CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON A MACHINE FOR MANGLING LINEN AND OTHER ARTICLES
Year: 1807

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHESTEB
GOULD, of Walworth, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the forty-seventh year of His
reign, give and grant unto me, the said Chester Gould, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that 1,
the said Chester Gould, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, should and lawfully
might, during the term of years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Inven-
tion of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON A MACHINE FOR MANGLING LINEN AND OTHER
ARTICLES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Chester Gould, by an instrument in writing 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 four calendar months 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
Chester Gould, do hereby declare that my said Invention is described in the
Drawings and description thereof hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Chester Gould, have set my hand and
seal, this Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seven.
CHESTER GOULD. (L.5.)

page_text: The object of my Invention of improvements to a mangle is to combine
in it the following properties and qualities; that is to say, excellence in its
action and effects on goods, facility and dispatch. in its practical application,
strength, simplicity, durability, and economy in its construction, elegance in its
appearance, fitness or capability for several useful purposes besides that of
mangling, and, lastly, portability, so far as it is consistent with the aforesaid
properties and qualities. The general form and proportion of the machine
which I have chosen as being best calculated to admit the aforesaid com-
bination of properties and qualities, together with the principal parts, and their
peculiar construction and general disposition, are represented by the annexed
Drawing, Fig. 1; that is to say, A, A, A, A, A, A, is a frame or box made of
mahogany, wainscot, or other proper wood, of such strength, size, and pro-
portion as are best adapted to the particular use or purpose for which it is
intended. B, B, B, C, is a spring frame, made of wood or other proper
materials, of such strength or stiffness as to bend or spring from one to three
inches, or more or less, according to circumstances, when the power is applied.
This frame is fitted inside the other or above-mentioned frame or box,
A, A, A, A, A, A, and secured to it at P, P, by strong centres, tenons, or
otherwise. At the two other or opposite corners of the said spring frame are
two racks, made of iron or other proper metal, well secured to the said frame
by screws or otherwise, one of which racks appears at I. E is a strong bar
or spindle of iron or of other proper metal or inaterials. It extends across
the first-mentioned frame or box A, A, A, A, A, A, and is properly secured to
the said box at each end. One end of it passes through the said box or frame,
for the purpose of receiving the wheel F and leaver G, as appears by the
Drawing. On this bar, near each end of it, is a pinion, which moves in the
two afore-mentioned racks, one of which pinions, (viz¹) D, appears in the
Drawing, and moves the rack I. The pinions are represented in the Drawing
with eight leaves; but I often make pinions of two leaves for general use,
because in that case the wheel F and catch H are not required to retain the
power. G is a leaver, for the purpose of laying on the power. K and L are
the two rollers. They are commonly made of hard wood, but sometimes of
metal, either hollow, for the purpose of receiving heaters, or solid, as circum-
stances require. The under roller K is firmly secured to the sides of the
first-mentioned frame or box A, A, A, A, A, A, by proper bearings, so as to
turn free from its centres; see the Drawing. C is a strong bar of iron or
other proper materials, being part of the spring frame B, B, B, C. It passes
across the said frame, is secured to the two sides of it, and passes also through
the first-mentioned frame or box A, A, A, A, A, A, at each end, to receive the

page_text: two pieces or bars M, R, and its fellow, on the opposite side of the mangle, as
at q. The holes or apperatus in the sides of the box or frame A, A, A, A, A, A,
through which the piece or bar C passes, are so large as to allow the said
bar C to rise and fall a proper distance, that is to say, an inch, or more or
less, as occasion may require. L is the upper or working roller. It is firmly
connected with the piece or bar C, by means of the two pieces M, R, and its
fellow, as appears at q. N is a guide to keep the piece or bar M, R, in its
place. O is the working handle or winch. I commonly fit two covers to the
mangle, one on each side of the rollers K and L, so that the inside of it does
not appear. The covers may be either fixed or moveable. I also attach a
piece of brown holland or other proper cloth to the upper roller L, so that
when the said roller is turned round the cloth will be wound on it. This
cloth should be about three yards long, or more or less, as may be convenient.
When the mangle is used this cloth is unrolled, and taken off from the roller
so far as is necessary to receive the article to be mangled. The article is
placed on the said cloth. The roller is then turned, so that the cloth and
article on it are wound about the roller together. The roller continues
to be turned the same way till the article is finished; it is then turned
the contrary way, and the article is taken out. A, A, A, Fig. 2, represents
a bed or plain, made of hard mahogany or other proper wood or materials,
which I sometimes add to my mangle for particular purposes. It is
placed between the two rollers K and L, and is carried backwards and
forwards, according to the motion given to the said roller by means of
the winch or handle O. B, B, is a piece of goods placed on the bed in the
situation or act of being mangled or pressed. If the catch H is raised from
the wheel F, and the leaver G is moved downwards, the spring frame B will be
raised upwards by means of the pinion D working in the rack I; and the upper
or working roller L, being connected with the said spring frame B by means of
the two pieces or bars M, R, and its fellow, as appears by the Drawing, will be
moved or raised with it to such a convenient height from the bed A, A, A, as
is necessary to admit the piece of goods B, B, under the said working roller L
The leaver G then, being moved the contrary way, will force down the spring
frame B, and consequently the roller L on the goods B, B, which are mangled
or pressed by turning the roller L backwards and forwards, so that it may pass
from one end of the goods to the other by means of the winch or handle O.
I commonly fit a wheel on the axis of the roller L, where the winch or handle
O appears to be placed in the Drawing. This wheel is moved by a pinion of
about one third the number of teeth or coggs which the wheel has, or more or
less, as circumstances may require. The pinion is fitted to the piece or bar

