GB777854A - Improvements in and relating to washing, dry cleaning or like machines - Google Patents

Abstract

<PICT:0777854/III/1> <PICT:0777854/III/2> In a dry-cleaning machine comprising a perforated drum 1 provided on its inner periphery with beaters 7 and rotatable about a horizontal axis within an outer stationary casing 3, the drum 1 is formed at one end with an annular reservoir 9 divided from the main interior of the drum by a transverse baffle 8 but communicating with openings 10 in the ends of the hollow perforated beaters 7, and partition means 11 are provided within the reservoir to divide it into a plurality of segmental sections communicating in some or all cases with the beater openings 10, means 14 being provided to supply liquid from the sump of the casing 3 into the reservoir 9. The means 14 may comprise a pump which delivers liquid through an inlet pipe 16 extending through an annular inlet 15 in the end wall of the drum 1. In the example shown in Fig. 1 radial partitions 11 are located midway between the beater openings 10 and are formed with a progressively diminishing width to provide an inclined weir 11a over which the liquid can flow from one section of the reservoir to the next. Some of the liquid flows through the openings 10 and is sprayed on to the clothes through the openings in the beaters 7. Means including a spur wheel 2a are provided for rotating the drum, usually with continual reversal of the direction of rotation. Fig. 3 shows a modification in which pivoted partitions 12 are secured to the baffle 8 adjacent each beater opening 10, the arrangement being such that the opening of each beater as the latter rises from the sump is in direct communication with the reservoir section immediately above it, irrespective of the direction in which the drum is rotating. In a further modification (Fig. 4, not shown) fixed partitions are located one per opening alternately on opposite sides of the openings, whereby half of the beaters receive liquid from the reservoir sections during rotation of the drum in one direction and half during rotation in the other direction.