IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS, SOFAS, COUCHES, AND CHAIRS, APPLICABLE TO OTHER SEATS OR RECLINING SURFACES
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Kenneth Henry Cornish at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7tli
June 1859.
I, KENNETH HENRY CORNISH, of 5, Essex Court, Middle Temple, Surgeon,
F.M.R.C.S., F.M.S., do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS, SOFAS, COUCHES, AND CHAIRS, APPLICABLE TO OTHER
SEATS OR RECLINING SURFACES," to be as follows:-
The objects of this Invention are to manufacture bedsteads with greater
simplicity and economy than hitherto, and to give increased elasticity to the bed,
placed on the bedstead by means of laths, so placed as to be arched or curved,
which latter arrangement is applicable to couches, sofas, litters, settees, chairs,
and other seats and reclining surfaces; also to the seats of railway carriages,
steamboats, and ships.
The Invention consists, firstly, in forming the side framing of metal bed-
steads with a tongue, as shown at A, in plan, and side view in Figures One
and Two of the accompanying Drawing. A, part of the tongue, is bent at right
angles, as shown by the dotted lines, and fits into a corresponding groove or slot
in the support B; the utility of this arrangement is, that the framing of iron
or other metal bedsteads may be stamped out in one piece, and considerable
labour saved.
Secondly, the Invention consists in forming bands or laths for bedsteads,
which may be made of iron, steel, or other metal, or wood, or other suitable
material slightly tapered at each end, so as to fit into grooves, mortices, or

page_text: slots made in the side framing, and in placing them in the framework in such
a manner that they shall form arcs, as represented in the Drawing; any
suitable number of these bands or laths are placed transversely, as in the
ordinary bedstead, or they may be placed obliquely one over the other, as
represented at F. Figure Three is a section of the bedstead; Figure Four
shows a modification in which small tongues G, G, are made in the band h, as
represented in plan at h, Figure One. These tongues form a rest to the
straight bands I, I, which support and strengthen the bands h. Instead of this
mode of fixing them, they may be rivetted or otherwise fastened. Figures Five
and Six show in plan and edge view one of the laths C, applied to an ordinary
wooden bedstead, suitable slots being formed in the side framing to receive the
laths. Figure Seven shows the bands applied obliquely to a chair. By this
arrangement of the laths I claim to have done away with all necessity for
using one or more iron stretchers to keep the sides and ends from being drawn
together when weight is placed on them, since the force being exerted on the
convexity instead of the concavity of an arch, it tends to expand the extremities
of the arc, and thus tightens the framework instead of loosening it, as is the
case in the bedsteads at present constructed, where the weight being placed in
the concave side of an arch draws the extremities of the laths or other sup-
porting materials forming it inwards, thus loosening the framework. By
using straight laths, and bending them to the required degree of curvature
when placing them in the frame, I obtain the following results:-Firstly, the
laths are always kept tight in their proper positions by the natural elasticity of
the material thus bent; secondly, they cost less than laths previously bent,
and tempered before being placed in the framework, and are moreover
stronger; thirdly, no screws, buttons, or other means of fastening other than
the simple slots or mortices are required.