IM- PROVEMENTS IN BED BERTHS APPLICABLE FOR BUNKS, HAMMOCKS, COTS, AND OTHER FIXED AND MOVEABLE SLEEPING PLACES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Thomas Forster, of Holland Road, Kensing-
ton, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of." IM-
PROVEMENTS IN BED BERTHS APPLICABLE FOR BUNKS, HAMMOCKS, COTS, AND
OTHER FIXED AND MOVEABLE SLEEPING PLACES."
Sealed the 8th July 1859, and dated the 8th January 1859:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Thomas Forster at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th January 1859:
I, JOHN THOMAS FORSTER, of Holland Road,. Kensington; in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BED BERTHS APPLICABLE FOR BUNKS, HAMMOCKS, COTS, &
OTHER FIXED & MOVABLE SLEEPING PLACES," to be as follows:-
My improvements in bed berths relate to a canvas or sacking, bottom,
which I nail or otherwise fix at each end to forms or pieces of wood shaped
to keep the canvass in the form required. When used for bunks on board ship,
I lash or otherwise fix them at either end to stanchions or other fixtures by
which they are distended and kept straight. They may be arranged one
above the other, and in close proximity. This distended canvas is also.
applicable for cots or hammocks by suspending in suitable slings.
These bed berths are also applicable for barrack and other beds, which I
distend and fix in position from suitable posts or supports, as may be required.
In any case these bed berths are readily dismantled and rolled up, either for
portability or stowage.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Thomas Forster in the Great Seal Patent Office on
8th July 1859.
.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
THOMAS FORSTER, of Holland Road, Kensington, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Thomas Forster, Her special licence that I, the said John Thomas
Forster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Thomas Forster, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN BED BERTHS APPLICABLE FOR BUNKS, HAMMOCKS, COTS, AND OTHER
FIXED AND MOVEABLE SLEEPING PLACES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Thomas Forster, 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 John Thomas Forster, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My improvements in bed berths consist in the application of canvas or
sacking bottoms, which I nail or otherwise fix at each end, or it may be at
the sides to forms or pieces of wood or other material shaped, and of an extent
suitable to keep the canvas distended and in the form required. When used for
bed places or bunks on board ship, 1 lash or otherwise fix them at each end
to stanchions or other fixtures by which they are stretched; being restricted
and uniform in size, and with little sag in the middle, they may be arranged, one
above the other, and side by side, in close proximity. These distended canvas
forms are also applicable for cots or hammocks, by suspending them in

page_text: suitable slings; they are also applicable for berths to be used in hospitals,
workhouses, and other places. I distend and fix them in position from
suitable posts or other supports as may be required. These bed berths are
easily dismantled, and may be readily rolled up, if desired, for portability or
stowage; when they are duly extended, they form smooth elastic comfortable
sleeping places without any mattress or bed; they may be made sufficiently
wide for two persons, but I prefer them to be made for one person only, and
either to be used with or without a mattress; I also prefer to make them
with the distending frames or pieces of wood at the ends, as in that manner
the canvas sides can be turned inwards at the upper part, forming a kind of
overlap at the sides from end to end, which keep the bedding all snug.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a plan view of my improved bed berth distended; Fig. 2
a side view, and Fig. 3 an end view of the same, while Fig. 4 represents a
section of one end, showing the fastening thereof to the stanchion or other
support; Fig. 5 represents a perspective view, showing the berth in position
as stretched between bars supported from stanchions between decks, and Fig. 6
represents the berth slung as for a hammock. a, a, are two pieces of wood
forming the ends of the berth, shaped of a curve at bottom, according to the
curve required for the transverse section of the sacking bottom, and as seen
at Fig. 3; in the one end are holes cut for placing and holding it on looks,
while the other end is furnished with holes and laniards for lashing it to the
opposite fixtures, and keeping it distended; I take a piece of canvas or other
similar material b, b, of the requisite width, or two pieces sewn together, and
nail it round the edges of the wood ends a, a, carrying the extremes of the
canvas round the corners, so as to turn inwards, and overlap at the sides, as
seen in the Figures 1, 2, & 3; instead of nailing the canvas to the wood, as
seen, the ends may be furnished with holes or eyes, and the canvas with
eyelets, so, that the canvas may be laced to and unlaced from the wood if
desired; instead of these wood ends, they may be made of a piece of iron bent
to the form desired, with holes or eyelets for lacing the canvas thereto.
The section Fig. 4.shows the stanchion or support c, to which the square
hooks are fixed; the end a, having the oblong holes, is placed on these
hooks, while the other end, furnished with laniards e, e, for the purpose, is
secured by lashing it to the opposite stretcher or stanchions, which thus keeps
the bed berth in a distended and suitable position for sleeping purposes.
When it is desired to stow this bed berth, it is easily unlashed and un-
hooked from its supports, and the canvas rolled up on either end a, when it

page_text: :
will occupy very small space, and in this form may be readily transported or
stowed away. When these berths are intended for two people, instead of making
the ends a of a uniform curve, I form them with a rise in the middle at the
lower part and of double the length, so that there is a tendency to form a
separation in the middle, and in order to give a tendency to continue this sepa-
ration throughout the length of the canvas, I strain a strong rope in the centre
between these two ends a, a; g, g, is a narrow piece of canvas stretched across
from side to side of the canvas bottom of the berth, and secured by eyelets.
and lacing, which forms a pillow for the head.
In forming these bed berths with the wood forms, or forms, of other
material to distend the canvas at the sides instead of at the ends, I form a
casing in the canvas at each margin or side, and insert the side stretchers
or distending pieces therein, or the canvas may be nailed or otherwise:
secured thereto; these stretchers are then fixed to fore and aft timbers
or other supports which will sustain them, and at same time keep them
stretched asunder, so as to form the distended canvas bottom or bed berth;.
but inasmuch as the want of comfortable curvature is a consequence of this.
arrangement, the first described bed berth is more comfortable for sleeping
.purposes.
In the hammock berth, Fig. 6, in addition to the end stretchers, light side
stretchers may be introduced, as seen dotted at f, f, if it is desired to keep it
fully distended in the length; it will, however, be applicable for the purpose
without such side stretchers.
.
Having described the nature of my Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be protected
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is, the stretching canvas
or other suitable material on forms of wood or other suitable material,
distending and fixing the same, all as and for the purposes herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Thomas Forster, have hereunto
set my band and seal, this Eighth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
W. CLARK, Patent Agent,
53, Chancery Lane, London.
JNO. THO. FORSTER. (L.S.)