page_text: M, R, at R, by means of a proper piece of metal or cork secured to the said
piece or bar M, R, or otherwise, so that the said wheel and pinion may risc and
fall together, to prevent them from being thrown out of gear. In this case the
handle is fitted to the pinion. The use of this wheel and pinion is to case
the labor of turning the roller L. At each end of the mangle is a handle for
the convenience of removing it. When the mangle is in use it may be placed
on a table, chest, or in any other convenient situation; but the best situation
is on a stand made for that purpose to fit its size. The common size for
private families is two feet wide, three feet long, and from eight to twelve
inches deep, more or less, if circumstances require it; but I make many different
sizes for different occasions.
The above description and representation of shape, size, and proportion, prin-
cipal parts and motions, are according to my general plan of constructing my
mangle. Although I often vary or modify it in those several particulars, when
any particular circumstance require it, yet in all those variations and modifi
entions the general plan is preserved so as to combine in it the properties and
qualities first above named. The materials and mechanical principles which
compose my mangle are common to almost all machines. The same principals
and materials, being differently combined, might form a thousand different
machines, and for as many different purposes. Therefore my Invention does
not consist in having discovered or invented those principals or materials,
but in having so fitted and proportioned them to each other, and so
adjusted and combined them together, as to form a mangle different from
other mangles, and more convenient and useful to many people, and in many
situations and circumstances. Although my mangle, as above represented aud
lescribed, is compleat for common use and practice, yet on some occasions and
for particular purposes I attach and join to it the following additions, which
are to be considered as additions to, and not necessary parts of my mangle;
that is to say, I reverse the motion of the bed whilst the winch or working
handle continues to be turned one way, and add a fly wheel. The several
wheels, pinions, and other parts necessary to reverse the motion of the bed are
commonly fixed or placed inside the mangle, and made to act on the under
roller. The fly wheel is sometimes placed horizontally in or at the bottom,
so as not to appear, and sometimes vertically at the side of it. The several
ways of constructing and of fitting or applying the machinery necessary
to shift the motion of the bed, and to communicate proper motion to the
fly wheel, are well known to mechanics, and therefore, being only addi-
tious to my mangle, need not to be further described in this place. As the
above additions render the mangle more expensive, more complex, more liable

page_text: to want repairs, more difficult to repair, and less portable, I do not apply
them or recommend them to be applied to my mangle, except when particular
circumstances render their application really useful. When it is intended to
apply my mangle to purposes which require a greater power than is required
in common mangling I then apply a pinion to the wheel E, and fit the
leaver G on the said pinion, for the purpose of laying on the power more easily.
This pinion may have one third the number of teeth which the wheel F has, or
more or less, as circumstances may require. This wheel and pinion may be
fitted either outside or inside of the mangle. If any circumstances render this
wheel and pinion objectionable, I then force down the spring frame B by
means of a screw or screws. The most proper way of laying on the power by
means of the said screws, or wheel and pinion, according to the several circum-
stances which may require those modifications of the machine, and of my
general plan of constructing it, will readily occur to every good mechanic, and
therefore need not to be described in this place. In my general plan of
constructing the under roller, K is fixed immoveably to the frame or box
A, A, A, A, A, A, and the upper roller is connected with the spring frame
B, B, B, C, so as to rise and fall with it; yet this order might be reversed if
any circumstance render it needful so to do, and the upper roller L might be
fixed, and the under roller K rise and fall. In constructing the stand on
which the mangle is to be placed for use, the situation and circumstances of
the rooin, and the several purposes intended to be answered by it, should be
considered; for, if it is necessary, it may answer the several purposes following,
that is to say, as a mangle, a table, a sideboard, an ironing board, a chest of
drawers, a cloaths' press, a wringing machine, a copying machine, and a
callendar for tumbled goods.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-sixth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1807, the aforesaid Chester Gould came before
our said Lord the King in Ilis Chancery, and acknowleged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seven.