IMPROVEMENTS IN TUBULAR BEDS AND BOLSTERS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Ayckbourn, of Mitcham Common, in the
County of Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
TUBULAR BEDS AND BOLSTERS."
Sealed the 11th January 1861, and dated the 12th July 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Ayckbourn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th July 1860.
I, FREDERICK AYCKBOURN, of Mitcham Common, in the County of Surrey,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TUBULAR BEDS AND BOLSTERS," to be as follows:-
In the first place, I make a mattrass of any sort of tick or suitable
material, shaped nearly square in form, with flat bottom and top surfaces,
and wall sides. Longitudinal internal divisions are formed throughout about
six inches apart, and these divisions are open at one or both ends of the bed,
and a flap or flaps made to cover over the ends, and button underneath. I
then prepare india-rubber (East India preferred) with the ordinary vulcanizing
compounds, and spread the same to a suitable thickness on one side only of
a cotton or other clotb, so as to produce waterproof and airproof qualities, by
means of a spreading machine or rollers. Of this cloth a bag is made up,
closed at one end, and with an orifice at the other, and having a seam or joint on

page_text: each side to prevent leakage, which I find results from the ordinary doubling
of the cloth over. A short piece of solid vulcanized india-rubber tubing is
then fixed in the neck of the bag; it is then subjected to the usual vulcanizing
heat and cured, and proved by steam pressure. It is then fitted with a metal
canteen screw mount for connecting the bellows bound with wire. A bag of
this sort is placed in each of the divisions of the mattrass.
The bolster is made of similar material to the mattrass or bed above
described, with an opening and flap to button at one end. Should the
bolster be required long, an internal cross division is made in the centre.
In the former case one bag of suitable dimensions and of the above con-
struction is placed inside, in the latter case two such bags are used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Ayckbourn in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th January 1861..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
AYCKBOURN, of Mitcham Common, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Frederick Ayckbourn, Her special licence that I, the said Frederick
Ayckbourn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as J,
the said Frederick Ayckbourn, 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 law-
fully 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 TUBULAR BEDS AND BOLSTERS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Ayckbourn, my exe.
cutors 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
Lotters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Ayckbourn, 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 :-
In the first place, I construct a bed case of tick or other suitable material;
which may be shaped similarly to ordinary mattresses, that is, with flat surfaces
at bottom and top, and the sides and ends wall-sided. I divide this case either
lengthwise or crosswise, into several separate divisions or cells. When divided
lengthwise, which is for many reasons preferable, I have about four cells for
a bed measuring six feet long and two feet wide, and I allow about two
additional cells for every extra foot of width up to any size. I form the first
cell by cutting a piece of unbleached calico or other suitable material as long
as the bed, and about four inches wide; this is sewn in, at a distance of
about six inches from the side, both to the bottom and top surfaces of the
case, so as to form, when held out, a nearly square division. Other similar
pieces are then inserted at a like distance apart across the bed case until the
requisite numbor of cells are formed. These cells may either be left open at
one ond and closed at the other, or left open at both ends. A flap or flaps, if
open at both ends, corresponding with the bed case, is then sewn on, so as to
fold over the cells, and be fastened firmly underneath by buttons, ties, or other
fastenings. I then prepare india-rubber (East India is preferable) with the
ordinary well known vulcanizing compounds, and spread the same to a.
thickness in one or more coats an one side only of a cotton or other cloth or
fabric, so as to produce waterproof and airproof qualities, by any of the usual
means in use. Sometimes I place between the coats of rubber a layer or
layers of tissue or other paper wetted with naptha or other suitable spirit.
Of this cloth I make a bag or tube closed at one end, and having a small
orifice or neck at the other for the insertion of a canteen or other metal
mount. This bag should be made of two similar pieces of cloth, so as to
have a seam or joint on each side, and not merely doubled over, and should
be a trifle larger in every way than the bed cell, into which it is, when
finished, to be placed. After having been subjected to the ordinary vulcanizing
heat, and cured, aue of such bags is placed within each cell of the bed, and
inflated by means of the ordinary bellows, or by means of an air-tight tube,
nearly as long as the bed is wide, made of vulcanized india-rubber or other
suitable material, closed at both ends, having a neck and orifice in the middle
to attach the nozzle of the bellows to by means of a metal mount, and having
as many small branch tubes about a foot long attached to it at suitable
distances apart as there are bed tubes to be inflated, each branch being

page_text: furnished with a metal male screw to connect it to the bed tube, and by
which means I inflate all the bed tubes simultaneously.
In constructing the pillow or bolster, I avail myself of the same principle,
and use similar materials as for the bed, but I prefer shaping the same some-
what like an ordinary writing desk when opened out; and I make the cells
either crosswise or lengthwise.
FREDERICK AYCKBOURN. (L.S.)