IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TERMINAL ORNAMENTS OF THE PILLARS OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS, COTS, AND COUCHES, AND OTHER METALLIC PILLARS, AND IN ATTACHING THE SAID ORNAMENTS TO THE SAID PILLARS
Year: 1877

page_text: "
LETTERS PATENT to Rowland Francis Heath, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
TERMINAL ORNAMENTS OF THE PILLARS OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS, COTS,
AND COUCHES, AND OTHER METALLIC PILLARS, AND IN ATTACHING THE SAID
ORNAMENTS TO THE SAID PILLARS."
Sealed the 22nd February 1878, and dated the 8th September 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Rowland Francis Heath at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th September 1877.
ROWLAND FRANCIS HEATH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TERMINAL ORNAMENTS OF THE PILLARS
OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS, COTS, AND COUCHES, AND OTHER METALLIC PILLARS,
AND IN ATTACHING THE SAID ORNAMENTS TO THE SAID PILLARS."
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in the said
terminal ornaments and in attaching them to the said pillars.
I will describe my Invention as applied to the terminal ornament of the pillar of
a metallic bedstead.
Instead of making the said terminal ornament of brass as usual I make the said
terminal ornament of a hollow sphere of yellow glass, which when silvered in its
interior has so close a resemblance to polished brass as not to be distinguishable
therefrom excepting on the minutest examination, and bas the advantage of not
being liable to the tarnishing or discolouration to which brass terminal ornaments
are liable.
In order to connect the hollow sphere of glass to the top of the metallic pillar I
form a short neck to the said hollow spherical ornament, the said neck terminating
in an expanded part or collar somewhat resembling that of an ordinary door knob.
This collar is notched on its edge. In connecting the terminal ornament to the
pillar this collar is made to embed itself in a metallic shell or cup, afterwards affixed
D

page_text: to the top of the pillar, plaster of Paris or other composition or cement being intro-
duced between the notched collar and the shell or cup in which it engages. The
extreme or upper thin edge of the said cup is then turned or burnished over the
said collar when the said ornament is firmly secured to the said cup. The cup is
connected to the pillar by screwing or otherwise.
Or the connection of the ornament to the pillar may be effected by means of a
neck on the spherical ornament, which neck expands at its lower or open end. A
thin metallic shell sufficiently large to be passed on to the neck of the ornament is by
a pressing or spinning process made to take the shape of the neck of the ornament
and firmly to embrace it. The said metallic shell serves as the medium of con-
nection by means of a screw or otherwise between the said ornament and the top of
the metallic pillar.
Or the said spherical ornament may have a small hole at its summit; that is, imme-
diately opposite the neck of the ornament, so that a screw pin on the top of the
metallic pillar passed through the said neck and tho said hole may receive on its
screwed protruding end a small ornamental screw nut, by means of which the
ornament is secured to the top of the pillar.
The said hollow glass terminal ornaments are made by preference spherical or
spheroidal, but may be made of other shapes, and the said ornaments may have
convex or concave flutes produced by moulding or cutting; or patterns may be
engraved upon them.
The glass of which the terminal ornaments are made may either be coloured or
colourless, and the silvered or metallic reflecting inner surface may either be pro-
duced by the ordinary method of silvering or by any of the well known processes
of producing a reflecting metallic surface on glass, such, for example, as the reduc-
tion of a thin film of metallic silver from a solution of silver by means of reducing
agents, such as essential oils.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said Rowland Francis Heath in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 2nd
March 1878.
ROWLAND FRANCIS HEATH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TERMINAL ORNAMENTS OF THE PILLARS
OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS, COTS, AND COUCHES, AND OTHER METALLIC PILLARS,
AND IN ATTACHING THE SAID ORNAMENTS TO THE SAID PILLARS."
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in the said
terminal ornaments and in attaching them to the said pillars.
I will describe my Invention as applied to the terminal ornament of the pillar of
a metallic bedstead.
Instead of making the said terminal ornament of brass, as usual, I make the said
terminal ornament of a hollow sphere of yellow glass, which when silvered in its
interior has so close a resemblance to polished brass as not to be distinguished there-
from excepting on the minutest examination, and has the advantage of not being
liable to the tarnishing or discolouration to which brass terminal ornaments are
liable.
In order to connect the hollow sphere of glass to the top of the metallic pillar I
form a short neck to the said hollow spherical ornament, the said neck terminating in
an expanded part or collar somewhat resembling that of an ordinary door knob.
This collar is notched or flattened on its edge. In connecting the terminal
ornament to the pillar this collar is made to embed itself in a metallic shell or cup
afterwards fixed to the top of the pillar; plaster of Paris or other composition or
cement may be introduced between the notched collar and the shell or cup in which
it engages. The extreme or upper thin edge of the said cup is then turned or bur-
nished over the said collar when the said ornament is firmly secured to the said cup.
The cup is connected to the pillar by screwing or otherwise.
A
Or the connecting of the ornament to the pillar may be effected by means of a
neck on the spherical ornament, which neck expands at its lower or open end.
thin metallic shell, sufficiently large to be passed on to the neck of the ornament, is
by a pressing or spinning process made to take the shape of the neck of the orna-
ment and firmly to embrace it. The said metallic shell serves as the medium of
connection by means of a screw or otherwise between the said ornament and the
top of the pillar.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the
manner in which my Invention may be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation, Figure 2 in end elevation, and Figure 3 in
section, a terminal ornament made according to my Invention to be applied to the
pillar of a metallic bedstead, cot, or couch, or other pillar.
Figure 4 represents in section, and Figure 5 in end elevation the said terminal
ornament furnished with the means of connecting it to the bedstead or other
pillar.
Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 represent the connecting parts detached.
a is the hollow terminal ornament made of glass, yellow by preference, and
having a silvered or metallic inner reflecting surface, so as to resemble polished
brass. The said terminal ornament a is spherical or spheroidal, and is furnished
with a short neck, which terminates in an expanded part or collar b flattened on
opposite sides at c, c. To the flattened collar b a prolonged metallic base is secured,
by which prolonged base the terminal ornament is attached to the bedstead or other
pillar. The connecting parts consist of a metallic shell d, shown in side elevation
in Figure 6, section in Figure 7, and end elevation in Figure 8, and a ring or cup f
of lead or other soft metal, represented separately in Figures 9 and 10. The shell d
has at its narrow end a screw e which is screwed upon the top of the pillar. The
enlarged open end d² of the metallic shell d is of a size proper to receive the collar b

