US157579A - Improvement in washing-machines - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT QEEICE.

ALMON H. CALKINS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

i IMPROVEMENT IN WASHING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of-Letters Patent No. 157,579, dated December 8, 1374; application filed March 16, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, ALMON H. CALKINs, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in VVashing-Machines7 of which improvements the following is a full, clear, and exact description, which will enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, and in'which- Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a machine provided with my improvements, a part of the standards being broken away in order that the parts arranged therein maybe more clearly shown; Fig. 2, an end elevation of the same, one of the standards being removed; Fig. 3, a side elevation of one of the end plates of the jacket, showing a modification in the construction and arrangement of the yielding bar or brace operating in connection therewith.

In the drawing, A represents the baseboard. B B are the standards or end pieces. C is a large corrugated roller, having bearings in the end pieces. D is a crank, by means of which the roller C may be rotated.

' E E are small rollers lying on the roller C.

F F are semicircular plates, each made in two parts, so jointed to each other that each part is capable of an independent vertically-swing ing movement on its hinge. The spindles of the rollers E E have bearings in the plates F F. The standards B B are vertically slotted. G G are pins or hooks xedin the vertical slots of the standards. H H are plates extending vertically and laterally across the outer faces `of the plates F F. The parts H I-I are vertically slotted to receive the spindles of the central roller of the rollers E E, as shown at a. a', c, and c are projections extending from the plates H H, and lapping the upper edges of the p'lates F F, the part a lapping the central part of the said plates, and the other projections lying about midway between the part a and the lower ends ofthe said plates. I is a roller resting on the parts a. a. t' t' are spindles projecting from the roller I, and lying out of the longi` tudinal center of the said roller. The spindlesz' t pass through slots c a, and enter the vertical slots inthe standards. anti-friction rollers or thimbles on the spindles z' i. K K are close spiral springs attached to the spindles and to the pins G G.

In the operation of washing, the clothes are fed between the roller C and the rollers E E. By turning the crank D in opposite directions the clothes may be carried back and forth between the rollers, and are thus washed. When the clothes are sufficiently washed they are delivered from between the rollers by turning the crank in the same direction until the clothes are no longer grasped by the rollers. The Whole jacket of yielding rollers is vertically yielding, and the rollers of which it is constituted, with the exception of the central roller, also have a spreading movement. In order to increase the action of the springs K K, the roller I is turned insuch a direction as to carry the spindles t' z' upward. The action of these springs is diminished by turning the roller in the opposite direction. `Heretofore the springs in machines of this class have been arranged so low as to be submerged during the operation of washing, and their temper is likely to be: lost, owing to their frequent and long submersion in hot w ater. The means employed to graduate the force of the lsprings has also been arranged so low as to be submerged.

The object of my present invention is to improve the construction and operation of the machine by arranging the springs, and the means of adjusting or regulating their force, sufficiently high to be above-the water under ordinary circumstances.

In order to produce a greater pressure upon the yielding jacket, the following means may be employed: K is a spring resting on the part I. L is a cross-bar attached to the spring K', and entering the vertical slots in tlie standards. I is a roller resting on the bar L, and constructed in` all respects like the part I. The spindles of the roller I enter the vertical slots in the standards. M M are sliding blocks resting on the spindles of the roller I'. N N are set-screws, against which the blocks M are forced by the spring K. The force of this spring may be increased, either by turning the roller I until its spindles move upward or by screwing down the screws N N. In using thc V the extensions e and e', arranged to tap the spring K and the means employed to regulate its pressure, the springs K K may be omitted; and as the roller I need not be -constructed to perform functions of a cam, the spring K may rest on the parts a a', instead of on the part G. The springs K K and the means employed to regulate their force may also be used independently of the spring K and the means employed to regulate its force, and both forms of springs may be used in connection with each other and with the means employed to regulate their force.

It Will be observed, from reference to Figs. 2 and 3, that it is immaterial Whether the lateral arms of the parts H H are provided With upper edge of the plates F F, as shown in Fig. 2, or the said arms rest on projections F F, one or more vertically-yielding cam-rolll ers, the bar L, the spring K, the plates H H, and the roller G, all substantially as and for the purposes specified.

ALMON H. CALKINS. Witnesses:

F. F. WARNER, N. G. GRIDLEY.

Images