AN IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCTING ELASTIC BED BOTTOMS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO SOFAS. SETTEES, AND OTHER SEATS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCTING ELASTIC BED BOTTOMS,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO SOFAS. SETTEES, AND OTHER SEATS."A communication.
Sealed the 28th December 1855, and dated the 2nd October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd October 1855.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE. OF CONSTRUCTING ELASTIC BED
BOTTOMS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO SOFAS, SETTEES, AND OTHER SEATS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object to produce a oed bottom that shall be
elastic at every point, and capable of yielding so as to conform to the shape of
the body, while at the same time the slats of which it is composed (being
supported by spring bearings near the middle of their length) will not sag in
the centre, as in the case with sacking and other yielding bed bottoms.
In carrying out this Invention, elliptical springs are attached (through the
intervention of coiled springs or not) to the side rails of the bedstead frame
or to the frame of the seat, and over these springs the slats are placed, and
Price 1

page_text: secured thereto by rivets. The elliptical springs may be attached to the slats
at about one-third way from their extremities, or they may be made to cross
each other. The slats may be either curved or straight strips of wood or
inetal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st, April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I. WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 2nd day of October, in the year of our Lord 1855, in
the 19th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license
that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as 1, the said William Edward Newton, 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 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 AN IMPROVED MODE OF CON-
STRUCTING ELASTIC-BED BOTTOMS APPLICABLE ALSO TO SOFAS, SETTEES, AND OTHER
SEATS," being a communication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention has for its object to produce a bed bottom that shall be
penectly elastic at every point, and capable of yielding so as to conform to
the shape of the body, whilst at the saine time the slats of which it is com-

page_text: posed being supported by spring bearings near the middle of their length,
do not sag in the centre, as is the case with sacking and other yielding bed
bottoms with which I am acquainted.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use this Invention, I will
proceed to describe the method in which it may be carried out, reference being
had to the accompanying Drawing; in which, Fig. 1 is a plan of a bedstead
with my improvements attached; Fig. 2, a vertical section upon the line A, A,
of Fig. 1; Figs. 3 & 4, Drawings, to which reference will be had hereafter.
B is the head; C, the foot; & D, the side rails of the bedstead; fare steel
or other springs, attached to the slats at the points i, about one-third way
from their extremities; the ends of these springs are suspended from the
spiral springs g, the other ends of which are hooked into the staples in
the side rails. A bed bottom thus constructed possesses a peculiar capability
to adapt itself to the form of the body, while the slats are perfectly prevented
from sagging in the centre, desiderata which it is believed have never been
possessed by a sacking or other elastic bed bottom. The spiral springs g
might be dispensed with, the elliptic springs f being hooked directly to the
side rail; this would not, however, form so perfect a foundation as where the
above arrangement of spi ral and elliptic springs is used. The springs fmay
be attached to the slats at any convenient point when the latter are short;
they may be made to cross each other, as in Figs. 3 & 4, which represent
a modification which I have adopted for ships' berths, the slats being curved
for the purpose of adapting them to the form of the body.
Having now described the Invention as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, I wish it to be understood that under the above recited Letters
Patent I claim the within-described bed bottom, consisting essentially of the
slats E and the springs f, constructed and operating in the manner substau-
tially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, 1, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the First day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)