AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SWEEPING CARPETS AND OTHER FLOOR COVERINGS AND FLOORS BY THE ACTION OF AN ATMOSPHERIC CURRENT
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting
Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR SWEEPING
CARPETS AND OTHER FLOOR COVERINGS AND FLOORS BY THE ACTION OF AN
ATMOSPHERIC CURRENT.”—A communication from abroad by Arthur
John Hapgood, of the City and State of New York, United States
of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 7th March 1870, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," Southampton
Buildings, London, Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR SWEEPING CARPETS AND OTHER FLOOR COVERINGS AND FLOORS BY
THE ACTION OF AN ATMOSPHERIC CURRENT," and have petitioned Her Majesty
to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal

page_text: Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that it
has been communicated to me from abroad by Arthur John Hapgood,
of the City and State of New York, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do
hereby declare that the following Complete Specification, under my i
hand and scal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing forming a part of this Specification :-
My Invention relates to a machine chiefly designed to be used instead 1
of brooms or brushes for cleaning carpets, and the nature of the said
Invention consists in mechanism for producing a draught or current of
air to take up the dust and dirt, and carry the fine particles into a
porous air chamber, which allows the air to escape while the dust is
retained therein.

page_text: a pan for retaining the large or heavy particles of dirt, the front edge
being so formed that substances too heavy to be carried with the light dust
by the current of air into the pan may be drawn up the inclined bottom
surface. The top or cover J' of the air passage is extended over the
pan, and by its peculiar construction it causes the current of air to be
drawn over a portion of the floor or carpet in front of the machine. The
narrow aperture J of the passage condenses the air as it is drawn in by
the fan, and produces a current at the entrance strong enough to carry
the dirt and dust with it, while at the rear the passage is enlarged so as
to diminish the force of the current and allow the heavy particles to be
separated from the light dust and deposited in the pan. The said pan is
connected at the back with the under side of the passage in such a
manner that when it is turned up the two parts of the joint are dis-
connected and an opening is obtained at O, through which the contents
may be discharged.
The machine is operated by taking the hand frame F in one hand and
turning the wheel E with the other, the machine moving forward over
the floor or carpet in the position shown in Figure 1.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I claim, a machine provided with a
fan arranged to produce a current or draught of air which draws the
dust or dirt from the floor into the machine, and having the case, fan,
air passage, mouth piece, and a porous receptacle, substantially as and
for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy.
0
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)
Witness,
JAMES TEARE,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.