IMPROVEMENTS IN CON- NECTING PARTS OF BEDSTEADS AND OTHER FRAMES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL, COME, I, HENRY
JOHN BETJEMANN, of Upper Ashby Street, Northampton Square, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of April, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fourteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry
John Betjemann, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Henry John Betjemann,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry John
Betjemann, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of
Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all Her said Majesty's
Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CON-
NECTING PARTS OF BEDSTEADS AND OTHER FRAMES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED
THEREIN;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
Henry John Betjemann, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry John Betjemann, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say: -
The object of my Invention is to construct a joint for bedsteads and other
structures, which, without the faults of the screw, is equally capable of closely
hugging the post as the strain is placed upon it; it also admits more readily of
the use of a slat foundation, is durable and little subject to injury, and very
expeditiously put together or taken asunder. These advantageous results I
accomplish by means of the following machinery for manufacture of the
mortises which are to receive the tenons of the rail, and the peculiar con-
struction of said joints.
In the annexed Drawings, Figure 1 is a general perspective view of the
machine, one of the stops being detached.
Figure 2 represents the adjacent parts of a post and rail jointed on the
proposed plan: A being the post, and B the rail; a is a bench or table of
wood; b, b', are a pair of stationary, and c, c', a pair of shifting head stocks or
standards, affording journal bearings for shafts d, d', which are armed at their
fore ends by rotating cutters of form adapted to excavate the compound
receding mortises, (e, e¹,) with parallel external apertures or entrances ff.
Each cutter head consists of a truncated cone (g, g¹), whose sides equal in
longitudinal extension the depth desired for the flaring tenon, and agree in
their obliquity with its flare. This conic frustrum is at its apex united by a
cylindrical neck (h, h',) to the shaft. The end of the cutter is furnished with
a bit i,, nearly radial, which scoops out the bottom (j,j,) of the mortise and
its sides with a bit (k, k¹,) placed somewhat spirally, which carves out the
bevel sides (e, e¹) of the mortise, and lastly the neck is armed with a small bit
(,,) which goes to shape the parallel edges of the mortise entrance.
These cutter heads are rotated by bands passing around pulleys (m, m',)
upon the shafts (d, d); n is a shifting frame operable by a vibrating handle
() whose lower ends are pivoted at (o) to the stationary portion. The
latitudinal motion imparted to the frame by the handle becomes (by guides
hereafter described) modified to a path of motion diverging sufficiently towards

page_text: the cutters to sink the binding faces of the mortises (which faces are formed
by the conical sides of the cutter heads) gradually deeper within the post, so
as to cause the tenon (when the post and rail are put together) to be drawn
slightly, but powerfully, within the posts as they are pressed down along the
mortises. The tenons are formed with a double obliquity, both horizontal and
vertical, in exact conformance with the binding faces of the mortise. The
rotating cutter head in forming the mortise enters the post sufficiently to
place the conical portion entirely within the post before the longitudinal
motion is given to it, so as to bring the neck or cylindrical portion into action,
and thus give a square sink to the entrance of the aperture, and the cutting
edge of the neck bit moving in the same cylindrical path throughout its entire
length, preserves the parallelism of the margins of the mortise entrance, while
the internal mortise varies in form and position throughout its length.
This squareness and parallelism of the entrance margins preserves the post
from rending by lateral strain, and throws the pressure mainly outward, so as
to bind the rail and post together. The peculiar obliquity of motion of the
shifting frame (n) is derived from slots (p, p, p, p¹) in the frame, into each of
which a pin (q, q') projects up from the bench. A forward motion towards
the cutters being impressed upon the frame or carriage, the latter is, by the
longitudinal portion (p") of the slot, guided in a path at right angles to the
face of the post, and by this means leads the cutter heads directly into the
posts until the flaring portion is entirely imburied therein. A latitudinal
motion of the frame then causes it to move under the control of one of the
oblique grooves, so as at the same time that the mortise is continued
longitudinally of the post, it is also made slightly to recede, and thus to
remove the bearing faces of the mortices farther from the face of the post as
the cutter descends therein, while the neck of the cutter being of the same
size throughout makes an external aperture that is of unvarying width
throughout its entire length below the part where the tenon enters.
stop (r, r) placed in the right-hand oblique groove limits the play of the pins
to the left-hand ones, and vice versa, so that by thus closing one or other groove
either a right or left hand mortiso may be obtained. One of the headstocks
has a slight lateral adjustability given to it, the apertures (s, s¹,) for the
clamping bolts (t, t¹,) being extended laterally for that purpose; (u) is a
tongue firmly affixed to the bench, and which overlapping the frame imme-
diately in front of headstocks or standards, opposes any jarring or jumping
upward of the frame; (w) are slats upon the frame, and serve to elevate the
post out of the way of the tongue; (u) are standards which serve both for a
rest for the face of the post, and the arms being swung round in front, and
A

