OF
A WASHING MACHINE, FOR HOSPITALS,
Which confines the offensive Matter till cleansed away.
Doubtless, the salubrity of every place, where many people are collected, would be much increased, if all impure exhalations were expelled as soon as formed; and this is especially true of those awful but sublime receptacles, provided by Philanthropy, for the sick, the wounded, and the dying! To assist in the work of purifying the atmosphere of these doleful abodes, was the object (30 years ago) of the Ventilator, presented in [page 170] of this work. But, I conceive, that a share of evil, quite as great, resides in the putrescent qualities contained in or connected with the clothes, the bed-linen, the dressings, &c., of the inmates of an hospital; to whose sacred claims on the efforts of every good citizen, the present article is devoted.
This Washing Machine (see [Plate 31], [figs. 1 and 2]) is a triangular (or square) box A B, furnished with a lid a b, so fitted, as, when screwed down, to be hermetically closed.—And, N. B., to facilitate this operation, I use in it a particular kind of screw (invented for the hose of fire-engines), which I shall now describe. I take a common screw, with it’s nut, and cut away the threads of both, at two opposite quarters of their respective circumferences, so that the screw can enter the nut to the bottom without turning; and the stuffing between the shoulders is so well fitted, in thickness, as to secure the penetration of the threads of the nut and screw the moment the latter begins to turn. There is thus a full quarter of a turn, in which the nut and screw will press as strongly as though the threads had not been cut away; and thus are nine tenths of the time required to use a common screw saved by this simple process: and thus, then, I close the lid afore-mentioned.
This Machine is further composed of a wheel C D, and a pinion E, to turn it with, either by hand, or by any proper application of power. The wheel turns the box A B, and thus agitates the contents in a way not dissimilar to the operation of the dash-wheels of calico printers. But, again, this wheel and vessel turn upon two hollow gudgeons c d; one of which is destined to convey cold water into the wheel from the reservoir F G, to regulate which is the use of the cock f: the stuffing box e being made as good as possible, in order to prevent all leakage, either of air or water. The second hollow axis d serves two purposes: it gives a passage to the fetid matter of which the expulsion is desired, and conveys it through the cock g to the sink or sough below h, without any communication with the surrounding atmosphere.
But we said this hollow gudgeon had a second use: it is to bring steam into the revolving vessel A B, from any proper boiler beyond K, when that part of the process requires it.—There are, moreover, two partitions C D, l m, made near the ends of the vessel, and pierced with many holes, in order to suffer the cold water to flow in, and the dirty water to escape, without choking up the respective passages: and, finally, at the eduction end of the Machine (see n, o, p, [fig. 2]), there are placed three pipes, reaching from the angles of the box to the hollow centre, and furnished, at those angles, with valves, opening outwards; which thus form a kind of hydraulic machine to raise this matter from those places to the hollow centre, and thus, after a certain number of revolutions, to expel it entirely.
The process, then, for cleansing the objects contained in the vessel A B (including the condition of cutting off all communication with the ambient space,) is as follows:—
1st.—These objects are dropped into the vessel as soon as produced, and the vessel is filled, one half or more, with cold water from the reservoir F G. The things are then left to steep in this bath for a day or two, or what space of time the periodical mutations of the house permit. By which operation alone, the miasmata are already much confined by the water, even though the lid of the vessel should be but partially shut: after which, this steeping operation may be continued, with the accompaniment of a few turns of the handle (E) to fully saturate every part of the mass. In the second place, a small stream of water is let through the cock f, and the wheel C D is kept turning for a few hours, to discharge the cold water and the most offensive matter, through the cock g, into the sink: and, thirdly, the steam-cock K is opened (that g being shut), by which means steam is brought into the vessel A B, and the whole soon raised to the boiling temperature. This state of things is continued, as long as it is found necessary; the motion, of course, being also continued, and even accelerated, that the mass of objects may fall from angle to angle, and be thus well washed—that is, well finished, if plain things; and fully prepared for finishing, by hand, if of a nature to require close attention. And, finally, in many cases, the warm process may now be abandoned, and a new stream of cold water be injected, accompanied by a due motion in the vessel, so as to rince the contents; and thus leave nothing to do for the laundresses, but to dry and mangle, or iron them; where, it is plain, that no inconvenience can have arisen from this process, either to these persons, or to the other inmates of the house.—Hence, then, this Machine has the properties announced—of confining the offensive matter until cleansed away.