IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS, SPRING MATTRESSES, AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR SITTING OR RECLINING UPON, AND IN THE SEATS OF OMNIBUSES, RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND OTHER VEHICLES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Wood, of the Firm of Lowe & Wood,
of the City of Manchester, Furniture Dealers, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS, SPRING MATTRESSES, AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR
SITTING OR RECLINING UPON, AND IN THE SEATS OF OMNIBUSES, RAILWAY
CARRIAGES, AND OTHER VEHICLES.”
Sealed the 8th March 1872, and dated the 18th December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Wood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th December 1871.
I, JOSEPH WOOD, of the Firm of Lowe & Wood, of the City of
Manchester, Furniture Dealers, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS, SPRING MATTRESSES, AND
OTHER ARTICLES FOR SITTING OR RECLINING UPON, AND IN THE SEATS OF OMNIBUSES,
RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND OTHER VEHICLES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is the production of an elastic surface
suitable as a substitute for the lathwork or ordinary bottoms of bedsteads,

page_text: and calculated at the same time to dispense with the usual straw or flock
mattresses, and when stretched upon a suitable frame is equally useful
as a spring mattress, or for forming the spring or elastic action in the
seating of sofas, chairs, and other similar articles, and in the seats of
omnibuses, railway carriages, and other vehicles, and consists in the use
and application to the purpose of bands of textile fabric, wire gauze,
metal, or other suitable material, connected together by spiral, metallic,
india-rubber, or other suitable extension springs, which, as applied to a
bedstead or mattress, are arranged by preference in the direction of the
length of such-bedstead or mattress, the elastic surface so formed being
secured to the head and bottom of the frame of the bedstead or mattress,
the head of which frame may be hinged or jointed to the sides, and by
having springs applied beneath it may so increase the elastic action and
afford facility for adjusting the tension of the elastic surface; or in the
case of a spring mattress the sides of the bedstead may be dispensed with
by having dovetails upon its framework to fit into the corresponding
sockets of the head and foot rail of the bedstead. This elastic surface
-may-be kept distended or stretched out laterally by means of elastic
metal stretchers, or may be secured direct to the sides of the framework.
And instead of bands, as herein-before described, short lengths of
webbing, cord, wire, or tape may be employed, connected together by
similar springs, and extending from the head to the foot of the bedstead
or mattress, and joined together laterally or transversely by being secured
to the bands herein-before described. These bands permit of the com-
bination of the well-known helical or spiral springs with an elastic
surface formed in accordance with this Invention, and are equally appli-
cable to those descriptions of spring mattresses or bottoms of bedstead
in which an..
..elastic surface is stretched upon a frame to obtain the
requisite elastic action, such helical springs preventing undue depression
of the mattress or bed in the centre when the weight is brought to bear
upon it. Whilst such bands also afford security against the breaking of
the springs, and instead of. transverse bands being employed, a sheet or
bands of textile fabric, or wire, or other network may be affixed to
similar springs at the head and foot of the bedstead or mattress, and be
supported in the centre by spiral or helical springs, or such sheet, bands,
or network may be arranged to pass over a roller at the head or at the
head-and-foot of the framework, and then be connected to springs affixed
beneath the framing.
..
1***
i

page_text: The extension springs employed in the construction of this elastic
surface may be formed with hooks at their extremities to hook direct into
holes, formed in 'the bands, which may be eyeletted in the case of textile
material being employed, or such springs may have separate hooks for the
purpose, or may be sewed or otherwise secured direct to the bands, or be
connected to tapes sewn, eyeletted, or otherwise secured to the bands.
The tension of this elastic surface may be adjusted to the greatest nicety
by laces or cords passing through suitable holes formed in the bands for
the purpose of drawing them closer together.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Wood in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
WOOD, of the Firm of Lowe and Wood, Furniture Dealers, of the City
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Joseph Wood, Her special licence that
I, the said Joseph Wood, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Joseph Wood, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times hereafter 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS,
SPRING MATTRESSES, AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR SITTING OR RECLINING UPON, AND IN
THE SEATS OF OMNIBUSES, RAILWAY CARRIAGES, AND OTHER VEHICLES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Wood, 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.

page_text: .
+
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Wood, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is the production of an elastic surface
suitable as a substitute for the lathwork or ordinary bottoms of bedsteads,
and calculated at the same time to dispense with the usual straw or flock
mattresses, and when stretched upon a suitable frame is equally useful
as a spring mattress, or for forming the spring or elastic action in the
seating of sofas, chairs, and other similar articles, and in the seats of
omnibuses, railway carriages, and other vehicles, and consists in the use
and application to the purpose of bands of textile fabric, wire gauze,
metal, or other suitable material; connected together by spiral, metallic,
india-rubber, or other suitable extension springs, which as applied to a
bedstead or mattress are arranged in the direction of the length of such
bedstead or mattress, the elastic surface so formed being secured to the
head and bottom of the frame of the bedstead or mattress, the head of
which frame may be hinged-or-jointed to the sides, and by having springs
applied beneath, it may so increase the elastic action, and afford facility
for adjusting the tension of the elastic surface; or in the case of a spring
mattress the sides of the bedstead may be dispensed with by having
dovetails upon its framework to fit into the corresponding sockets of
the head and foot rail of the bedstead.
And instead of bands, as herein-before described, short lengths of
webbing, cord, wire, or tape may be employed, connected together by
similar springs, and extending from the head to the foot of the bedstead
or mattress, and joined together laterally or transversely by being
secured to the bands herein-before described. These bands permit of
the combination of the well-known helical or spiral springs with an
elastic surface formed in accordance with this Invention, and are equally
applicable to those descriptions of spring mattresses or bottoms of bed-
steads in which an elastic.surface is stretched upon a frame, such helical
springs preventing undue depression of the mattress or bed in the centre
when the weight is brought to bear upon it, whilst such bands also afford
security against the breaking of the springs; and instead of transverse
bands being employed, a sheet or band of textile fabric or wire or other
network may be affixed to similar springs at the head and foot of the
bedstead or mattress, and be supported in the centre by spiral or helical