page_text: the notch clamps (y) being screwed down against the rear upper corner of the
post, the latter is thereby held fast to its proper position for the action of the
cutter heads.
The operation of my machine is as follows:-To cut the receding mortise
holes in the post, it is secured to the carriage (n) by clamps (y, y¹), and the
carriage being caused to advance brings the post in contact with the revolving
cutters, which sink a hole of a cylindrical form to the depth required for that
part of the mortise; the carriage is then advanced in a line, at an angle say, of
80° with its former direction, not quite equivalent to right angle, which would
carry the cutter lengthwise of the post, and the mortise would then be a
simple dovetail, and the tenon would enter and then traverse the dovetail
without bringing the shoulder of the rail close to the post at the end of
its range than it was at the beginning. The angle of its course being say
about 80° with its former. direction, as it progresses nearly lengthwise of the
post it sinks deeper, and thus as the tenon is entered, and then by a blow or
pressure caused to traverse the mortise, it is drawn forcibly home until the
shoulder of the rail closely hugs the face of the post, making a bug-tight joint.
The pins (q, q',) are attached to the bench on which the carriage slides, and
there projecting through slots of the requisite length and direction in the
carriage govern its motions as described. The slots in the carriage branch
off right and left with their former course, so as to cut to the right or left as
required. The stops (r,) are placed in the slot which it is not desired that the
guide pin should traverse, so as to facilitate the manipulation of the machine,
which is so much more readily performed in this way than by a method which
requires the measure of distance by the eye; the retraction of the bit is per-
formed by the reverse motion, and the integrity of the mortise is preserved by
the guides and stops preventing any action other than simple retraction of the
bit by the way it entered. It will be seen that the length of cut, the direction
and the degree of recession, are regulated by the slots in the carriage and by the
guide and stops. The tenons may be formed by two conical cutter heads of
the flare and interval apart corresponding to the tenon. One, two, or three
tenons may be made, but I prefer two, as giving stability without unnecessary.
complication of parts.
Having thus fully described the nature of my Invention, what I claim
therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, are,-
First, the construction and application of a receding dovetail or its equi-
valent, as shewn in Figure 2, e, e, for the purpose of fastening or securing
together bedsteads or other structures, either in wood or other material, the
sides of which are and act as inclined planes, they receding at an angle.from

page_text: the face of the posts, so that when the male dovetail is entered, driven down
and into the receding dovetail by a blow or pressure it is made to traverse the
incline planes in the receding dovetail, as indicated at e, e, Figure 2, it is
drawn forcibly home until the shoulder of the rail B, on which is the male
dovetails k, k, closely hugs the face of the post A.
Secondly, I claim the rotating cutters (g, h, i, k, l,) formed and arranged
substantially as described, with conical heads and cylindrical necks, in com-
bination with a rest or moveable table for the reception and attachment of the
bed post, the said table while being advanced towards the cutters being con-
ducted by suitable guides (p, p', p",) as described, either upon the moving
table or the stationary bench, in a course which is at first at right angles to
the face of the post, and thence as soon as the cylindrical cutter (7) has begun
to act in a longitudinal course, receding sufficiently from the face of the post to
form a mortise which shall bind the dovetailed tenons of the rail as they are
pressed down in their sockets.
Thirdly, I claim, in combination with the aforesaid guide, the stops (r)
substantially as here arranged and applied, or their equivalents, whereby the
table is limited in its course to the particular range of cutting action required
for the time being.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry John Betjemann, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
HENRY JOHN (L.S.) BETJEMANN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of October, in
the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Henry John Betjemann came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.