Ix- PROVEMENTS IN METALLIC BEDSTEADS, COTS, AND COUCHES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Leonard Brierley, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Metallic Bedstead Manufacturer, for the Invention of “Ix-
PROVEMENTS IN METALLIC BEDSTEADS, COTS, AND COUCHES.":
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Leonard Brierley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
November 1866.
..
I, LEONARD BRIERLEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Metallic Bedstead Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS, IN METALLIC BEDSTEADS, COTE, AND COUCHES," to
be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements, herein-after described, in the
parts of metallic.bedsteads, cots, and couches to which the sacking is con-
nected, and by which the sacking is tightened.
My said Invention has for its object to facilitate the fixing and tightening
of the cloth or other textile sacking of the bed, cot, or couch.
I will describe my Invention in connection with a metallic bedstead.
Instead of making the framing of the bedstead of angle iron, as is usual in
metallic bedsteads, I make the framing of cylindrical bars, or of tubing. This
tubing on one of the sides of the bedstead and at the top and bottom or ends
of. the bedstead is connected with the pillars of the bedstead by corner blocks
!..

page_text: and dovetails in the usual manner. The tubing at the other side of the bed-
stead is connected to the pillars by means of tubular sockets on the pillars,
in which sockets the ends of the tube engage, so as to permit of a rotary
motion of the said tube; I will call this tubular side of the bedstead the
rotating tube. The sacking is connected to the three fixed sides of the
framing by means of hems in the sacking, through which hems the three
fixed tubes are passed. The sacking is fixed to the rotating tube by means of
a rod, to which the edge of the sacking is attached by a small hem; this rod
is passed into the rotating tube, the sacking passing from the said rod through
a slot running the whole length of the rotating tube. By turning the rotating
tube the sacking is coiled on the said tube, and thereby tightened. In order
to effect the required motion in the rotating tube, square or hexagonal nuts
are fixed on or near its ends, and by a spanner or screw wrench applied to the
said nuts the required motion can, be given to the rotating tube. In order to
fix the rotating tube in the position to which it has been brought a small
ratchet wheel is made at its middle; a click or pall engaging in the said
ratchet wheel turns in bearings supported by the stretcher bar, and prevents
the return motion of the ratchet wheel.
Although I have only described my Invention with reference to a metallic
bedstead, yet my Invention is equally applicable to metallic cots and couches.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Leonard Brierley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th May 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LEONARD
BRIERLEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Metallic Bedstead
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Leonard Brierley, Her special licence that I, the said Leonard
Brierley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
the said Leonard Brierley, 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

page_text: Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC BEDSTEADS, COTS, AND COUCHES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Leonard Brierley, 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 Leonard Brierley, 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
statement thereof,' that is to say:-
i My Invention consists of the improvements, herein-after described, in the
parts of metallic bedsteads, cots, and couches to which the sacking is' connected
and by which the sacking. is tightened.
'
My said Invention has for its object to facilitate the fixing and tightening
of the cloth or other textile sacking of the bed, cot, or couch. :" lo
L.
I will describe my Invention in connection with a metallic bedstead.
Instead of making the framing of the bedstead of angle iron, as is usual in
metallic bedsteads, I make the framing of cylindrical bars. or of tubing ; this
tubing on one of the sides of the bedstead and at the top and bottom or ends
of the bedstead is connected with the pillars of the bedstead by corner blocks
and 'dovetails" in the usual manner. The tubing at the other side of the
bedstead is connected to the-pillars by means of tubular sockets on the pillars,
in which sockets the ends of the tube engage so to permit of a rotary!motion
of the said tube;' I will call this tubular side of the bedstead the rotating
tube or side. The sacking is connected to the three fixed sides of the framing.
by means of hems in the sacking, through which hems the three-fixed tubes
are passed." The sacking is fixed to the rotating tube or side by means of a
rod' to which the edge of the sacking is attached by a small' bem; *this rod is
passed into the rotating tube, the sacking passing from the said rod through a
slot running the whole 'length of the rotating tube; by turning the rotating
tube the sacking is coiled on the said tube and thereby tightened:: In order to
effect the required motion in the rotating tube or side, square or hexagonal
nuts are fixed on or near its ends, and 'by spanners or screw wrenches
applied to the said nuts the required motion can be given to the rotating tube.
In order to fix the rotating tube or side in the position to which it has been
brought a small ratchet wheel is made at its middle, with which a click or
';.'

page_text: pall supported by the stretcher bar engages and prevents the return motion of
the ratchet wheel... .
Having explained' the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in which the same
is to be performed.
''
Figure 1 represents in perspective a bedstead to which my Invention is
applied; Figure 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the same on a larger
scale, and Figure 3 is a cross section of the sacking and other parts, as
herein-after explained. The same letters of reférence are employed to indicate
the same parts in each Figure of the Drawing.
The framing a, b, c, d, of the bedstead is made of cylindrical bars or tubing.
The side a and ends b, c, are fixed and are provided with dovetail joints, which
'engage with the corner blocks on the pillars in the usual way. The side dis
capable of rotating in the tubular sockets e, e, on the pillars of the bedstead.
A side elevation of the rotating side'd and sockets e, e, is represented
Figure 2. The rotating side'd carries a bearing or bracket h in which it is
capable of turning. In this. bearing. is a pall or click g, which engages with
the teeth of a ratchet wheelf on the rotating side d.. i is a stretcher bar, one
end of which is hooked to the fixed side.a, and its opposite end is fitted into a
hole in the bottom of the bracket or bearing h in the manner best seen in the
cross section, Figure 3. k is the cloth or other textile sacking of the bedstead,
which sacking is connected by means of hems in the said sacking to the fixed
side a and fixed ends b, c, and to the rotating side d by means of a rod to
which the edge of the sacking. is attached by a small hem, the said rod being
passed into the rotating, side through a slot running the whole length of the
said side. In order to fix the sacking to the framing a, b, c, d, the said
framing is removed from the pillars and the sacking applied in the following
manner. It is first connected to the fixed side a and rotating side d, and
afterwards to the fixed ends b, c, by means of the hems and rod before men-
tioned'; the ends of the rotating side dare then inserted into the tubular
sockets e, e,. of the pillars, and the side a and ends b, c, are fixed to the pillars
by driving home their dovetailed joints in the usual way. The stretcher bar i
is next fixed to the sides a and d in the manner already explained. The
sacking and framing are thus fixed to the pillars, and the sacking is ready to
be tightened; this is effected by turning the rotating side d by means of
spanners 1, 2, applied to the nuts m, m, on the ends of the said rotating side.
By turning the said sided by the spanners l, l, the sacking k is coiled on the
said side d and tightened to the required extent. The tightening described is
flected simultaneously at both ends of the rotating side d; the rotating side d

page_text: is fixed in the position to which it has been brought, and the tension of the
sacking preserved by means of the click or pall 9 carried by the bracket h
engaging with the ratchet wheelf fixed at the middle of the said rotating
side d.
Although I have only described and represented my Invention with reference
to a metallic bedstead, yet my Invention is equally applicable to metallic cots
and couches.
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 do not limit
myself to the precise details berein-before described and illustrated, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
I claim as my Invention the improvements in metallic bedsteads, cots, and
couches herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing,
that is to say, the construction and arrangement of parts substantially as
described and illustrated for fixing and tightening the cloth or other textile
sacking of the bedstead, cot, or couch.
In witness whereof, I, the said Leonard Brierley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
LEONARD BRIERLEY. (L.S.)