page_text: on the terminal ornament a. Within the enlarged end d' of the shell d the ring or
cup of soft metal fis placed. The collar b of the ornament being placed in the
enlarged end of the shell & containing the soft metal lining f the article is placed
in a lathe, and by a spinning or burnishing process the said enlarged end d² of the
shell and the soft metal lining fare pressed upon and made to embrace the collar b,
as seen in Figures 4 and 5. The metallic connecting base is thereby securely
attached to the glass terminal ornament a, and the said terminal ornament is ready
to be secured to the pillar by the screw at e. By the closing of the part d² of the
metallic base or shell d upon the flattened sides of the collar 6 the turning of the
said base upon the collar is prevented, the soft metal lining f besides assisting in
fixing the metallic base acting as a cushion to the glass collar and preventing the
said collar being broken or injured by the spiuning or closing operation.
Instead of using a soft metal lining and flattening the sides of the collar bas
described, a sheet iron or metal disc having a raised central square part may be
employed, as illustrated in the complete terminal ornament shown in Figures 11
and 12; Figure 13 represents the disc with the central raised part, and Figure 14
represents the said disc after has been secured within the open contracted end ď
of the base or shell part d. In this arrangement the opening in the neck of the
glass terminal ornament a is square to receive the square central part g2 of the
disc g. The disc g, 92, is soldered or otherwise connected to the enlarged end d³ of
the shell or base part d. In connecting the base part or shell d to the collar b of
the terminal ornament a, the said collar b of the said ornament is placed within the
enlarged end d² of the said shell d, the central part g³ of the disc g fitting in the
square hole in the neck of the ornament.
By means of the spinning or burnishing process the enlarged end d² of the shell d
is turned or closed upon the collar b, as illustrated in Figure 11, and the said shell
or base part is thereby firmly connected to the glass terminal ornament a, the rota-
tion of the base part d upon the collar being prevented by the raised central part gª
of the disc g.
Although I prefer to attach the glass terminal ornaments to the pillars by means
of metallic shells or base parts affixed to the said glass ornaments by the arrange-
ments described and illustrated, yet I do not limit myself to these arrangements, as
analogous arrangements may be used with the same or nearly the same effect. For
example, the soft metal lining and the raised disc may be dispensed with, and
plaster of Paris or other composition or cement may be interposed between the
part of the shell and the collar b before the extreme edge of the shell is turned
upon the collar.
The hollow glass terminal ornaments are made by preference spherical or
spheroidal, as represented, but they may be made of other shapes, and the said
ornaments may have convex or concave flutes produced by moulding or cutting, or
patterns may be engraved upon them.
The glass of which the terminal ornaments are made may either be coloured
or colourless, and the silvered or metallic reflecting inner surface may either be pro-
duced by the ordinary method of silvering or by any of the well-known processes of
producing a reflecting metallic surface on glass, such, for example, as the reduction
of a thin film of metallic silver from a solution of silver by means of reducing agents,
such as essential oils, as is well understood.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my Inven-
tion the improvements in the terminal ornaments of the pillars of metallic bed-
steads, cots, and couches, and other metallic pillars, and in attaching the said
ornaments to the said pillars herein-before described, and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing, that is to say, making the said terminal ornaments of yellow
glass having a silvered or metallic reflecting inner surface, which gives the orna-
ments the appearance of polished brass; or making the said ornaments of other
coloured glass or of colourless glass having a silvered or metallic reflecting inner surface,
the said glass ornaments being furnished with necks and enlargements or collars by

page_text: which they are attached to the pillars, substantially as described and illustrated;
also attaching the said glass terminal ornaments to the pillars by the arrangements
of parts described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Rowland Francis Heath, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
ROWLAND FRANCIS HEATH. (L.S.)