GB655721A - Improvements relating to laundry washing machines - Google Patents

Abstract

<PICT:0655721/III/1> In a dry-cleaning machine having a stationary casing 1 enclosing an oscillatory cage or drum 2, and having in the lower part of the cage a device 3 for lifting the contained goods out of the liquid as oscillation begins, and in the upper part of the cage a reaction member 6 against which the goods are squeezed as oscillation terminates, the reaction member is counter-balanced by a pendulous counter-weight 7 outside the casing so that there is an initially low squeezing pressure as the goods first contact the reaction member, which pressure gradually increases to a maximum as the reaction member and counter-weight are displaced from the position of equilibrium. The reaction member 6 is normally held in a vertical position by the counter-weight 7, and both are mounted on a shaft 8 which rotates in trunnions at the ends of the cage 2. The device 3 comprises a longitudinal partition dividing the cage into two separate washing spaces into each of which one half of the load is placed. The lifting device 3 and the reaction member 6 may have perforated walls as well as the cage 2. The oscillation of the cage 2 is produced by means of a pair of cranks connected by a rigid rod, one crank being of longer stroke than the other. The amplitude of the oscillation is normally not less than 300 degrees, and not more than 540 degrees. Where this angle is 340 degrees or more the motion of one crank is doubled by a two-to-one gear. The machine is preferably electrically driven, the electric drive being imparted to the rotary cage through a fluid clutch. Doors 4, 5 are provided along both sides of the cage 2 and casing 1. The Provisional Specification describes also a machine in which the reaction member and lifter move towards and away from each other so that the squeezing action takes place in a horizontal position, and the counter-weight may be replaced by spring means.