IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES TO SIT OR RECLINE ON."
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Duncan Morrison, of Bordesley Works, Birmingham,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC
BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES TO SIT OR RECLINE ON."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Duncan Morrison at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
June 1856.
I, DUNCAN MORRISON, of Bordesley Works, Birmingham, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
METAL BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES TO SIT OR RECLINE ON," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists, first, in a method of constructing the stretchers
of metal bedsteads. For this purpose blocks are forced against the edges of
the angle irons which are desired to be kept apart, which blocks are connected
together by a bent metal bar having screw cuts ou its ends, on which nuts
work behind the blocks so as to force them apart.
Secondly, my Invention consists in forming the ornaments of metal bedsteads
and other articles to sit or recline on, by depositing metal from a solution on
to a suitable form.
Thirdly, my Invention consists in manufacturing posts or legs of bedsteads
by bending metal into the desired tubular forms; and in place of joining tho
edges by brazing, or otherwise, I clothe them by wrapping paper or textile
fabrics around them with suitable cement, and then japan or otherwise finish
the surfaces.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Duncan Morrison in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DUNCAN
MORRISON, of Bordesley Works, Birmingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Duncan Morrison, Her special licence that I, the said Duncan Morrison, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Duncan
Morrison, 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 "INPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS, AND OTHER ARTICLES TO SIT OR RECLINE ON," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Duncan Morrison, my executors
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 Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Duncan Morrison, 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
thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention consists, first, in a method of constructing the stretchers of
metal bedsteads. For this purpose blocks are forced against the edges of the
angle irons which are desired to be kept apart, which blocks are connected
together by a bent metal bar having screw cuts on its ends, on which nuts
work behind the blocks so as to force them apart.
The Drawing shows a stretcher constructed and combined according to my
Invention. a is a bent metal bar having a screw cut at each of its ends
at b, b, on each of which a screw nut c, c, is placed, or a screw and nut may be
used at one end only; d, d, are forked pieces, which are placed on the ends
of the bent bar a, which, when the stretcher is used, receive the angle or other
formed iron constituting the side rails of the bedstead between them, and then

page_text: the nuts c, c, are screwed outwards, so as to separate the two side rails, and
stretch the laths attached thereto.
Secondly, my Invention consists in forming the ornaments of metal bedsteads
and other articles to sit or recline on, by depositing metal from a solution on
to a suitable form. In carrying out this part of my Invention, in place of
using shells of sheet metal produced by stamping, as heretofore, I obtain
similar shells of metal, but if a more ornamental description, by the well-
known process of electrotype, and then I apply them in the making up of a
metal bedstead in like manner to that heretofore resorted to when using
raised or stamped sheet metal ornaments. For this purpose I prefer to
employ copper for obtaining the electrotype shells of metal; thus supposing
the ornament is to surround a pillar or other part of a metal bedstead, I cause
the metal shell to be deposited in two halves, and solder the two halves
together, and fix them to the part of the bedstead in like manner to that
practised when fixing shells of raised or stamped sheet metal.
applying electrotype metal ornaments to metal bedsteads, in place of stamped
ones, bedsteads may be produced with far more elegant ornaments of metal
than heretofore practised. And such copper ornaments may have a coating of
silver or of gold, or other metal deposited thereon by the electrotype process.
By thus
Thirdly, my Invention consists in manufacturing posts or legs of bedsteads
by bending metal into the desired tubular forms; and in place of joining the
edges by brazing or otherwise, I clothe them by wrapping paper or textile
fabrics around them with suitable cement, and then japan or otherwise finish
the surfaces.
In carrying out this part of my Invention, I cause tubes to be made of
wrought iron, omitting, however, to braze the joins or seams, but in place
thereof I cause the exterior surfaces of each part of a bedstead made of such
tubes to be coated with paper or textile fabrics, using gluc or other suitable
cement in order to cause the coatings to adhere to each other and to the
metal. The outer surfaces may then be japanned or varnished, and rendered
smooth, as japanned articles of paper are usually done, and as is well
understood.
In witness whereof, I, the said Duncan Morrison, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six
D MORRISON. (L.S.)
Witness, GEO. PITT.