AN IM- PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE JOINTS AND FRAMING OF METALLIC AND OTHER BEDSTEADS, CHAIRS, SOFAS, COUCHES, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE OR MAY BE USED FOR SITTING, LYING, AND RECLINING UPON
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Madeley, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Merchant and Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IM-
PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE JOINTS AND FRAMING OF METALLIC AND
OTHER BEDSTEADS, CHAIRS, SOFAS, COUCHES, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE
OR MAY BE USED FOR SITTING, LYING, AND RECLINING UPON."
Sealed the 25th August 1854, and dated the 4th March 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Madeley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
March 1854.
I, RICHARD MADELEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchant
and Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE JOINTS AND FRAMING OF METALLIC AND
OTHER BEDSTEADS, CHAIRS, SOPAS, COUCHES, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE OR
MAY BE USED FOR SITTING, LYING, AND RECLINING UPON," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of a method of constructing the joints and framing of
metallic and other bedsteads, and the various articles enumerated, in such a
manner that the said framing may be made to expand, so as to tighten the
laths or sacking. Figure 1 represents in plan a portion of the framing and
joints of a bedstead constructed according to my Invention, and Figure 2 repre-
sents one of the joints in vertical section. a, a, are wedged-shaped cavities in
the pillar b, the wider end of the said cavities being uppermost. c, c, are
wedge-shaped pieces on the ends of the rails, the wider ends of the said pieces
being uppermost; slots, of which one is shown at d, Figure 2, open into the

page_text: cavities a, and through the said slots the rails pass. When the ends of the
rails are introduced into the cavities in the pillars, and the said rails depressed,
the wedge-shaped ends of the said rails, acting against the inclined faces of the
said cavities, force the said pillars back or outwards, thereby causing the
expansion of the framing and the tightening of the laths or sacking.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Madeley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
MADELEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchant and Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Richard Madeley, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Madeley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Madeley, 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 IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE JOINTS AND FRAMING OF METALLIC AND OTHER BEDSTEADS, CHAIRS, SOFAS,
COUCHES, AND SUCH OTHER ARTICLES AS ARE OR MAY BE USED FOR SITTING, LYING,
AND RECLINING UPON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Madeley, 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 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 Richard Madeley, 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 state-
ment thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention consists of a method, herein-after particularly described, of
constructing the joints and framing of metallic and other bedsteads, and such

page_text: other articles of furniture as are or may be used for sitting, lying, and reclining
upon, the object of my Invention being to expand the said framing during the
putting together of the said articles of furniture, and thereby tighten the laths
or sacking of the same.
I will describe my Invention in its application to a metallic bedstead, by
which the application of my said Invention to the various articles to which
it is applicable will be readily understood. Figure 1 of the accompanying
Drawing represents in plan a portion of the framing and joints of a metallic
bedstead constructed according to my Invention; the other Figures represent
detached portions of the same. a, a, are the corner blocks through which the
pillars of the bedstead pass, or to which the said pillars are affixed, and to
which also the side rails b, b, are connected. One of these corner blocks is
represented in plan in Figure 2, and in elevation in Figure 3; it is also
represented in section, in connection with one of the rails b, in Figure 4. c, c,
are wedged-shaped cavities in the corner block a, the wider end of the said
cavities being situated uppermost, as represented. Figure 5 represents a plan,
and Figure 6 in elevation, the end of one of the rails b, b; the same is repre-
sented in section in Figure 4; in connection with the corner block d, d, are
wedge-shaped pieces on the ends of the rails, Figures 4, 5, and 6, the wider
ends of the said pieces being uppermost. e, e, are slots (see Figure 2), which
said slots open into the cavities c, c, and through the said slots the neck or
narrow part of the end of the rail, Figures 5 and 6, passes. When the ends
of the rail d, d, are introduced into the cavities c, c, in the corner blocks, as
illustrated in Figure 4, and the said rails depressed, the wedge-shaped ends of
the said rails, acting against the inclined faces of the said cavities, force the
corner blocks back or outwards, thereby causing the expansion of the framing
b, b, Figure 1, and the tightening of the laths or sacking f, f. Joints and
framing constructed according to my Invention are very firm when put
together.
Although I have described my Invention in its application to a metallic
bedstead, yet my said Invention may be made in wood or other material, but I
prefer to make it in metal.
The application of my said Invention to chairs, sofas, couches, and such
other articles as are or may be used for sitting, lying, and reclining upon, differs
in no essential respect from its application to bedsteads, as herein described,
and I believe that the application of my said Invention to the said articles will
be sufficiently understood by the description herein given of its application to
bedsteads.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of

page_text: carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise method herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention. But
I claim as my Invention constructing the joints and framing of metallic
bedsteads, chairs, sofas, couches, and such other articles as are or may be used
for sitting, lying, and reclining upon, in the manner herein described, that is
to say, forming wedge-shaped pieces on the ends of the framing, which said
wedge-shaped pieces engage in wedge-shaped cavities in the corner blocks,
and in the putting together of the said framing, expand the same, and tighten
the laths or sacking, as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Madeley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
RICHARD MADELEY. (L.S.)