A MILL OR MACHINE ON AN ENTIRE NEW CONSTRUCTION, FOR THE PURPOSE OF WASHING AND CLEANSING EVERY ARTICLE WHICH HAS HITHERTO BEEN WASHED BY HAND, IN A MUCH MORE EXPEDITIOUS AND LESS EXPENSIVE MANNER THAN BY ANY OTHER MACHINE OR METHOD HITHERTO DISCOVERED
Year: 1792

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WEBSTER, of Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop, Clock Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Second day of March, in the thirty-second year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said Robert Webster, His especial licence
that I, the said Robert Webster, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England and
Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A MILL OR
MACHINE ON AN ENTIRE NEW CONSTRUCTION, FOR THE PURPOSE OF WASHING AND
CLEANSING EVERY ARTICLE WHICH HAS HITHERTO BEEN WASHED BY HAND, IN A MUCH
MORE EXPEDITIOUS AND LESS EXPENSIVE MANNER THAN BY ANY OTHER MACHINE OR
METHOD HITHERTO DISCOVERED;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said Robert Webster, under my hand and seal, to
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within one calendar month after the date of the
said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto
had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Webster, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in
manner following (that is to say):-

page_text: inis mill or machine consists of a tube or barrel, which I call the washer,
composed of 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or more sides or staves, forming angles all round;
through these sides, holes or cavities are to be made so as to admit the free cir-
culation of the water. On all or most of the angles withinside the washer are
fixed pegs or ribs, to extend the whole length of the washer, projecting towards
the centre, and of a width or depth proportioned to the size of the washer.
These, as well as the angular form of the washer, are intended to keep the
articles in constant motion during the operation of washing, by which means
each part or fold will be equally subject to pressure and friction, and conse-
quently more effectually cleansed than if such articles were to maintain the
same uniform position. Either of the sides or staves is to be a door or opening
on hinges or otherwise, to admit the articles to be put into and taken out of
the washer. The washer thus formed is deposited and works in a box or
cistern, by means of a pivot or axis fixed to one end of the washer, and resting
on a brass box fixed to the cistern; and at the other end or front of the
machine an arm or branch, working in a socket, passes quite through the
cistern, and to the outer extremity of which a winch or handle is attached in
the usual manner. A part of the cistern, sufficient to admit the passage of the
arm or branch, may be cut away in the front, and the aperture secured
or enclosed by a water-tight wedge; or the arm or branch may be fixed by
leaving a space in the socket part of the cistern, sufficient to admit an instru-
ment to turn nuts or screws, which are to be made to pass from the inside of
and through the washer for that purpose, after which the socket, with a plate
or rim fixed thereto large enough to cover the space, is screwed to the front of
the cistern; by either of which modes the washer may be taken out and
replaced at pleasure. The cistern must have a close-fitting cover to prevent
the spilling of the water, or the escape of the suds, during use. Its dimensions
must be proportioned to the size of the washer, just affording the latter scope
enough at the bottom and sides to perform a free rotative motion. In the bottom
of the cistern, which is angular, must be a cock or spigott to let out the foul
water when done with. Care must be taken that the articles in the washer
must not at any one time occupy a greater space than one third, otherwise, by
impeding their motion, the pressure and friction, which are the leading prin-
ciples of this Invention, may be prevented, and the machinery not effectually
answer its intended purpose. The scalding or boiling water, which is to be
poured into the cistern preparatory to use, need immerge only a small segment
of the washer, as, in its circuitous motion, every part of its contents will receive
their proper proportion.
Motion may be communicated to the machinery by the application of a

page_text: common cog wheel and pinion, and which is the mode most to be preferred, as
it will decrease the velocity, which might be too great for the effectual operation
of the machine, at the same time that less power will be required to work it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Webster, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety-two.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Seventeenth day of March,
in the year above mentioned, the said Robert Webster came before our
0 Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year above mentioned.