GB190313134A - Improvements in or relating to Laundry Machines. - Google Patents

Abstract

13,134. Bennett, W. June 11. Washing-machines; starching clothes.-Fig. 2 shows a front view of a laundry machine, in which the clothes are boiled, washed, or starched in a hexagonal prism-shaped tub 2, made either of metal, such as copper or aluminium plates riveted together and closed at each end by a flanged plate, or of wooden boards bound together by metal hoops 3. The clothes and cleansing liquid are introduced into the tub through a hole 5 in a cover 4, which hole is then closed by a water-tight lid 6. The tub, which may have ribs, feather boards, or beaters projecting interiorly from the junctions of the boards, and is provided with a draw-off plug 7<a>, is mounted in an inclined position, and is rotated by bevel gearing from a shaft 14. The latter carries two loose pulleys 15, 15<a>, engaged respectively by a crossed and an open belt, and a fixed pulley 16, the boss of the pulley 15 having a sleeve-like extension 25, on which is formed a worm 24, gearing with a worm-wheel 23, which runs on a stud carried by the machine frame. As the wheel 23 rotates, an eccentric pin 22 works in the slotted end of a pivoted lever 19, the other end of which engages with a hinged fork 20 on a horizontal bar 17, so that the lather is reciprocated in guides formed by the framework of the machine, causing belt-shifting forks 18 to alternately move the crossed and open belts on to the pulley 16, and automatically reverse the driving of the shaft 14, and the rotation of the tub 2. When the reversing-gear is not required, the fork 20 is swung back out of engagement with the arm 19, and the bar 17 locked by a catch 26. In another form, the tub 2 rotates within a fixed casing, preferably of sheet metal, a flanged socket being bolted to the underside of the tub and keyed to the shaft by which the tub is rotated. The walls of the tub are perforated, and a thorough circulation of the cleansing-liquid is ensured by inclined webs or the like, bolted to the exterior junctions of the sides of the tub. The temperature of the liquid is maintained by steam admitted by a pipe leading into the outer casing. When the steam is turned off, the machine may be used as a hydro-extractor for removing excess of moisture from the clothes by rotating the tub at a much greater speed. For this purpose, a pair of fast and loose pulleys, of a small diameter, are mounted on the shaft 14, and while the crossed and open belts are riding, respectively, on the loose pulleys 15, 15<a>, a belt from a driving-shaft is moved by an ordinary belt-shifting fork, on to the small fast pulley, to drive the shaft 14.