Improvements in Bedding.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Jan., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 20th Mar., 1896-Accepted, 16th May, 1896
I, ALFRED HENRY SMITH of 8 Minories in the City of London, Manager of
The Cape Asbestos Company Limited, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to an improved manufacture of beds, bolsters, pillows and
the like.
I have found by experiment that the mineral fibre commercially known as blue
asbestos can be advantageously employed for the manufacture of bedding in lieu of
hair, wool, flock or the like.
According to my invention I take the mineral and after separating the fibres in
the usual manner, further treat the fibres by carding or otherwise in order to
lighten them and render the bulk thereof as springy as possible. This fibre is
inserted into ticking or other covering and used in the ordinary manner.
In addition to cheapness my improved bedding has the further advantages that
it is imperishable, that muths or vermin cannot exist thereiu, that it can be
thoroughly disinfected and purified after use for infectious diseases, and that it is
fireproof and can in case of necessity be used for extinguishing fires.
lu some cases I find it advantageous to combine a proportion of hair with the
asbestos fibre to give increased elasticity.
T
1002
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in Bedding.
I, ALFRED HENRY SMITH, of 8, Minories, in the City of London, Manager of
The Cape Asbestos Company Limited, 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 :-
My invention relates to an improved manufacture of beds, mattresses, bolsters,
pillows and the like.
I have found by experiment that the fibrous mineral crocidolite, commercially
known as blue or Cape asbestos, can be advantageously employed for the manu-
facture of bedding and cushious in lieu of hair, wool, flock, or the like now usually
employed.
According to my invention I take the mineral and after separating the fibres in
the usual manner, further treat the fibres by finely carding them in order to
lighten them and render the bulk thereof as springy as possible. The fibre thus
prepared is then ready to be inserted iato ticking or other covering.
In addition to cheapness my improved bedding has the further advantages that
it is practically imperishable, that moths or verniin cannot exist therein, that it can
be thoroughly disinfected and purified after use for infectious diseases, and that it
is fireproof and can in case of necessity be used for extinguishing fires.

page_text: In some cases, instead of making the whole of the filling of my asbestos, I may
arrange the filling around what I call a core inflated or filled with air or water.
For this purpose I cover the said core with layers of my asbestos and enclose the
whole in a suitable cover or ticking, and by this means the unhealthiness resulting
from too close a contact with the airproof or waterproof coverings of ordinary air
and water beds is avoided and increased comfort obtained. My asbestos covering
applied in this way serves as a protection against puncture of the air core, and will
thus render the beds of service in cases where they might be required for use as
life preservers, for example in case of shipwreck.
Or, instead of an air or water core, the core may consist of a lattice work of
cane or other light material between the sides of which suitable springs are
arranged, the whole being covered with a fabric such as canvas which is surrounded
with my asbestos and enclosed in a suitable tick or other covering, by which
arrangement I obtain the advantages of a spring-mattress with the advantages
derived from the use of my asbestos above described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. As a new article of manufacture a bed, mattress, pillow, cushion or the like,
consisting of an outer covering of suitable fabric and a filling of the fibre of
crocidolite finely carded, substantially as described.
2. A bed, mattress, pillow or the like, consisting of crocidolite fibre prepared as
above described and enclosed in a suitable covering, the whole surrounding an
inner core adapted to be inflated or filled with air or water or to be held extended,
substantially as described.
Dated the 20th day of March 1896.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.