IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING WOVEN FABRICS. EITHER WITH PLAIN OR PILE SURFACES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Browning, of Pendleton, in the County.
of Lancaster, Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING
WOVEN FABRICS. EITHER WITH PLAIN OR PILE SURFACES."
Sealed the 8th March 1854, and dated the 15th September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Browning at "
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th September 1853.
I, THOMAS BROWNING, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING,
SCOURING, OR CLEANSING WOVEN FABRICS, EITHER WITH PLAIN OR PILE
SURFACES," to be as follows:--
Instead of the present method of washing and scouring the goods.by'
hand through tubs, I propose to pass them through a cistern or cis-
terns with revolving winches and squeezing rollers, the winches so
arranged that the pressure of the water will act upon both sides of the
fabric at the same time. This my method will be clearly understood by
reference to the accompanying Drawings (outline) in which the appa-

page_text: ratus is shewn, both in section and elevation, with the winches and rollers
acting upon the fabric, and also shewing the method of supplying the
water or other liquid which may be used for the purposes of washing,
scouring, or cleansing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Browning in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS BROWNING, of Pendleton, in the County of Lancaster,
Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Browning, Her especial
licence that I, the said Thomas Browning, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Browning, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR WASHING, SCOURING, OR CLEANSING
WOVEN FABRICS, EITHER WITH PLAIN OR PILE SURFACES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Browning, by an in-
strument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Royal Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Browning, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say):
My Invention consists of a method of passing the goods to be
washed, scoured, or cleansed through a cistern or cisterns with several
compartments filled with water. The water goes in at one end, and
flows through each compartment, making its exit where the cloth enters.
By thus confining the space I compel the water to unfold the cloth which
is compressed by the bowls, thus causing it to traverse backwards and
forwards against the stream of water in its descending and ascending
motion, giving a pressure on both sides of the cloth each revolution of the
expander. I fix wrought iron shafts across the cistern, through each
compartment, to which I attach revolving expanders which work
alternately with the squeeze bowls, so arranged that they can be regu-
lated to suit any diameter of bowls. At the ends of each of the said
shafts, and outside the cistern, I fix stuffing boxes and glands, to prevent
the water escaping. At the top of the cistern, and between the ex-
panders, I fix pairs of grooved squeeze bowls, working in gear with
each other, to friction the cloth as it passes through. The bottom bowl
and the expander are geared together by spur wheels to prevent any
unnecessary stress upon the cloth. I also fix a trough under each pair
of squeezers to catch the dirt or refuse matter that falls from the cloth,
and I convey it away by a pipe, thus proventing the water in the cistern
becoming dirty. The top bowls are suspended in a weighted lever at
each end, to give the required pressure to the goods, and a wrought
iron shaft with tappets, to raise all the top bowls at once, by a weighted
lever at the end of the machine, thus preventing any damage to the
cloth. I fix a roller to guide the piece into the nip of the squeeze
bowl, raised up a little, so as to cause a descent to the nip, and thus
prevent the water returning down the piece into the cistern. I also fix
a rail with guide pegs to the squeezer, for carrying the cloth into each
compartment. The cloth passes over a roller into the first compart-
ment, round the expander, through the squeezer, alternately over the
top bowls, into the second compartment, and so on, in the form of a
worm or screw, thus going into cleaner water every revolution, until it
comes out where the cistern is supplied. The last squeezer bowl over
the last compartment is turned parallel, thus dispensing with any

page_text: other apparatus for squeezing. The whole of this apparatus may be
made of any suitable metal or material, and worked by steam or other
power, as may be found most convenient.
The accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which the same letters of
reference are used to represent similar parts where different views or
diagrams are shewn, will clearly explain the nature and particulars of my
said Invention. Fig. 1, is a sectional elevation of my machine or appa-
ratus; Fig. 2, is an end elevation in section; Fig. 3, is a side elevation,
shewing the geered side thereof; and Fig. 4, is an end view of the same;
Figs. 5, and 6, are side elevations of the same in section, shewing a pe-
culiar arrangement for operating upon pile goods, such as velvets, &c.,
which apparatus has a tendency to keep the goods open and straight
during the process of washing, scouring, &c. In the said Figures A.
represents a cistern with six compartments, which may be made of cast
iron, or other suitable metal or material; B, the revolving expander
.with regulating stays to suit any diameter of bowl. These expanders are
keyed on a wrought iron shaft passing through the cistern, with the
stuffing box and gland C, fitted to the end of it outside the cistern to
prevent the water oozing or escaping through it. D, are grooved or
fluted bowls, made of sycamore or other suitable material, with wrought
iron shafts, on the axis of which they revolve. E, the troughs for col-
lecting the, dirt or refuse which escapes from the cloth. F, the roller for
conveying the cloth to the nip of the bowls, and fixed so as to prevent the
water descending down the cloth into the cistern or compartment. G, the
rail with pegs to guide the cloth into each compartment of the cistern;
and H, the roller to guide the cloth or fabric into the first compartment.
I, is a stand fixing to carry the bottom bowl, the lever with top bowl,
,the roller, guide rail, and tappet shaft.
K, spur wheels, gearing the
expander and bottom squeezer bowl together. L, a wrought iron
tappet shaft for raising all the top bowls at once, worked by a lever at
the end of the machine. Figs. 5, and 6, shew my sad machine or
apparatus for operating upon pile goods, as velvets, &c., without in-
juring the pile thereof. The piece enters one end of the cistern in an
extended or open form from the batch over a roller, round the expander,
acting upon the back of the piece, thence over two rollers face down-
wards, under which is fixed a winch, which throws water against the

page_text: face of the cloth, then round the second expander, and so in succession
to the end of the cistern, where it goes over a drawing-through roller,
and is batched at the other end of the machine. The expander and
winch are geared together by spur wheels, as already explained in the
foregoing machine, to prevent any unnecessary stress upon the cloth.
The gearing can be reversed, and cause the cloth to return for a second
washing and batch at the other end; thus to go through the machine
as many times as may be found necessary.
Having thus fully explained the nature and particulars of my said
Invention, and the manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I
desire it to be distinctly understood that I do not confine myself to the
exact details herein set forth, as such may be varied or modified without
departing from the principle thereof; but I claim as of my Invention,
and which, to the best of my knowledge and belief, has not been
hitherto used within this realm, the construction and arrangement of
the machine or apparatus with revolving expanders, working in connec-
tion with grooved bowls, the top squeezer bowls being raised by a lever
to prevent damage, and the fabric passing through different waters,
with provision for taking away the dirt which is squeezed out of the
cloth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Browning, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, One thou-
he hundred and filter foun
5 Signed, sealed, and delivered
by the within-named Thomas
Browning, in the presence of
THOMAS BROWNING. (L.S.)
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.