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts
wherever they are repeated.
Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings are vertical sections as. at right
angles to each other. In this example the washing vessel 1 consists of
two semicircular wooden boards 2 placed vertically and combined with a
semi-cylindrical shell 3 of zinc or other suitable metal. The metal
shell 3 is entered into grooves formed for it in the wooden ends 2, and
the whole is bound together by tie rods 4, 5, having nuts screwed on
their ends, whilst the top edges of the shell 3 are turned over the upper
tie rods 4. In the middles of the tops of the vertical ends 2 bearings
are provided for journals on the ends of a horizontal rocking bar 6, and
through holes in this rocking bar 6 there are fitted to slide rods 7, which
have a horizontal handled bar 8 fixed to their upper ends, whilst to their
lower ends there is fixed a horizontal knuckle bar 9, which is by
preference round, and is furnished with a number of rings 10 of
vulcanised rubber. These rubber rings 10 are held in place by being
sprung into shallow grooves on the bar 9, and the bar is connected by
rubber or other springs 11 to the rocking bar 6 above.
If preferred rings or other projections formed on the knuckle bar 9
itself
may be substituted for the rubber rings 10.
In some cases I form the vessel 1 with a shelf at one side inclining
down towards the middle, and with its upper surface corrugated for the
purpose of rubbing thereon any parts of the articles being washed that
may require special treatment. When the vessel is made of earthenware
the inclined corrugated shelf may be formed in the same piece with the
rest.
The vessel 1 is shown as fitted with an improved discharge outlet 12
and plug 13 of a simple and durable kind, the outlet being a metal
nozzle increasing slightly in diameter towards the outside, and the
plug 13, which may be of wood or metal, is made with a corresponding
slight taper, and is formed with a groove into which a rubber ring is
sprung.
The washing machine may be provided with
and of the numaNALS

page_text: The
existing varieties of wringing apparatus that is suitable, but in the.
arrangement shown the usual two rubber-covered rollers 14 are pressed
together in an improved and conveniently adjustable manner.
spindles of the rollers are held in bearing blocks 15 bolted to a board 16,
and the upper spindles are pressed down by short levers 17 which are
jointed to the blocks 15, and which are held down by nuts 18 upon
bolts 19 connected to rubber springs 20, contained in boxes formed in
the block 15 for the purpose, the springs and bolts being entered from
the under side.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described or delineated; but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,—
1. The combination of the semi-cylindrical washing vessel with the
knuckle bar and its connections arranged and worked, substantially as
herein-before described.
2. The making of the washing vessel of one piece of earthenware
and in the semi-cylindrical form, substantially as herein-before described.
3. The making of the washing vessel of two semicircular boards
combined with a semi-cylindrical metal shell fitted into grooves in the
boards, the whole being bound together by tie rods, substantially as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Morison, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,'
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
THOS. MORISON. (L.S.)