IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING COTTON, LINEN, AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MACALPINE, of Spring Vale, Hammersmith, in the County of Middlesex,
General Dresser, and THOMAS MCALPIN, of the same Place, Manager, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
April (One thousand eight hundred and fifty), in the thirteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said William Macalpine and Thomas McAlpin, our exors, adñiors, and assigns,
Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said
William Macalpine and Thomas M°Alpin, our exors, adñiors, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said William Macalpine and Thomas McAlpin,
our exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING COTTON, LINEN, AND OTHER FABRICS;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the said William
Macalpine and Thomas McAlpin, or one of us, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and

page_text: by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
William Macalpine and Thomas McAlpin, do hereby declare that the nature
of our Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
are fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists of a mode of combining beaters and containing
vessel, as hereafter described, for the purpose of washing cotton, linen, and
other fabrics.
And in order that our improvements may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the means pursued by
us in carrying out our Invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows an elevation of a machine combined according to our
Invention; Figure 2 shews an end view; and Figure 3 is a transverse section
thereof. a, a, is the framing, the nature of which will readily be understood on
examining the Drawings; b is the wash vessel, which we prefer to be formed
to receive a perforated false bottom and sides for the purpose of admitting the
steam more freely to act upon and heat the contents of the vessel. This vessel
is supported on an axis c, which turns in a suitable bearing. d is a bevelled
cog wheel fixed at the bottom of the vessel b, and by which a regular rotation
is communicated to the vessel 6, by means of a steam engine or other power
giving motion to the main or driving axis e, which, by means of a strap f, gives
motion to the axis g. on which is fixed the pinion g', which takes into and drives
the cog wheel d. The vessel 6 is further supported by the hollow axis h, which
is fixed to the axis c, the hollow axis h having its bearing or support at h', as
shown; i is a steam pipe by which steam is admitted to the axis h, and from
it through suitable openings into the space in the jacket and hollow bottom
(formed by the perforated false bottom and sides) of the vessel 6; the pipe
i and hollow axis are connected by means of a stuffing box allowing the hollow
axis to turn;j is a trough into which the wash water is run off from the vessel
'b, in order to empt the same. On the axis e are fixed the series of lifters k, k,
which lift the beaters 1, 1, which slide between guides m, m. And it should
be stated that the lower ends of the beaters are not all of the same size; but
the two inner ones are about one-half the size of the outer ones, and the inter-
'mediate ones are larger and larger up to the outer ones; the object being to

page_text: render the beating in some degree uniform, notwithstanding the circumstance
that the parts of fabrics under the beaters of the outer circumference move
faster than the parts of the fabric near the center. The beaters may be sup-
ported and put out of action by means of stops u, u, which have a tendency,
when the handle x is moved, to come in under the notches o, o, the reverse
movement of the handle a on the axis a moving all the stops u out of the
way of the notches o, and the beaters may be lifted farther by means of the
levers p, which are connected together so as to be acted on simultaneously by
means of the rod q, and when that rod is drawn towards the right-hand side of
the machine, the short ends of the levers p will be drawn under the rollers of
the bar carrying the stops u, thus (supposing the stops to be resting under the
notches at the upper ends of the beaters) the beaters will be lifted out of the
way of the lifters k; are stops to prevent the beaters falling in close con-
tact with the false bottom; the object of which is to prevent injury to fine
fabrics, should only a few folds of such be lying for the time being under
the beaters. The stops
The stops are received on to pieces of india-rubber or other
elastic substance.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we would have it understood that we do
not confine ourselves to the details as herein described, so long as the peculiar
character of the Invention as herein described be retained; but what we
claim is, the mode, herein described, of combining wash vessel and beaters for
the purpose of washing cotton, linen, and other fabrics.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Macalpine have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.