Improvements in the Manufacture of Mattress Frames, Ships' Berths, and other analogous Structures and Furniture.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Dec., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Sept., 1892-Accepted, 29th Oct., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Mattress Frames, Ships' Berths,
and other analogous Structures and Furniture.
We ISAAC CHORLTON of 17 Blackfriars Street Manchester in the County of
Lancaster Spring Mattress Manufacturer and GEORGE LAMB SCOTT of the
same place Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows
Our said invention relates chiefly to improvements in the construction of mattress
frames having wooden or metallic sides and wooden ends carrying elastic woven
wire or other metallic mattress surfaces and also to mattress frames having both
sides and ends of metal or sides of wood and ends of metal. The first part of our
invention relates more particularly to an improved mode of connecting the wooden
ends of such mattresses to the sides, while the remaining part of the invention
refers chiefly to an improved method of attaching the metallic ends of angular or
other section to the corner brackets which latter may be mounted upon sides of
wood or of metal.
Referring to the first part of our invention the usual mode of securing the
wooden end bars to the wooden sides of such mattress frames is to insert a square
or round bolt vertically through the extremities of the wooden eud bars and
through the sides. These bolts being near the end and being usually driven in are
very apt to split and weaken the ends, and as there is but one bolt at each corner
the frame is easily distorted both in the horizontal and in the vertical plane...To
remedy these defects we fit the ends of the sides with metallic shoes presenting
flanges against which the outer sides of the ends abut when placed as usual, upon
the top of the sides. Under our invention it is to these metallic fittings that the
end bars are secured instead of being bolted directly to the sides as usual. Instead
of passing the bolts vertically through the ends we introduce the bolts through the
ends in a horizontal direction thus traversing the breadth of the ends instead of
the depth as before and so presenting increased holding contact to the bolts. The
bolts are square and are driven through holes bored in the ends. The screwed
extremities of the bolts pass through the upwardly projecting flanges of the
metallic shoes on the sides and receive a nut by which the ends are tightly clamped
against the metal shoes. The ends are thus firmly bound between the bolt heads
and the shoes with the result that all splitting of the ends is prevented and in fact
rendered impossible since the fibres in the direction of which the splitting takes
place are firmly bound and held together instead of being forced apart as is the
case under the present practice. The faces of the flanges against which the
wooden ends are bolted are serrated, roughened or furnished with points which
enter the wooden ends and thereby prevent working of the parts thus conferring
additional rigidity upon the frame. The holes in the flanges through which the
bolts pass are squared to fit the bolt so that when screwing up, the bolts are not
turned or twisted in the wooden ends, as might otherwise happen. An additional
advantage gained by the foregoing mode of construction is that the mattress frame
is more firmly held together at the corners and is not so liable to distortion either
in the horizontal or vertical plane while the end bars cannot be canted by the strain
of the mattress surface.
The remaining part of our invention relates to a ready method of connecting
metallic end bars (for example ends of angle iron or steel) to the usual corner
brackets whether these latter are mounted upon wooden or metallic sides. We
form the outer faces of the said corner brackets with vee recesses or slots and we
rivet vee pieces to the inner side of the vertical web of the angle iron end, when

page_text: The
such is used. The vee pieces fit the vee recesses in the brackets so that in putting
a frame together we slip the sides into position on the ends, the vee pieces on the
ends entering and occupying the vee recesses in the corner brackets.
vee pieces are made with stops which prevent the pieces from entering further
than the requisite distance. The said vee pieces could of course be applied to
metallic ends other than of angle section and might in some cases be applied to
wooden ends. Slots and pieces other than of vee sections might be used. A
metallic frame constructed in this improved method possesses the advantages in
stiffness and rigidity of a frame permanently rivetted together, combined with
facilities for taking it readily to pieces. The improvement is more especially
applicable to non-adjustable mattress frames, but might also be used in conjunction
with the adjustable ends of mattress frames.
It will be evident that the foregoing improvements are applicable not only to
mattress frames but also to ships berths and to all structures and furniture of a
nature analogous to mattress frames that is to say to all frames adapted to receive
a supporting elastic woven wire or other surface whether used as a mattress, berth,
couch, seat or rest for the whole or part of the body.
Dated this 24th day of December 1891.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James' Square, Manchester, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Mattress Frames, Ships' Berths,
and other analogous Structures and Furniture.
We ISAAC CHORLTON of 17 Blackfriars Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Spring Mattress Manufacturer, and GEORGE LAMB SCOTT of the
same place, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying drawings:
:-
Our said invention relates chiefly to improvements in the construction of mattress
frames having wooden or metallic sides and wooden ends carrying elastic woven
wire or other metallic mattress surfaces and also to mattress frames having both
sides and ends of metal or sides of wood and ends of metal.
The first part of our invention relates more particularly to an improved mode of
connecting the wooden ends of such mattresses to the sides, while the remaining
part of the invention refers chiefly to an improved method of attaching the metallic
ends of angular or other section to the corner brackets which latter may be mounted
upon sides of wood or of metal.
Referring to the first part of our invention the usual mode of securing the
wooden end bars to the wooden sides of such mattress frames is to insert a square
or round bolt vertically through the extremities of the wooden end bars and
through the sides. These bolts being near the end and being usually driven in are
very apt to split and weaken the ends and as there is but one bolt at each corner
the frame is easily distorted both in the horizontal and in the vertical plane. To
remedy these defects we have devised certain improvements which are illustrated
in the annexed sheet of drawings.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings we fit the ends of the wooden sides a
of a mattress frame with metallic shoes presenting flanges b' against which the
outer sides of the ends cabut when placed as usual upon the top of the sides a.
The shoes b are of the form indicated and are partly checked into the ends of the
'gides a.
Under our invention it is to these metallic fittings or shoes that the
end bars c are secured instead of being bolted directly to the sides a as usual.
Instead of passing the bolts vertically through the ends c we introduce the bolts d
through the ends in a horizontal direction as shown in the drawing thus traversing

