US349140A - Steam clothes-washer - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

0. BOAZ.

STEAM CLOTHES WASHER.

No. 349,140. Patented Sept.- 14, 1886.

I-NVENTOR WITNESSES ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS. Phutvllhographur, WzshIngh-m, ELC.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES BOAZ, on UTICA, ILLINOIS.

STEAM CLOTH ES-WASH ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,140, dated September 14-, 1886,

Application filed November 14, 1885. Serial No.182.820. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES BOAZ, of Utica, in-the county of La Salle and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Steam Clothes-Washer, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention consists in a novel apparatus or utensil for steaming clothes for the purpose of cleansing them, substantially as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 represents a partly-sectional plan of the apparatus; Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal section upon the line x in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 a vertical transverse section on the line y y in Fig. 1.

A is an oblong or other suitably shaped boiler adapted to stand upon a stove or range.

B is a clothes box or receptacle of somewhat smaller area than the boiler, so that when inserted in the boiler it will leave a vacant space, 8, between its lateral exterior and the lateral interior of the boiler, for the purpose of introducing down between the boiler and the clothesbox a loose deep cover or case, 0, extending up above the boiler and the clothes-box, and constructed with a reservoir or chamber, 1), in its upper portion.

The clothes-box B, which is provided with a removable lid, 0, has its sides extended some little distance, say three and a half inches, more or less, below its bottom d, which is thickly perforated, as at 6. Only a small quantity or depth of water, it, say two inches, more or less, is introduced into the bottom of the boiler whenusing the apparatus, so that when the clothes-box B is inserted down within the boiler A the raised perforated bottom d of the box is above the water in the boiler. This forms a steam-space, f, beneath the perforated bottom within the lower extended portion of the sides of the box, which rest upon.

the bottom of the boiler. The combined cover and reservoir O I), when the apparatus is in use, also rests by its lower edges on the bottom of the boiler A, thus virtually forming a water-sealed joint, which prevents escape of steam or evaporated suds up or from within the sides of the apparatus.

The apparatus being placed over the fire, with the clothes to be cleansed placed in the box B, the reservoir 1) in the cover 0 is charged with cold water, 1). Theheating or boiling of the water a in the bottom of the boiler generates vapor or steam, which, passing up through the perforated bottom (I of the clothesbox, permeates and thoroughly cleanses the clothes in said box. As the steam rises through the clothes, it passes through perforations g in the upper part of the clothesbox to the space in the cover Oimmediately beneath the reservoir b, and is condensed by the cold water v in the reservoir, thus preventing the steam from passing into the room. A safety-tube, h, is passed up through the reservoir, opening below into the space above the clothes-box, to avoid all possibility of danger from confinement of the steam, especially in case of neglect to fill or keep the reservoir 1) charged with cold water. An opening in the'top of the reservoir, covered by a lid, serves to charge the reservoir with cold water, and a faucet, i, in the side of the reservoir to draw the water off when required.

The following results are produced by the use of the apparatus, as hereinbefore described: Little or no steam will escape from the apparatus to steam the house. But a very small quantity of water is needed to cleanse the clothes. by steam, and do not come in contact with the water, so that there is no dirty water to run into the clothes and make them yellow or discolored. The steam, too, has a bleaching action on the clothes, making those which are white retain their color. After the clothes are put in the washing or steaming apparatus, no further attention is necessary till they are ready to be taken out. As hereinbefore observed, the cold-water reservoir condenses the steam and prevents its escape into the room. Soap, too, is economized. By the time the washing or steaming of the clothes is completed the water in the reservoir, unless a repeated supply of fresh cold water be made, Will be sufficiently heated to allow of it being used for sudsing the clothes, thus dispensing The clothes are washed exclusively with separate vessels on the stove expressly charged with water for the purpose.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an apparatus or utensil for washing clothes by steam, the combination. with the boiler A and the inner clothes-box, 13, having a raised perforated bottom, of the interposed cover or case 0, provided with an upper coldwater reservoir, Z1, essentially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. In the within-described apparatus or utensil for washing clothes by steam, the cover 01 case 0, having an upper cold-water reser voir or chamber, 7), provided with a steam outlet or tube, 71, passing down and through it, substantially as specified.

cover or case, 0, the sides of which extend between the boiler and clothes-box, and rest upon the bottom of the boiler, said coveror case being provided with an upper cold-water reservoir or chamber, I), above the clothes-box, cssentially as shown and described.

(llliArlt LlIS BOAZ.

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