New or Improved Machinery or Apparatus for Washing, Drying, and Polishing Drinking Glasses.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Dec., 1891-Accepted, 9th Jan., 1892
New or Improved Machinery or Apparatus for Washing, Drying, and
Polishing Drinking Glasses.
We, ELIZABETH BOOTH, of 48 Talbot Street, Southport, in the County of
Lancashire, and CHARLES ALBERT BOOTH, 539 York Road, Wandsworth, in the
County of Surrey, Boiler Inspector, 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:-
This invention relates to new or improved machinery or apparatus for washing,
drying and polishing drinking glasses, and has for its object economy of time and
labour in performing these operations.
According to this invention, the glasses are washed by placing them upon a plate
or tray which is caused by suitable mechanism to revolve within a receptacle con-
taining water. The glasses are held in position upon the said plate or tray during
the washing operation by any convenient means such as clips.
The drying and polishing of the glasses after washing are effected by placing
each glass between a pair of polishers, hereinafter more fully described, one of
which fits the interior of the glass whilst the other surrounds the exterior of the
same. Rotary motion is imparted to either or both the polishers by convenient
mechanism, which may be driven from a driving shaft common to both the washing
and the drying and polishing portions of the apparatus.
The exterior of the internal polisher, and the interior of the external polisher,
should approximate in shape to the interior and exterior respectively of the glass
to be operated upon. The bodies of the polishers are preferably constructed of
zinc or other suitable material, and are covered or faced with some suitable drying
and polishing material; we have found the material employed for what are commonly
known as "glass cloths" to answer very satisfactorily in practice.
We prefer to affix the said drying and polishing material to the bodies of the
polishers by forming it into bags open at one end, which are drawn over the internal
polisher and slipped within the external polisher, these bags should be considerably
larger than the bodies to which they are applied, so that when placed in position
they will form into pleats or puckers thus ensuring a yielding contact with every
portion of the glass placed between them, sufficient space should be allowed
between the bodies of the polishers and the surfaces of the glass to permit this
pleating or puckering of the drying and polishing material. The body of the
internal polisher is hollow, and the sides thereof, and also of the external polisher,
are perforated for the purpose hereinafter set forth.
The glass to be dried and polished is inverted and placed over the internal
polisher, the external polisher is then slipped over the glass, and one or both the
polishers are rapidly rotated by suitable mechanism, currents of air are caused by
the rapid motion to pass through the before mentioned perforations in the polisher
bodies and also through the web or fibre of the material with which they are
covered or faced, this greatly accelerates the drying of the glass, and also tends to
force the drying and polishing material against the surface thereof.
In practice we have found it most convenient to rotate the internal polisher only,
mounting it for that purpose upon a spindle or axis driven by convenient gearing
or straps from the driving shaft, the external polisher remaining stationary. At
first sight it would appear that by this arrangement either the glass would be
carried round with the internal polisher, in which case the exterior only thereof
would be polished, or else that the glass would remain stationary and its interior
alone would be polished by the revolving internal polisher. We have found in

page_text: practice however that although the glass is caused to revolve by the rotation of
the internal polisher, its speed is differential thereto, and the internal polisher
revolves faster than the glass which consequently receives friction from each
polisher and is dried and polished both inside and ouside.
We will now proceed to describe a machine embodying our invention, having
reference to the accompanying drawings in which similar letters refer to corre-
sponding parts in both figures.
Fig. I is a front elevation of the apparatus one pair of polishers being shewn in
section..
