A NEW OR IMPROVED SPRING PLATFORM OR MATTRESS FOR BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES USED FOR SITTING, LYING, OR RECLINING UPON
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Bird, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Upholsterer, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED SPRING
PLATFORM OR MATTRESS FOR BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES USED FOR
SITTING, LYING, OR RECLINING UPON."
Sealed the 23rd April 1858, and dated the 27th January 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Bird at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
January 1858.
I, ARTHUR BIRD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Upholsterer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
SPRING PLATFORM OR MATTRESS FOR BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES USED FOR
SITTING, LYING, OR RECLINING UPON," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of the method herein-after explained of giving
elasticity to the foundation of bedsteads and other such like articles. I make
the foundation of boarding or other bottoming, which I secure to the frame of
the bedstead in any convenient manner. Upon the said foundation I place a
series of coiled wire springs, and upon the top of each spring a small rectan-
gular board. The said boards are of such a size that they nearly.touch each
other at their edges, and thus form an almost continuous elastic platform. The
said boards are connected together by webbing, pieces of the said webbing

page_text: passing across the said boards both in the direction of the length of the bed
and also transversely. The said webbing is fixed to the boards by nailing or
otherwise, and the said webbing is also used on the under side, as well as on
the upper side of the boards. There is thus formed an elastic platform or
mattress, which yields to pressure applied at any part of it. The platform or
mattress may either be made of the size of the bed, or it may be made in two
or more portions. Although I prefer carrying my Invention into effect in the
manner described, yet each board may be supported on two or more springs
instead of one, and the boards may have a figure other than rectangular. The
platform may be covered with a quilted or other covering or stuffed cushion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Arthur Bird in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th July 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
BIRD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Upholsterer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Arthur Bird, Her special licence that I, the said Arthur Bird, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Arthur
Bird, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED SPRING
PLATFORM OR MATTRESS FOR BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES USED FOR SITTING,
LYING, OR RECLINING UPON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
Arthur Bird, 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 Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Arthur Bird, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of a new or improved spring platform or mattress for
bedsteads and other articles used for sitting, lying, or reclining upon, con-
structed in the manner herein-after described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing, the said spring platform or mattress giving elasticity to.
the foundation of the bedstead or other article.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing represents in perspective three.
spring platforms or mattresses made according to my Invention; the said
platforms or mattresses, Figure 1, when combined together are adapted for a
bedstead, and may be used in place of the ordinary mattress.
Instead of making the platform or mattress, Figure 1, of three pieces, I
sometimes make it in one or any other number of pieces.
Figure 2 represents in plan, and Figure 3 in vertical longitudinal section,
my new or improved platform or mattress. Figure 4 represents in plan a
portion of the same.
.
My new or improved platform or mattress consists of series of coiled springs
a, the lower ends of which rest on the base or foundation 6 of the platform..
The upper ends of the said springs a carry square or rectangular pieces of.
wood or other hard substance c. The said springs a have the form represented,
and are placed equidistant from each other, as shewn in Figures 2 and 4.
The rectangular boards c are securely fixed to the tops of the springs a, and
the said springs to the base or foundation 6 by iron or metal staples. The
said staples are marked d in Figure 4. I prefer to make the coiled springs a
of iron or steel wire, of about three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, the said
springs being hardened and tempered to the usual spring temper.
The boards care of such a size that they nearly touch each other at their
edges, and thus form an almost continuous elastic platform. I connect the
boards c together by webbing pieces of the said webbing marked e in Figure 2,
passing across the boards c, both in the direction of the length of the platform
or mattress and also transversely. The webbing e is fixed to the boards c by
nailing or in any other convenient way, and webbing is also attached to
the under sides of the boards c, in the manner represented and described with
respect to the upper sides of the said boards. I place pieces of fabric marked
f, in Figure 4, upon the base board 6, at those points where the coiled springs
are situated. I also place similar pieces of fabric on the under side of each of
the boards c. When the springs are compressed the coils of the said springs
are brought in contact with the said pieces of fabric, and the noise which would

page_text: be produced if the springs came in direct contact with the base b and boards c
is prevented.
The elastic platform or mattress, formed in the manner described and
represented, yields to pressure applied to any part of it. After having con-
structed the spring platform or mattress in the manner illustrated in Figures 2,
8, and 4, it may be covered with a quilted or other covering or stuffed cushion,
as illustrated in Figure 1. Instead of supporting each of the boards c by one
spring, each of the said boards may be supported by two or more springs, and
the said boards c may have a Figure other than rectangular.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature
of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention the new or improved spring
platform or mattress for bedsteads, and other articles used for sitting, lying, or
reclining upon, herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, that is to say, a platform or mattress, the upper surface of which is
composed of a series of horizontal boards, connected together by webbing and
supported upon a base or foundation by spiral springs.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Bird, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
ARTHUR BIRD. (L&)