page_text: springs, or such sheet, bands, or network may be arranged to pass over
a roller at the head or at the head and foot of the framework, and then
be connected to springs affixed beneath the framing.
The extension springs employed in the construction of this elastic
surface may be formed with hooks at their extremities to hook direct
into holes formed in the bands, which may be eyeletted in the case of
textile material being employed, or such springs, may have separate
hooks for the purpose, or may be sewed or otherwise secured direct to
the bands, or be connected to tapes sewn, eyeletted, or otherwise secured
to the bands. The tension of this elastic surface may be adjusted to the
greatest nicety by laces or cords passing through suitable holes formed
in the bands for the purpose of drawing them closer together.
In order that this my said Invention may be the more readily seen
and understood, I have hereunto annexed a Drawing of a spring mattress
constructed according to this Invention, drawn to a scale of about one
inch and a half to the foot.
'
Fig. 1 is a plan or top view, and Fig. 2 a side view of a spring
mattress or bottom of bedstead showing several modifications in the
construction and arrangement of the elastic surface which is equally
available for all the purposes herein-before mentioned. Similar letters of
reference are used to denote similar parts in both the views.
4
A is a rectangular framework constructed of wood, angle iron, or
other suitable material, having its two ends B raised above the height of
the sides C, and bolted together at the corners, as illustrated; the dove-
tails or sockets D being designed to fit the corresponding sockets or
recesses in the head and foot rail of the bedstead, and thereby to dispense
with the usual sides of such bedstead; E, F, G, and H, are transverse
bands of various material, as herein-after described, which are connected
together at their edges by the spiral metallic extension springs I, which
are arranged, as illustrated, in the direction of the length of the frame-
work, and together with the aforesaid bands form an elastic surface
which is secured and distended between the ends B of the framework.
These transverse bands may be composed of strong textile fabric as
illustrated by the central band F, in which case the springs may be sewn,
hooked, or otherwise secured to eyelet holes J formed near the edges of
such textile bands; or instead of textile fabric the transverse bands may
be composed of short lengths of wire chain K (as seen in the band
marked E), connected together laterally by the hooks, tapes, or cords L,

page_text: tlie ends of such chains being linked direct to the springs I, or to the
intervening hooks M, or such bands may be formed of rectangular double
links of wire N (as seen in the band marked G) bent in the form
illustrated, and connected together by the links O.
any.
. Another form of band (marked H) consists of straight wire links P,
or flat or curved plates of metal Q (by preference steel) connected
together laterally by wire links R, as illustrated. It will thus be
apparent, that the transverse bands may be composed of suitable
material, using, by preference textile fabric, wire gauze, or woven wire,
wire, links or chains, as herein-before described. This elastic surface is
distended between the ends B of the framework, to, which it is secured
by means of hooks S taking into suitable holes formed in such ends, or.
may be connected to studs T secured in such ends of the framework,
or be affixed thereto in any other convenient manner.
it
+
It will also be apparent that the bands may be arranged in an oblique
direction across the framework, provided that the extension springs are
still arranged to operate in the direction of the length of the framework,
and that instead of transverse bands as herein-before described, short
lengths of webbing, cord, tape, wire or. chain, or metallic-plates may be
employed; connected together by similar springs, and extending, from
the head to the foot of the bedstead or mattress, and joined together
laterally in any convenient manner.
+
In order to give a bowed or bellied form to the elastic surface its edges
or sides may be affixed to the sides of the framework; and to prevent
undue depression in the centre the ordinary helical springs (used in the
construction of spring mattresses) may be applied beneath one of the
bands of the elastic surface, as shewn dotted beneath the central band F,
and marked U in Fig. 2. It should be here remarked that it is not
proposed to make the several bands which constitute a spring mattress
of different material and construction, as shewn in the Drawing, the
object in view in so illustrating them having been to show several
constructions and modifications of transverse bands.
The action of this elastic surface is as follows:-The springs being
arranged in the direction of the length of the bedstead or spring.mattress,
it will be readily apparent, when the weight of the body is brought
to bear r_upon them that they yield to the pressure in that direction, and
thus give an easy and elastic motion, whilst the transverse bands prevent
such springs moving out sideways:

page_text: Although I have only described the application of this elastic surface
to a bedstead and spring mattress, it will be obvious that it is equally
applicable for forming the bottoms of the bunks or beds in ships' berths,
and for giving the necessary elasticity in the seats of sofas, chairs, and
other articles for sitting or reclining upon, as well as in the seating and
backs of omnibuses, railway carriages, and other vehicles, by being dis-
tended across their framework, and covered with the usual cushioned or
upholstered work.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
my said Invention, together with the best methods with which I am
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details, relative
proportions, or dimensions of the various parts of the elastic surface
illustrated on the Drawing, as the same may be considerably varied
without departing from the Invention; but what I claim is the com-
bination and arrangement of bands of textile fabric, wire links, chains,
or other suitable material connected together by metallic or other
suitable extension springs, arranged in the direction of the length of
the supporting framework, and operating substantially as and for the
purposes herein-before described and illustrated on the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Wood, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
JOHN G. WILSON,
Patent Agent,
71, Market Street,
Manchester.
1
JOSEPH WOOD. (L.S.)

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