New or Improved Folding Bedstead for Invalids and Children's Use.
Year: 1897

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
A New or Improved Folding Bedstead for Invalids and Children's Use.
I, MADAME ROELS, Widow, neé Hortense Verongstraete of Laeken near Brussels in
the Kingdom of Belgium, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :—
The subject of this invention is a bedstead for invalids and children who are liable
to wet the bed. This bedstead is so constructed as to be promptly and readily taken
to pieces in order to be thoroughly cleaned. For this purpose the bedstead proper is
made of a soft resilient fabric which is stretched, by means of bars joined together to
form a frame and passing through hems formed in the said fabric, upon suitable
trestles, which are extended and held apart by a funnel shaped and perforated plate
provided with a pan or other suitable vessel.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved bedstead.
Figure 2 is a plan of the saine.
Figure 3 is the stretching plate for the two different trestles shown in
Figures 4 and 5.
The bed proper Figure 2 consists essentially of four iron or steel rods a, a, b, b,
connected together to form a frame and between which the fabric, trellis or the like is
stretched. The rods a, a, b, b, are connected together in any suitable manner so that
they can be readily separated. The part or bed M consists of strong flexible wire or
osier work, canvas or the like and is provided at its four edges with a corresponding
sheath like hem to receive the rods a, a, b, b. The whole frame with its canvas M is
ericlosed in a casing of linen or the like so as to be protected from stains and the like.
The frame is placed upon suitable trestles. According to Figure 4 these trestles
consist of two crossed bars or legs n held together by a bar d or of four tripods as
shown in Figure 5. At the upper ends of the bars n forked bearings are arranged to
securely hold the frame. These bearings are closed by a cross pin e.
Figure 6 is a section on line x y of Figure 5. The plate 8 shown in Figure 3,
serving both as a tie bar and a drain, is terminated by journals acting in the trestle
arrangement shown in Figure 1, as pivots, for the folding bars or legs. The plate 8
which may be of wood or iron is perforated in the centre to receive a pan or other
suitable receptacle p.
In the tripod arrangement shown in Figure 5 the plate & is fixed by means of its
journals between the tiebars connecting each pair of legs.
The advantages of this new bedstead can be easily understood. In most cases it
will be enough to remove the casing passed over the trellis or canvas M whenever the
bed is soiled and to replace it by a new one. But when it is desired to thoroughly
clean the bedstead and its bed N, the rods are removed from the frame by drawing
them out of the corresponding hems or sheaths.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
A bedstead capable of being taken to pieces and readily cleaned wherein the bed

page_text: consists of a soft and flexible fabric or canvas M preferably enclosed in a linen casing
or slip and stretched upon trestles with the aid of rods a b passed through sheaths or
hems formed therein and joined together to form a frame, the legs of such trestles
being held apart by a drainage plate 8 arranged below the bed and centrally
perforated to receive a pan or other suitable receptacle, substantially as herein 5
described and shown.
day of June 1897.
ROBERT E. PHILLIPS, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., M.I. Mech. E.,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent,
70, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Associate Agent.