IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
COTTAM, of Saint John's Wood, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Ier
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of June,
in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Edward Cottam, my exors, adññions, and assigns,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Edward Cottam, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Cottam, my exors, adñors, 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 mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, ny
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Edward Cottam, 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, and cause the same to be inrolled in Her said 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
Edward Cottam, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: 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 Diawings hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say. ----
My Invention relates to those constructions of bedsteads where coiled
springs are employed in giving elasticity to the surfaces whereon the bedding
is placed, and my Invention consists of improvements in the modes heretofore
used in applying coiled spings to bedsteads to give elasticity to the surface on
which the bedding is to be applied. And in order that my Invention may be
fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the
means pursued by me. Heretofore, when applying coiled springs to bedsteads
to obtain elastic surfaces thereto, it has been usual to affix the springs
permanently to the bedstead, and then to apply hair or other soft stuffing
to the upper surface, and the whole have been covered and permanently
affixed to the upper surface of the bedstead; and when making spring mattresses
capable of being moved separate from the bedstead, such mattresses have
heretofore been framed permanently into the size and shape desired, and when
_they_are_required_to_be_packed_for_carriage, the elastic_surface_composed_of_
coiled springs, whether forming part of a bedstead or made in the form of a
mattress, cannot be readily taken to pieces and stowed away in a space or
packing case less than the elastic surface, and then allow of being put together
readily when required. Now my improvements are such, that the elastic
surface produced to a bedstead by means of coiled springs may readily be
taken to pieces and packed into a comparatively small space, and again, the
parts may be recomposed into the required elastic surface for a bedstead, by
which my Invention will not only be found useful for bedsteads in general, but
will be found particularly useful in cases where portability and convenience of
packing are of importance.

page_text: tion, and I have shewn such variations with a view to state that I do not
confine myself to the details of the arrangements shewn, so long as the
peculiar character of my Invention be retained, which consists in so combining
the coiled springs with laths or laths and straps that the elastic surface of a
bedstead may be readily taken to picces and packed away into comparatively
small space, and then when desired the parts composing the elastic surface
may again be recomposed or combined into the clastic surface of a bedstead.
To the bedstead, Figures 1, 2, and 3, the elastic surface is composed as
follows a, a, are the bottom laths, which at their ends are turned down, so
as to enter holes formed in the side rails b, b, of the bedstead, as is well
understood. The springs c, c, are formed in the shape of two cones, as shewn.
These springs are fixed to the laths or rails a, a, in the manner shewn, or in
any convenient manner; and also to the upper laths d, d. Hence, when the
bottom of the bedstead is taken to pieces, the laths or rails a, a, will each be
separate one from the other, but each rail a will be combined to a rail d by
the springs c, c, as is shown; and when the rails a, with their upper rails d, are
desired to be packed away in the smallest space, then it will be desuable to
compress s the springs c, and bind the laths a and d together with their springs c, c,
between them, when they will occupy but a small space. e, e, are longitudinal
straps of leather or woven fabric, which are drawn through the cut and
raised portions of the laths d, or they may be metal laths drawn through such
openings or between the tops of the springs c, as shewn by Figure 4, all
which will be readily understood on examining the Drawings. The longi-
tudinal straps e, e, at their ends have button-holes, by means of which
they are attached to buttons f, f, affixed to the frame of the bedstead.
In Figure 5 the arrangement of springs is somewhat different to that
shewn in Figures 3 and 4, but in other respects the parts are similarly
arranged to what is shown at Figure 3, but the laths a are of wood in place of
metal, and they are to have the springs c fixed thereto, and the ends of the
wood laths a enter recesses formed in the side rails of the bedstead. And
I would remark, that I do not, in carrying out my Invention, confine myself
to the manner in which the laths are applied to bedsteads, nor to the materials
of which the laths are made, nor do I claim the laths a or the laths & or the
straps or laths e separately, my Invention consisting simply of so constructing
and combining such parts that they will allow of the parts being readily
separated and readily recomposed into an elastic surface for a bedstead, and
when separated allow of the parts being packed into a space comparatively
small in superficial measurement when compared with that occupied by the
elastic surface of a bedstead when composed of such parts.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that what
I claim is, the combining of springs c with laths, or with laths and straps,
when forming an elastic surface for a bedstead, in such manner that the laths
and straps may be readily separated from the bedstead and fiom each other,
so as to allow of the parts composing the elastic surface being packed away
in a small space, and also in such manner as to allow the said parts again to
be recomposed with facility into an elastic surface for a bedstead.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Cottam, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.