IMPROVE- MENTS IN SPRING MATTRESSES AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR SITTING And RECLINING UPON.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Morris and Thomas Fletcher, Cutler
Grinders, Matthew Kelly, Tin Plate Worker, and Charles Fletcher,
Joiner, all of the City of Manchester, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SPRING MATTRESSES AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR SITTING And
RECLINING UPON.'
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Morris, Thomas
Fletcher, Matthew Kelly, and Charles Fletcher, at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 19th June
1872.
We, THOMAS MORRIS and THOMAS FLETCHER, Cutler Grinders,
Matthew KelLY, Tin Plate Worker, and CHARLES FLETCHER, Joiner,
all of the City of Manchester, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING MATTRESSES AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR
SITTING AND RECLINING UPON," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved construction of elastic surface
or network suitable for spring mattresses, and for imparting the
'

page_text: necesary springing effect in the seating and backs of sofas, chairs, and
other articles for sitting and reclining upon, and consists in the use and
application of flat metallic. plates connected together in a longitudinal
and transverse direction by means of spiral metallic or other suitable
extension springs, the whole being distended upon a suitable framework.
The springs in this elastic surface or network act in the direction of the
length of the framework and also from side to side, or in other words
they work at right angles to each other, thus yielding according to the
pressure in either direction, and affording a pleasant elastic effect when
the weight of the body is brought to bear upon them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Morris, Thomas Fletcher, Matthew Kelly,
and Charles Fletcher, in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 19th
December 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
MORRIS and THOMAS FLETCHER, Cutler Grinders, MATTHEW KELLY, Tin
Plate Worker, and CHARLES FLETCHER, Joiner, all of the City of
Manchester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her.
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Thomas Morris, Thomas Fletcher, Matthew
Kelly, and Charles Fletcher, Her special license that we, the said
Thomas Morris, Thomas Fletcher, Matthew Kelly, and Charles Fletcher,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Thomas Morris, Thomas Fletcher, Matthew Kelly, and Charles Fletcher,
our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
Spring MATTRESSES AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR SITTING AND RECLINING UPON," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Morris, Thomas-

page_text: Fletcher, Matthew Kelly, and Charles Fletcher, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 monthis
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
i
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Thomas Morris, Thomas Fletcher,
Matthew Kelly, and Charles Fletcher, do hereby declare the nature
of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
==
This Invention relates to an improved construction of elastic surface
or network suitable for spring mattresses, and for imparting the
necessary springing effect in the seating and backs of sofas, chairs, and
other articles for sitting and reclining upon, and consists in the use and
application of flat metallic plates connected together in a longitudinal
and transverse direction by means of spiral metallic or other suitable
extension springs, the whole being distended on a suitable framework.
The springs in this elastic surface or network act in the direction of the
length of the framework and also from side to side, or in other words
they work at right angles to each other, thus yielding according to the
pressure in either direction and affording a pleasant elastic effect when
the weight of the body is brought to bear upon them.
In the accompanying Figure 1, which represents a plan of a spring
mattress constructed according to our Invention, and drawn to a scale of
about 1 inches to the foot, a represents the framework of the mattress,
constructed of wood or iron, and sufficiently strong to resist the strains
thrown upon it by the action of the springs; b, b, b, b, are a series of flat
plates, formed by punching, or otherwise, sheet iron or any other suitable
metal, by preference of a rectangular form, having holes at the four
corners to enable them to be connected, as will be herein-after explained,
to a series of longitudinal and transverse metallic or other extension
springs. These springs c and d we connect to the before-mentioned
plates by inserting the loops of such springs into the holes formed at the
corners of the plates, which connection is effected by cutting a slit from
such holes to the outside of the plate and then bending the two sides or
cars in, opposite directions to allow of the insertion of the loop of the

page_text: spring, as seen more clearly in the enlarged perspective, Fig. 2. We
then bend back the metal to its former position and so secure the springs
in their places. This method of connecting the springs to the plates
avoids the necessity of using links, loops, or rings of any kind. The
elastic surface so formed is then stretched upon the frame a, for which
purpose the said frame has hooks e, disposed around it at suitable
distances, which hook into the loops of the springs situated on the outer
edges of the elastic surface. The head and foot rail of the said frame-
work may be raised above the height of the sides and so impart a bowed
appearance to the elastic surface when distended upon it.
It will be readily apparent that the outward configuration of the
plates may be of any desired ornamental shape so long as the holes for
receiving the loops of the springs are equally distant from each other, as
illustrated.
It will be further evident that the use of these metallic plates as a
method of securing the springs together affords considerable range for
the introduction of varied designs to be embossed on or stamped out of
such plates at the time of or after forming the holes at the corners, and
so a more or less ornamental appearance may be given to the mattress,
which appearance may be improved or varied by galvanizing, tinning,
electro-gilding, bronzing, or otherwise coloring such metallic plates.
With respect to the action of this mattress we would observe that the
combined effect of the longitudinal and transverse springs, when the
weight of the body is brought to bear upon it, produces a double clastic
action, which yielding to pressure from either or both directions produces
à highly elastic and pleasant springing effect.
Instead of distending the elastic surface so that the springs are at
right angles to the framework, as illustrated, we sometimes mount such
elastic surface upon the framework in a diagonal direction, in which
case the springs are still at right angles to each other.
An clastic surface formed in accordance with this Invention is equally
useful for imparting the necessary clasticity or spring to the scats of
sofas, chairs, and other similar articles.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
our said Invention, together with the best methods with which we are
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, we wish it to be

page_text: understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details, relative
proportions, or dimensions herein-before described, and illustrated on the
accompanying Drawing, as the same may be considerably varied without
departing from our Invention; but what we do claim is, the combination
of a double series of metallic or other extension springs, arranged at right
angles to each other, with a series of metallic plates connected together,
and acting substantially as and for the purposes described, and illustrated
in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Morris and Charles
Fletcher, for and on behalf of ourselves and the said Thomas
Fletcher and Matthew Kelly, have hereunto set our hands and
scals, this Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
THOMAS MORRIS.
(L.S.)
CHARLES FLETCHER. (L.s.)