Ax IMPROVED FORM OF ELASTIC SPRING APPLICABLE TO BEDSTEADS, SOPAS, CHAIRS, THE PADDING AND SEATS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Searby, of Newgate Street, in the City of
London, Engraver, for the Invention of "Ax IMPROVED FORM OF ELASTIC
SPRING APPLICABLE TO BEDSTEADS, SOPAS, CHAIRS, THE PADDING AND SEATS OF
Sealed the 21st May 1858, and dated the 24th November 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Searby at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th November 1857.
I, WILLIAM SEARBY, of Newgate Street, in the City of London, Engraver,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED FORM
OF ELASTIC SPRING APPLICABLE TO BEDSTEADS, SOFAS, CHAIRS, THE PADDING AND
SEATS OF CARRIAGES, AND OTHER SINILAR PURPOSES," a communication, to be as
follows:-
It consists of a piece of elastic metal, preferably steel; or elastic wood, or
bone, preferably cane or whalebone; this metal, or wood, or bone is set, bent,
or compressed into a curved form, so that when pressure is applied it will by
altering its figure, having the curve either flattened or sharpened, or otherwise
changed, yield to the pressure, and when the pressure is removed resume its
original form. When applied in practice to any article, I prefer to have the
extremities of the springs or the parts of them which receive the thrust of the
pressure applied, so arranged that they shall be free to play or move, so as to
allow the elongation and contraction of the curved form of the spring; I effect:
this by allowing the extremities to slide in grooves, or on rollers, or by attach-
ing the ends or bearing parts to a hook or eye, which said hook or eye is:
allowed to travel freely in another bent and fixed guide hook, or by any other
known process for effecting that purpose.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Searby in the Great Scal Patent Office, on the
24th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SEARBY, of Newgate Street, in the City of London, Engraver, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Searby, Her special licence, that I, the said William
Searby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Searby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED FORM OF
ELASTIC SPRING APPLICABLE TO BEDSTEADS, SOFAS, CHAIRS, THE PADDING AND SEATS
OF CABBIAGES AND OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," "a communication," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Searby, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Oflice within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Searby, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:
It consists of a curved spring to be applied to bedsteads, sofas, chairs, and
other similar articles for sitting or reclining upon, the mode of forming and
applying which will be understood from the following description, reference
being made to the Drawings accompanying this Specification, which are
intended more fully to illustrate it.
The spring, which is preferably of rolled steel, is made curved in form and
nearly semicircular when of small span and not pressed upon; it varies in
thickness according to the size of the article to which it is to be applied, but
it should always be sufficiently thin to have a considerable amount of elasticity
upon a slight pressure being applied.

page_text: Figure 1 shews the form of the spring when to be applied to a seat or stool,
and free from tension or pressure; it will be seen that each end is looped or
bent freely round the one side of a metallic buckle a, a, so as to turn freely in
it, the buckle in like manner turning freely in the loop or eye of the spring;
the the other side of the buckle is attached or hooked on to a looped strap b, b,
so as to turn easily in it. When applied to an article for sitting or reclining
upon, as a bedstead or seat, the straps b, b, are attached to the frame of the
article, and the springs in such numbers as may be thought requisite are thus
made to span the part which the mattress or cushion is placed, serving the
latter for a support; it will be apparent that when pressure or weight is
put upon the mattress or cushion the springs will yield; the curve becoming
flattened, the extremities will press upon the buckles and urge them down-
wards, to allow for the increased span of the spring. The mode of applying
the springs and the arrangement and action of the spring and the buckles are
shewn in Figures 2, 3, and 4; Figs. 2 and 3 being an elevation and plan of
a spring applied to the frame of a bed. x, the spring; a, a, the buckles; b, b,
the looped straps or hooks, firmly fixed to the frame of the bedstead c, c.
Figure 4 shew's the form the spring takes and the position of the buckles
when pressure is applied; Figure 5 shews the springs applied to an angle-
iron metallic bedstead; the number of the springs applied to such may be
increased or diminished, as thought requisite. Figure 6 shews the application
of the same to a chair.
Instead of having hooks to cach spring I prefer to take a strip or band of
hoop iron, in width proportioned to the article to which it is to be applied; I
then make incisions or cuts along it (see Figure 7), and turn back the portion
cut, so as to form a loop or hook, as at d, d, d, the space between each being
according to the number of springs required in a given area; fastening the
buckles over these hooked portions, a whole frame of springs is at once con-
structed; the slip of hoop iron is then firmly fixed to the frame of the bed-
stead or whatever other article it may be applied to. In cases of metallic
bedsteads it will sometimes be found convenient to make the last-described
cuts in the side frame of the bedstead itself, and form the loops or hooks upon
it, and so dispense with either single hooks attached or the slip of hoop.
iron.
In other cases the buckles may be omitted, and the arrangement then is to
have a button screwed or fastened to each end of the spring; the button neck
passes within a slot made in the strap or hook which is fixed to the frame, so
that upon pressure being applied to the spring the ends move in the slot, so as
to allow for clongation or motion backwards and forewards. This arrangement

page_text: is shown in Figures 8 and 9, the former being an elevation, the latter a
plan.
Although the springs of the form and arrangement described, and to be
applied to the purpose mentioned, are best suited when made of steel, yet I do
not confine myself to that metal alone, for other metals, as brass, for instance,
or wood or bone, as cane or whalebone, may be formed and prepared in a
similar manner and applied to the same purposes.
Having now described my Invention, and how the same is to be formed and
arranged, and the purposes for which it is to be applied, I wish it understood
that what I claim and want secured by the before in part recited Letters
Patent, arc,-
First, the construction and general arrangement of a metallic, bone, or
wooden spring or springs in combination with the buckles and looped straps
or hooks, and the application of the same to metallic or other bedsteads,
chairs, sofas, and other similar articles for sitting or reclining upon, sub-
stantially as described in the Specification, and illustrated in the Drawings
appended thereto.
Second, the construction, arrangement, and aforesaid application of the said
springs, with the buckles attached to the hooks or loops formed on the slip of
of hoop iron, or on the frames of metallic bedstends, substantially as described
in the Specification and Drawings aforesaid.
Third, the construction, arrangement, and aforesaid application of the said
springs without the buckles, having the button sliding in the groove in the
strap or slip of hoop iron, substantially as set forth in the Specification, and
illustrated in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Searby, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness.
JAMES WRIGHT,
Newington Causway.
WILLIAM SEARBY. (L.s.)