IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND CLEANSING CLOTHES AND OTHER TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Hammond at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
February 1870.
I, JOHN HAMMOND, of New Road, Bognor, in the County of Sussex,
Ironmonger, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR WASHING AND CLEANSING CLOTHES AND OTHER TEXTILE
FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a contrivance herein-after described, which
being made to size can be dropped into a corresponding ordinary copper
or boiler, causing a continuous and rapid circulation of the boiling water,
whereby clothes and other textile fabrics can be thoroughly washed or
cleansed without the necessity of rubbing or hand labor.
The said Invention consists of a double false bottom or partition of
copper or other material in the shape of a cone, in the upper part of
which a number of straight grooves are sunk about one-third of an inch
in depth and width, and each groove is perforated with small holes;
under this upper cone or. partition is a second cone, perfectly plain and
unperforated, slightly smaller than the said upper cone, and so fixed as
to allow a small space between the two; the base of this double cone or
partition is fixed to the lower part of a cylinder of suitable shape to fit'

page_text: in an ordinary copper or boiler, leaving a space or chamber larger at the
bottom than the top all around the said cylinder and between it and the
sides of said copper or boiler; near the top edge of said cylinder sundry
openings are provided, and the said edge of cylinder is slightly turned to
fit close to the sides, and a little below the top rim of copper or boiler in
the centre of the apparatus, and fixed to the top of the double cone or
partition is a taper tube or pipe, that end connected to the said cone
being of the greater diameter, the top or small end of said tube or pipe
rises to the top of apparatus on the inside, and is fitted with a spreader to
_slide_on_and_off_the_said tube or pipe; the said spreader consists of a
small disc slightly raised in the centre, and fixed a small distance from a
rim or lip arranged around the centre tube or pipe; the apparatus can
be made without the centre tube or pipe, when this is done the double
partition is inverted and the head or point of cone made to rest on the
bottom of boiler.
To use this Invention when fitted to an ordinary copper or boiler
charged with the required quantity of water and soap the fire can be
lighted in the usual way; the clothes or fabrics to be washed or cleansed
are placed on the inside of apparatus over the grooved partition, and as
the water becomes heated it rises naturally up the centre tube and in the
space between the apparatus and the boiler, and flows in continuous
streams from the centre spreader and the apertures in side of the
apparatus over the fabric, at the same moment a corresponding quantity
of water is passing from the fabric through the perforated grooves, and
is conducted in the space between the two partitions to the bottom of
the boiler to be reheated before mixing with the rising current of water.
When the centre tube is not used the whole of the circulating water
rushes from the side apertures to the fabric, but whether the centre
tube is or is not used the object and effect of the double partition is the
same, namely, that of causing a rapid and continuous circulation of the
boiling water through the fabric, thereby thoroughly cleansing them in
a short space of time without rubbing or hand labor. Drop handles
are attached to the sides of apparatus for convenience in lifting in and
out of boiler. A raised cover is also fitted and a small centre tube
to carry off superfluous steam from apparatus.