A MACHINE FOR WASHING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING LINEN, COTTEN, AND WOOLLEN CLOTHS, OR ANY OTHER WOVEN OR KNIT FABRICK
Year: 1789

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
COATES, of Shoe Lane, in the Parish of Saint Bride, in the City of London,
Carpenter, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of December, in the thirtieth year of His
reign, hath given and granted unto the said George Coates, his exors,
adiñors, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole priviledge and authority,
that he, the said George Coates, his exors, adiñors, and assigns, and every of
them, by himself and themselves, or by his and their deputy or deputies, servants
or agents, or such others as he, the said George Coates, his exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter, during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend his Invention of "A MACHINE
FOR WASHING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING LINEN, COTTEN, AND WOOLLEN CLOTHS, OR
ANY OTHER WOVEN OR KNIT FABRICK," within that part of Great Britain called
England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also
in all His Majesty's Colouies and Plantations abroad, in such manner as
to him, the said George Coates, his exors, admors, and assigns, or any of
them should in his or their discretions seem meet; in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that if the said George Coates, shall no
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of his said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under

page_text: his hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's Court
of Chancery within one calendar month next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all
liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease,
determine, and become void, as in and by the said in part recited Letters
Patent, relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with and agreeable to the true
intent and meaning of the said proviso in the said Letters Patent contained, I,
the said George Coates, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is and are
described and ascertained in manner following, that is to say :-
The machine consists of one or more tubs or troughs, and a frame to
receive the same, together with the washers, levers, &c., as more particularly
described by the following description and Drawings annexed. The machine
is put in motion either by a pendulum, or any other lever, attached to a
spindle containing one or more arms or cranks, or by a wheel attached to a
spindle which carries one or more cranks.
It is to be observed that the machine may be made of any shape or dimen-
sions so that it is consistent with the principles on which the machine acts.
The machine is capable of being worked by hand or otherwise as circumstances
may require, and may be applied to great advantage in bleach yards, dye
houses, and all manufactories wherein the cleansing or scouring of cloths,
knitted goods, or any materials for making the same, is wanted.
The operation of cleansing, &c., is performed by the water being forced
through the cloth, or any other fabric or materials by the velocity given to it
by the action of the machine. In fact, saturation, expression, and resusuta-
tion are performed at one and the same time by the simple action of the
machine; or, in other words, the cloths or materials are soaked, washed, and
rinced by the action of the machine. This machine is so constructed that it
may be worked by a pendulum or any other lever, or by a motion which is a
performed round a center or axis in a rotative, revolving, or circulating
direction. The part of the machine for wringing of the materials may be
detatched as circumstances may require.
REFERENCES TO THE DRAWINGS ANNEXED.
Fig. 1, plan of the machine. Fig. 2, elevation of the end of the machine.
Fig. 3, elevation of the side of the machine. Fig. 4, section of the machine.
A, the stand or frame. B, tubs or troughs. C, washers. D, lifters. E, studs

page_text: levers G. F, studs or ears on the washers C, to which the lifters D are
fastned by pins. G, levers for raising the washers by means of the strings (a)
fastned to then, and to the washers at E. H, grooves in the sides of the
tubs or troughs to keep the washers at a proper distance by means of the
studs or pins at (6). I, spindles to which the levers G for raising the washers
are fixed. K, the spindle or axis to which the power is applied to put the
machine in motion. L, arms or cranks on the spindle K, to which the lifters
are fastned by means of pins at (d). M, connecting rail that fastens the two
sides of the frame together near the spindle or axis K. N, standard for
receiving one end of each spindle I, that the levers G are fastned to.
O, con-
necting rails, that fasten the two sides of the frame of the machine near the
bottom, on which the tubs or troughs B are placed. P, streaching rails, in
which the levers Q are fixed, for the purpose of inclining the tubs or troughs
in order to discharge the water. Q, levers for inclining the tubs or troughs
for the purpose of bringing the water to the discharging holes. R, R, holes in
the tubs or troughs at which the water is discharged. S, moveable flaps, in
order to put in or take out the articles to be washed more easily. T, flaps or
covering boards that are removeable at pleasure to prevent the water from
being forced out of the tubs or troughs while the machine is in action, and
likewise for retaining the heat. V, bended levers, of which the washers are
composed, the number and dimensions of which may be varied as circum-
stances may require, care being taken to leave a proper passage for the water.
W, cross pieces, to which the bent levers which compose the washers are
respectively united; that is to say, one half of the number alternately to each.
The number of levers which compose the washers are at pleasure; that is to
say, from one to any number. X, the pendulum, or perpendicular levers fixed
on the axis K, are for working the machine by means of the handle (c), the
power of which may be encreased or diminished by moving of the handle (c)
farther from or nearer to the axis K, on which the pendulum lever is fixed.
This, or the corresponding lever at the other end of the axis, serves to com-
municate power when more than one machine is necessary to be worked. If
it should be thought necessary to use a wheel, as shewn in Fig. 3, instead of
a lever or levers, it will be proper to use a crank or cranks on the spindle
instead of the arms already described, and in large manufactories a wheel may
be found most convenient, or power may be communicated from a wheel to
the lever or levers, which will have the same effect as working the lever by
hand.
The part of the machine which stands transversly to the tubs or troughs
in Fig. 1, already described, is for the purpose of wringing the cloths or other

page_text: materials in course of the operation of cleansing, and is composed of a stand
and a trough to receive the water wringed from the cloths, &c., a wrapper
netting or wringing cloth to receive the cloths or other materials; which
netting or wringing cloth is fastned at one end of the trough to a fixed loop or
loop hole made through the end of the trough, and at the other end to a loop
or loop hole made through a moveable block or spindle, on the axis whereon
the winch or windlass is fixed, which wince or windlass is composed of one or
more arms fixed to that part of the block or axis which moves on the outside
of the trough, by the rotative motion of which block or axis the water is
pressed or wringed out from the linen or any article inclosed in the netting or
wringing cloth. No. 1 is the stand to the wringing trough. No. 2 is the
trough. No. 3 is the netting or wringing cloth. No. 4 is the fixed loop.
No. 5 is the moveable axis or block, to which one end of the netting or
wringing cloth is fixed, and likewise the wince or windlass.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Coates, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand seven hundred and ninety.