Improvements in Washing Machines.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Oct., 1895-Accepted, 6th June, 1896
Improvements in Washing Machines.
A communication from PHILIP CONRAD TRAUTLOFF, Partner in the Firm
of P. C. Trautloff & Co., of Hartmannsdorf, District Leipzig, in the Empire
of Germany.
I ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent 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 :-
In the washing-machine which forms the subject of this application all direct
mechanical action upon the linen, etc., is avoided; consequently, neither agitators,
rubbing or squeezing mechanism, claws, nor any other similar mechanical appliance or
roughened surfaces are present in the washing-machine. The cleansing of the
articles to be washed is effected by forcing air and water through them in a manner
which, while in no way attacking the fabric, has been experimentally proved to be
efficacious in the extreme.
A washing-machine of this improved kind to be operated by hand, is illustrated
in the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 being a perspective view,
Figure 2 a plan, and
Figure 3 a vertical section of the machine.
The cleansing process is carried out in the enclosed vessel A, which is lined
inside with preferably smooth sheet-zinc, and provided with a tightly closed
flap-cover B. In a central aperture in the cover B is fixed the barrel C of
an air-pump, open at the bottom, and projecting downwards into the wash-vessel to
about half the depth of the latter. The lower half of the barrel C is surrounded
by a conical protector or deflector c preferably of sheet iron, like an inverted
funnel, which dips a little deeper into the vessel than the pump barrel, to ensure
that in all cases it extends beneath the water-surfaces.
Close above the flap-cover B the barrel C is provided with a ring of holes c¹ for
the admission of air, the piston D rising above such perforations at the end of its
up-stroke. The reciprocation of the piston D is effected by a hand-lever Ę pivotted
at or near its centre to the piston-rod d and at or near one end to a link e whose
lower end is pivotted to the cover B. The free end of the lever E is fitted with a
handle, as shown in the drawings.
The closed washing tub or vessel A is filled with hot water to such a height that
the lower edge of the pump barrel C, or at least of the protector c, dips into the
washing-fluid; then the articles to be washed are introduced into the vessel.
When the piston is at the top of its up-stroke, the air has free entry to the interior
of the vessel A through the orifices c'. When the piston is lowered a specified
quantity of air is compressed in front of it, and this compressed air mixes with the
vapour emanating from the washing-fluid and is thereby itself warmed. The air
and vapour are forced to pass through the articles to be washed (lying in the water)
and thereafter escape under the edge of the protector c¹.
The brisk and active circulation of the hot water, thus engendered by the
pressure contributes to the cleansing effect of air and steam combined, and, after
repeated strokes of the piston the "wash" is effectually completed and the articles
are left quite clean.

page_text: Modifications in construction may be effected and the pump piston may be
operated by power instead of by hand.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is ;-
1. In a washing-machine the combination with a vessel such as A of an air-pump
fixed to the cover thereof whose barrel projects downwards into the vessel and has
apertures such as c¹ outside of and above the cover and whose piston D is operated
by hand or power for the purpose of first compressing the air drawn into the pump
through the apertures and mixing it with the vapour given off by the hot water,
and then driving it into the washing-liquid and through the entire "wash"
substantially as described.
2. In a washing-machine such as described in Claim 1 the employment of
a funnel-shaped protector or deflector such as c encircling the lower part of the
pump-barrel and dipping into the washing-liquid substantially as described.
3. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete washing-
machine substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 30th day of October 1895.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.