AN IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Spencer Hooker, of Tunbridge Wells;
in the County of Kent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED WASHING
MACHINE."
Sealed the 18th February 1876, and dated the 21st August 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Spencer Hooker
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st August 1875.
I, GEORGE SPENCER HOOKER, of Tunbridge Wells, in the County of
Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved washing machine for domestic
use, whereby the linen and other articles are more rapidly and effectually
cleansed than by other machines at present in use.
The machine consists of a trough-like receptacle for the linen to be
cleansed, in which a presser or dasher is made to oscillate. The dasher
is hung on horizontal pivots, which work in vertical slots or guides to

page_text: itself to the amount or varying
The receptacle is preferably made
enable the dasher to accommodate
thickness of goods in the machine.
of rounded form at bottom, and the dasher is made of a corresponding
shape. The inner surface of the receptacle is lined with half-round
strips or ribs of wood running obliquely in the receptacle. These ribs
are placed a short distance apart, and are slightly raised from the solid
sides and bottom of the receptacle, thus forming a kind of grating for
the clothes to rest upon, whereby the water is caused to pass more freely.
through, and thus more effectually cleanse the clothes. The surface of
the presser or dasher is likewise covered with half-round slats or ribs,
which are also placed obliquely so as to cross those of the trough, and
by their joint action produce the desired effect on the goods at cach
oscillation of the dasher.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Spencer Hooker in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
SPENCER HOOKER, of Tunbridge Wells, in the County of Kent, send
greeting.
•
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, 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. George Spencer Hooker,
Her special licence that I, the said George Spencer Hooker, my
executors, administrators, and assigns; or such others as I, the said
George Spencer Hooker, 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 "AN IMPROVED WASHING MACHINE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Spencer Hooker,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: 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 George Spencer Hooker, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to an improved washing machine for domestic
use, whereby the linen and other articles are more rapidly and effectually
cleansed than by other machines at present in use.
The machine consists of a receptacle of semi-cylindrical or nearly
semi-cylindrical form, in which a presser or dasher of corresponding
form is made. to oscillate. The dasher is hung on horizontal pivots
working in vertical slots or guides to enable the dasher to accommodate
itself to the varying amount of goods in the machine. The receptacle
is lined with slats or ribs of wood of half-round shape in cross section
placed obliquely and fixed at a short distance from the sides and bottom
of the receptacle, there being also intervals between the ribs, which thus
form a kind of grating for the clothes to rest upon to give a free passage
for the water through and around the clothes. The surface of the
presser or dasher is likewise composed of half-round slats or ribs, which
are also placed obliquely and cross those of the receptacle, so as by their
joint action to produce the desired rubbing action on the goods on each
oscillation of the dasher.
My Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section, and Figure 2 a plan of the
machine.
a is a wooden receptacle for the articles to be cleansed, supported on
suitable end frames b, b. The curved sides and bottom of the receptacle a
are lined with half-round wooden ribs c, which are placed in an oblique
position, as shown. These ribs c are fixed by their ends and at any
intermediate point to wood strips d fixed to the bottom and sides of the
receptacles, from which the ribs are thus raised a short distance, as

page_text: shown. e is the dasher, also made of wood. It is composed of two
semicircular end pieces, to which half-round slats or ribs g are attached,
these ribs likewise running in oblique direction, but crossing those of
the receptacle a, as seen in Figure 2. This dasher has gudgeons n in
vertical slots n¹ in the frames b, b, and is provided with upwardly
extended arms i, i, and a cross handle , by which it may be oscillated
for operating on the articles to be cleansed.
.
Having described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I declaré that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, in a
washing machine composed of a receptacle with an oscillating dasher,
both of the form described, I claim lining the curved part of the
receptacle with half-round slats or ribs fixed obliquely at a short distance
apart and from the sides and bottom of the receptacle, and providing the
dasher with similar slats or ribs, also placed obliquely, but crossing those
of the receptacle, as and for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Spencer Hooker, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Seventeenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.
G. SPENCER HOOKER. (L.S.)