page_text: the breadth of the ends c instead of the depth as before and so presenting increased
holding contact to the bolts d. The bolts are square at the necks and are driven
through holes bored in the ends. The screwed extremities of the bolts d pass
through the upwardly projecting flanges b' of the metallic shoes b on the sides and
receive a nut d' by which the ends are tightly clamped against the metal shoes.
The ends e are thus firmly bound between the bolt heads and the flanges a' of the
shoes with the result that all splitting of the ends is prevented and in fact rendered
impossible since the fibres in the direction of which the splitting takes place are
firmly bound and held together instead of being forced apart as is the case under
the present practice. The nut d' might either be to the outside as in the left hand
side of Fig. 1 or to the inside as on the right hand side of the same fig. The faces
of the flanges b' against which the wooden ends are bolted are or may be serrated
roughened or furnished with points e as indicated on the right hand side of Fig. 1,
which enter the wooden ends and thereby prevent working of the parts thus conferring
additional rigidity upon the frame. When the nut is to the inside the holes in the
flanges through which the bolts pass are squared to fit the bolt so that when
screwing up, the bolts are not turned or twisted in the wooden ends as might
otherwise happen. An additional advantage gained by the foregoing mode of
construction is that the mattress frame is more firmly held at the corners and is not
so liable to distortion either in the horizontal or vertical plane while the end bars
cannot be canted by the strain of the mattress frame f. Fig. 2 is an end view of
both the right and left hand shoes b in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a simpler form of
shoe or bracket b. The remaining part of our invention relates to a ready method
of connecting metallic end bars (for example ends of angle iron or steel) to the
usual corner brackets whether these latter are mounted upon wooden or metallic
sides. Figs. 4, 5 and 6 illustrate this part of our invention. Fig. 4 is a side view
of a mattress frame having tubular sides a and angle iron or steel ends b. The
corner brackets to carry the said angle ends are lettered c in the drawings. We
form the outer faces of the said corner brackets c with vee recesses or slots and we
rivet vee pieces c¹ to the inner side of the vertical web of the angle iron end b.
The vee pieces c¹ fit the vee recesses in the brackets c so that in putting a frame
together we slip the sides into position on the ends, the vee pieces on the ends
entering and occupying the vec recesses in the corner brackets. The vee pieces
are made with stops or shoulders c³ which prevent the pieces from entering further
than the requisite distance. The said vee pieces could of course be applied to
metallic ends other than of angle section and might in some cases be applied to
wooden ends as for example in Fig. 5. Slots and pieces other than of vee sections
might be used. It will be evident that the arrangement of vee piece and vee slot
might be reversed that is to say the vee pieces or projections might be on the
corner brackets and the vee grooves or slots in pieces attached to the ends. Such
an arrangement would be no deviation from our invention. A metallic frame
constructed in this improved method possesses the advantages in stiffness and
rigidity of a frame permanently rivetted together combined with facilities for
taking it readily to pieces. The improvement is more especially applicable to
non-adjustable mattress frames but might also be used in conjunction with the
adjustable ends of mattress frames. It will be evident that the foregoing improve-
ments are applicable not only to mattress frames but also to ships berths and to all
structures and furniture of a nature analogous to mattress frames that is to say
to all frames adapted to receive a supporting elastic woven wire or other surface
whether used as a mattress, berth, couch, seat or rest for the whole or part of
the body.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In the construction of mattress frames or analogous structures having wooden
and her to the al

page_text: of the side members with shoes or brackets against or to which the wooden end
bars are bolted by means of bolts passing horizontally through the breadth of the
end bars substantially as herein before described and shown.
2. In the construction of mattress frames or analogous structures forming the
corner brackets or brackets or shoes carried by the metallic or wooden side
members, with vee or other suitably shaped grooves or slots, and attaching corre-
spondingly shaped pieces to the metallic or wooden end members or vice versa so as
to facilitate putting together or taking apart the frame substantially as described
and shown.
Dated this 21st day of September 1892.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James' Square, Manchester, Agents.