Fig. 2 is a plan thereof one pair of polishers being shown in section taken on
line 1-2 Fig. 1.
a a are the uprights or standards of the apparatus, mounted on feet a¹ and
connected by the cross pieces b. c is a spindle supported at its lower end by a
footstep bearing d carried by the looped support e and working at its upper end in
a. bearing in the cross piece b. fis a plate or tray mounted upon the lower end
of the spindle-c and provided with clips g for holding the drinking glasses h. ¿ is a
receptacle containing water in which the plate f and glasses held thereby are
submerged. is the driving shaft of the machine mounted in bearings in the
uprights a and provided with a convenient actuating handle l. The rotation of the
plate or tray and consequent washing of the glasses secured thereto is effected
upon turning the handle through the bevel gear m. n represents the body of an
internal dryer and polisher. are the perforations in the sides thereof. p is an
axis or spindle which carries the body of the internal polisher n and is secured to
the cross bar at the lower end thereof. The axes p pass through bearings in the
cross piece and are supported by footstep bearings formed in the looped
supports e¹
Motion is imparted to the axis p from the driving shaft by bevel gearing m.
n are the bodies of the external polishers and of the perforations in the sides
thereof. The bodies n¹ of the external polishers (which in this case do not revolve)
are secured to the cross bar r by bolts and nuts s. The ends of the cross bar r
are formed at right angles thereto and slide vertically between checks a² on the
sides of the uprights a. ttare convenient springs contained in suitable boxes t¹
which springs bear against the lower extremities of the ends of the cross bar r.
The object of the springs is to assist in raising the cross bar and external
polishers secured thereto when required. n² represents the drying and polishing
material with which the exteriors and interiors respectively of the polisher bodies n
and n are covered or faced, the material n may be secured to the bodies n n' by
string binding n³.
The action of the drying and polishing portion of the apparatus is as follows:-
The cross bar and external polisher 7 secured thereto is raised, and the glasses
to be dried and polished are inverted and slipped over the internal polishers n, the
cross bar is then lowered causing the external polishers n¹ carried thereby to
embrace the exteriors of the glasses, the handle is then rapidly rotated causing the
internal polishers n to revolve at great speed and the material n² to effectively
dry and polish both the interior and exterior of the glasses (which as before
explained revolve at a differential speed), the currents of air passing through
the perforations ool, and the web or fibres of the materials n³, greatly accelerate
the operation and tend also to press the drying and polishing material against the
surface of the glass. It will be seen on referring to the drawings, that sufficient
space is left between the bodies of the polishers and the glass under operation to
permit of the pleating or puckering of the drying and polishing material n³ as
before referred to.
Although we have illustrated a machine adapted for washing, polishing and
drying four glasses simultaneously, it is obvious that the capacities of the apparatus
may be varied by increasing or diminishing the number of pairs, of dryers and
polishers, and the size, and number of clips, of the revolving plate or tray f.
It will be found convenient in practice to so mount the polishers, that they

page_text: may be readily removed, and polishers of different size or shape substituted if
desired.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. Machinery or apparatus for washing, drying and polishing drinking glasses,
comprising a plate or tray provided with clips or other suitable means for holding
glasses, one or more pairs of dryers and polishers as described, and means for
causing the plate or tray, and either or both the dryers and polishers in each pair,
to rotate, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
2. For the purpose of washing drinking glasses the use in combination of a sub-
merged plate or tray, clips or other suitable glass holders carried thereby, and
means for causing the rotation of the plate or tray substantially as specified.
3. For the purpose of drying and polishing drinking glasses, the use in combination
of an internal and an external dryer and polisher, between which the glass is placed,
and means whereby either the internal or external polisher or both may be caused
to rotate substantially as described.
4. For drying and polishing drinking glasses the use in combination of a hollow
revolving internal polisher having circumferential perforations and mounted upon a
spindle or axis rotated by convenient gearing or driving straps, and a stationary
external polisher also provided with circumferential perforations substantially as
and for the purpose described and illustrated.
5. For drying and polishing drinking glasses, the combination of a series of
revolving internal polishers, and a series of stationary external polishers, arranged
in pairs, means for causing the internal polishers to rotate, and means (such as
the vertically sliding cross bar r) whereby all the external polishers may be
simultaneously removed, and replaced in position substantially as described and
illustrated.
6. The general construction and arrangement of machinery or apparatus for
washing drying and polishing drinking glasses substantially as described and
illustrated.