IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING MACHINES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Gould, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Miller, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN WASHING
MACHINES."
Sealed the 19th May 1874, and dated the 27th November 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Gould at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th November 1873.
I, SAMUEL GOULD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Miller, .
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WASHING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in constructing and combining the parts of
machines for washing clothes, linen, and other like articles in the
following manner:-The said machine consists essentially of a set of
three parallel rollers, supported and working in bearings carried by
uprights fixed on opposite sides of the tub or vessel in which the articles
are to be washed. The said set of rollers consists of two small upper
rollers and a large bottom roller, the surfaces of the said rollers being

page_text: made into rubbing surfaces by means of transverse ribs or ribs crossing
the axes of the rollers.
The pair of upper ribbed rollers are pressed into contact with the
lower ribbed roller by means of springs acting on their bearings. The
bottom roller is rotated by a winch or otherwise, the motion of the
bottom roller being transmitted to the upper rollers by frictional contact
between the said rollers. The upper rollers, besides having a rotatory.
motion, have also a longitudinal sliding motion in opposite directions in
their bearings. This sliding motion is effected by the following parts:-
On each end of the axis of the bottom roller is a cam, the acting face of
which has a wave-like or undulating figure, the said face being made up
of a series of alternate rises and depressions. The ends of the axes of
the upper rollers project from their bearings, and bear against the cams
described, the said cams being so arranged that a rise on one cam is
On the rotation of the
opposite a depressed part on the other cam.
bottom roller a reciprocating sliding motion is communicated to the top
rollers by the said cams, the said rollers moving in opposite directions.
By the motions described of the set of ribbed rollers the clothes, linen,
or articles as they are passed between them are subjected to a compound
rubbing action whereby they are effectually washed.
It is preferred to place the set of rubbing rollers at the middle of the
tub or vessel containing the washing liquid, and to pass the clothes,
after they have been thoroughly wetted and had soap applied to them,
backwards and forwards through the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Samuel Gould in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
GOULD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Miller, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of November, in
the year of our Lord. One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three,
3

page_text: in the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Gould, Her special
license that I, the said Samuel Gould, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Gould, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ircland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
WASHING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Samuel Gould, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Letters Patent.
66
NOW KNOW YE; that I, the said Samuel Gould, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in constructing and combining the parts of
machines for washing clothes, linen, and other like articles in the
following manner:-The said machine consists essentially of a set of
three parallel rollers, supported and working in bearings carried by
uprights fixed on opposite sides of the tub or vessel in which the articles
are to be washed. The said set of rollers consists of two small upper
rollers and a large bottom roller, the surfaces of the said rollers being
made into rubbing surfaces by means of transverse ribs or ribs crossing
the axes of the rollers.
The pair of upper ribbed rollers are pressed into contact with the
lower ribbed roller by means of springs acting on their bearings. The
bottom roller is rotated by a winch or otherwise, the motion of the
bottom roller being transmitted to the upper rollers by frictional contact
between the said rollers. The upper rollers, besides having a rotatory
motion, have also a longitudinal sliding motion in opposite directions in
their bearings. This sliding motion is effected by the following parts :-
On each end of the axis of the bottom roller is a cam, the acting face of:

page_text: 4
a, b, are the two small upper rollers and c'is the large bottom roller,
the said rollers a, b, c, being ribbed, the ribs crossing the axes of the
said rollers (see Figure 2). The rollers: a, b, c, have a rotatory motion
given to them, and the two upper rollers a, b, have also a longitudinal
sliding motion given to them, as herein-after explained. d, d³, d, d², are
the uprights or supporting brackets of the machine. The said brackets
are secured to the box or vessel e by the clips d³, d³, on the inner side of
the said brackets, embracing the edge of the box or vessel in the manner
best seen in Figure 5, and by thumbscrews f at the lower ends of the
said brackets taking into screw nuts let into the box or vessel e. By
this arrangement the machine is fixed to and removed from the box or
vessel containing the washing liquid with great facility, and the said box
or vessel after the machine has been removed may be used as a table for
laundry purposes by covering it with a lid or cover.
!
The axis or spindle g of the lower ribbed roller c is supported and
works in the bearings at d in the middle of the brackets d, the ends of
the said spindle g projecting beyond the said brackets. On the said pro-
jecting ends of the spindle g are cams h, i, the faces of the said cams
having the wave-like or undulating shape best seen in Figure 2.
one end of the spindle g is a winch or handle k (see Figure 1) for
working the machine. The axes or spindles a³, 63, of the upper ribbed
rollers a, b, pass through and turn in openings in the cross pieces 7, the
said cross pieces sliding in dovetails in the inner sides of the parts d², d²,
of the brackets d, d². These cross pieces are pressed down by. coiled
springs m, m, and the rollers a, b, are thereby pressed into contact with
the lower ribbed roller c. The axes or spindles a³, 62, of the rollers a, b,
project beyond the brackets d, d³, and the ends of each spindle are
alternately acted upon by the cams h, i, so as to give a reciprocating
sliding motion in opposite directions to the said rollers a, b. The
cams h, i, are so arranged on the spindle g that a rise on one cam is
opposite a depressed part of the other cam. When the axis or spindle g
'
.
is turned by the winch or handle k rotatory motion is communicated to
the lower ribbed roller c and to the cams h, i, on the ends of the spindle
of the said roller, the motion of the said bottom roller c being trans-
mitted to the upper rollers a, b, by frictional contact. As the cams h, i,
rotate with the bottom roller.c they give a sliding motion to the ribbed
upper rollers a, b, the said rollers a, b, moving in opposite directions,
that is, when the roller bis being moved in the direction of the arrow,
.

page_text: Figure 2, by the cam h, the roller a is being simultaneously moved in
the opposite direction by the cam i, and the reverse, as will be under-
stood by an examination of Figure 2.
The clothes, linen, or other like articles to be washed being placed
between the ribbed lower roller c and one of the ribbed upper rollers a
or b, and the machine being set to work, they are seized by the said
rollers and carried through the machine. By the compound motion of
the upper ribbed rollers a, b, combined with the rotatory motion of the
lower ribbed roller c, the linen or clothes are subjected to a compound
rubbing action, and thereby efficiently washed. The linen or clothes are
passed through the machine as many times as are required.
The ends of the spindles a², 62, of the rollers a, b, against which the
cams h, i, act may be made capable of sliding in ferrules or sockets, and
be pressed outwards by coiled springs, so as to be always in contact with
the said cams; and the extreme ends of the said sliding parts of the
spindles may be furnished with spheres or antifriction rollers.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention of improvements in washing
machines, the combination of a pair of upper rollers and a single bottom
roller having transverse ribs or rubbing surfaces upon them, between
which rollers the clothes, linen, or other like articles to be washed are
passed, the upper ribbed rollers having in addition to a rotatory motion
a reciprocating sliding motion given to them, the parts of the machine
being constructed, arranged, and worked substantially as described and
illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Gould, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four
SAMUEL GOULD. (L.S.)
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.