IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR WASHING OR CLEANSING CLOTHES AND OTHER ARTICLES, APPLICABLE ALSO TO DYEING PURPOSES, Mixing Oils and other SubstanCES OR LIQUIDS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lightfoot Shorrock, of Accrington, in the
County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR
WASHING OR CLEANSING CLOTHES AND OTHER ARTICLES, APPLICABLE ALSO TO
DYEING PURPOSES, Mixing Oils and other SubstanCES OR LIQUIDS.”
Sealed the 14th April 1874, and dated the 15th October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lightfoot Shorrock
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th October 1873.
I, JOHN LIGHTFOOT SHORROCK, of Accrington, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVED MACHINERY FOR WASHING OR CLEANSING CLOTHES AND OTHER ARTICLES,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO DYEING PURPOSES, MIXING OILS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES OR
LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the employment of a drum formed of a
circle of horizontal bars or rods fixed to two end plates or discs, having
pivots working in bearings fixed to an outer vessel containing the
cleansing or dyeing liquors or substances to be mixed. The drum is

page_text: divided in the middle at right angles with the axis by a number of rods
or bars so as to form two compartments, in which clothes or other
articles to be cleansed are placed, there being a barred cover to prevent
them from leaving the drum until required. To one of the pivots of the
drum is fixed a toothed wheel gearing into another toothed wheel on a
short shaft working in a bearing at one of the onds of the vessel, tho
shaft being provided with a fly wheel and worked by hand or power as
required.
When the machinery is used for washing or cleansing the heated
water or washing liquor in the vessel is at about the centre of the drum,
the suds floating at the top, and when the drum is turned, the middle
bars cause the clothes or other articles to pass through the suds, after
which as the drum continues to revolve the clothes fall upon and pass
through the water and the water through them, and so on at each
revolution, and as the clothes are agitated and acted upon by the water
without any beaters or friction rollers they are preserved from injury,
and the finest textures can be washed with expedition and safety.
When the machinery is used for dyeing the articles to be mordanted
and dyed are placed in the compartments of the drum, but when oils
or other matters or substances are to be mixed they occupy both the
vessel and drum.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Lightfoot Shorrock in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th April 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LIGHTFOOT SHORROCK, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in a
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Lightfoot Shorrock,
Her special license that I, the said John Lightfoot Shorrock, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said

page_text: John Lightfoot Shorrock, 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR WASHING OR
CLEANSING CLOTHES AND OTHER ARTICLES, APPLICABLE ALSO TO DYEING PURPOSES,
MIXING OILS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES OR LIQUIDS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Lightfoot Shorrock, 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 John Lightfoot Shorrock, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Figures on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters of
reference marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention consists in the employment of a partition placed in a
drum formed of a circle of horizontal boards, bars, or rods, fixed to end
boards, plates, or discs, having central pins or pivots working in bearings
fixed to standards or frames only or to an outer vessel containing the
cleansing or dyeing liquors or substances to be mixed. The partition
divides the drum in the middle at right angles with the axis, the
partition being made by a number of rods or bars or a perforated plate
or wire network, so as to form two compartments, in which clothes or
other articles to be cleansed are placed, there being a barred or closed
cover to prevent them from leaving the drum until required. To one of
the pivots of the drum is fixed a toothed wheel gearing into another
toothed wheel on a short shaft working in a bearing on one of the
standards or at one of the ends of the vessel, the shaft being
provided with a fly wheel and worked by hand or power as required.
When the machinery is used for washing or cleansing the heated
water or washing liquor is at about the centre of the drum, the suds

page_text: floating at the top, and when the drum is turned the middle bars or
partition cause the clothes or other articles to pass through the suds,
after which as the drum continues to revolve the clothes fall upon and
pass through the water and the water through them, and so on at each
revolution, and as the clothes are agitated and acted upon by the water
without any beaters or friction rollers they are preserved from injury,
and the finest textures can be washed with expedition and safety.
When the machinery is used for dyeing the articles to be mordanted
and dyed are placed in the compartments of the drum, but when oils or
other matters or substances are to be mixed they occupy both the vessel
and drum, that is, when an outer case or vessel is used as well as the
drum.
On the accompany Sheet of Drawings Fig. 1 is a side view ;
Fig. 2, a transverse section; and Fig. 3, a front view, with part removed,
of one of my improved machines in connection with ordinary wringing
rollers, thereby adapting it for washing or cleansing clothes or other
articles, which can be afterwards wrung out by the rollers.
Figs. 4 and 5 are views of one arrangement of the drum with the
cover off; Fig. 6, a view of the same with the cover on; and Figs. 7
and 8 are views of a solid drum having in it the partition used without
an outer vessel.
The drum having in it the partition which constitutes the main
feature of my Invention is formed of the end boards, plates, or discs a,
the horizontal bars or rods b, the central barred partition c, the barred
or closed cover d, and the buttons or holders e, used for holding the
cover fast or allowing it to be removed. The central pivots f, g, work in
the bearings h fixed to the ends of the case or box / bolted to the
standards or framework 1. And to the pivot f is fixed the toothed
wheel m gearing into the toothed wheel n fixed to the shaft o, which
passes through a bearing p at one end of the box or case, and has fixed
to it the hand wheel q. The bearings h are formed as sockets, having
closed or flanged ends, which are screwed fast to the ends of the case or
box k, thereby keeping the bearings water-tight, and as the bearing p is
above the level of the water or washing liquor no packing is required.
As shewn in the Drawing the machine is associated with a wringer,
so that both washing and wringing can be effected, but when desired
the machine is used entirely independent of a wringer, but in all cases

page_text: when employed for washing, the clothes or other articles are placed in
the compartments r at the sides of the partition c, and after the cover d
is fastened on the drum its contents are turned through the washing
liquor by the hand wheel 9 or by power as often as required.
For mordanting and dyeing yarns and fabrics the operations are
similar, it being only necessary to place the yarns or fabrics in the com-
partments and pass them through the required liquors, and with slight
modifications this machine is admirably adapted for mixing or incor-
porating oils and other substances or liquids in consequence of the
central skeleton partition in the drum causing a complete agitation of
the globules or particles of the liquids or solids.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I desire it to be under-
stood that in machinery for washing or cleansing clothes and other
articles, for mordanting and dyeing yarns and fabrics, and also for
mixing or incorporating oils and other substances or liquids, I claim the
employment in the skeleton or solid drums of a central partition formed
of bars or rods or wire network or a perforated plate, as herein described
and illustrated on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness. whereof, I, the said John Lightfoot Shorrock, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four
JOHN LIGHTFOOT SHORROCK. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by
the within-named John Lightfoot
Shorrock, in the presence of
G. SEPTIMUS Hughes,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.