Improvements in Supports for Upholstery Springs.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 10th May, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 2nd Aug., 1892-Accepted, 3rd Sept., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Supports for Upholstery Springs.
I, JOHN ATKINSON STAPLES, of Bay View Terrace, Newburgh, in the State of
New York, United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
Heretofore in upholstering chairs and sofas it has been common to support the
spiral or hour-glass springs upon crossed bands of webbing nailed to the frame of
the seat, and other bands of webbing are passed across the tops of the said springs,
and a bagging or covering is nailet to the seat frame, and horse-hair and suitable
upholstering rests upon the springs, and usually the under side of the scat is
closed by a piece of colored muslin nailed to the seat frame. This manner of
upholstering, although extensively employed, is not permanent, and the webbing
stretches, and the springs sag and become uneven, and the upholstery unsightly,
besides being a repository for dust and insects.
The aforesaid springs have also been supported by bands of metal secured to the
seat frame, and in this case the bases of the springs were connected to the metal
bands, and the top parts were connected together and to the seat frame by inter-
laced cords; but these metal bands are expensive to make, and have to be fitted to
the chair seat and bored with holes for attachment, and are unsightly, heavy, and
clumsy.
My invention consists of a hanging wire support, having a horizontal portion
adapted to receive the lower ends of the springs, and the respective ends of said
supports are bent upwardly, and finished with eyes or points for attaching the same
to the chair seat frame. The horizontal portion of the hanging wire support is
bent or corrugated, so as to adapt it, either singly or when crossed with other
similar supports in a frame, to hold and support the bases of helical springs such as
are employed in upholstering furniture.
These hanging wire supports are quickly and cheaply made by any suitable
automatically operating machine, and they are to be of different sizes to suit the
chair seat, and they require no fitting to place. They are adapted to hang down
more or less below the seat frame, hence it is not necessary to use any box for the
springs, as heretofore provided with shallow seat frames.
Dated this 10th day of May 1892.
BREWER & SON,.
Agents.
1
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Supports for Upholstery Springs.
I, JOHN ATKINSON STAPLES, of Bay View Terrace, Newburgh in the State of
New York, United States of America, Manufacturer, 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 :-
Heretofore in upholstering chairs and sofas it has been common to support the
spiral or hour glass springs upon crossed bands of webbing nailed to the frame of
the seat, and other bands of webbing are passed across the tops of the said springs
and a bagging or covering is nailed to the seat frame, and horse hair and suitable
upholstering rests upon the springs, and usually the under side of the seat is closed
by a piece of coloured muslin nailed to the seat frame. This manner of upholstering,
although extensively employed, is not permanent, as the webbing stretches and the

page_text: :
springs sag and become uneven and the upholstery unsightly besides being a
repository for dust and insects:
The aforesaid springs have also been supported by hands of metal secured to the
seat frame and in this case the bases of the springs were connected to the metal
bands, and the top parts were connected together and to the seat frame by inter-
laced cords, but these metal bands are expensive to make and have to be fitted to
the chair seat and bored with holes for attachment, and are unsightly, heavy and
clumsy.
My invention. consists of a hanging wire support having a horizontal portion
adapted to receive the lower ends of the springs and the respective euds of said
supports are bent upwardly and finished with eyes or points for attaching the
same to the chair seat frame. The horizontal portion of the banging wire support
is bent or corrugated so as to adapt it either singly or when crossed' with other
similar supports in a frame, to hold and' support the bases of helical' springs sach
as are employed in upholstering furniture.
These hanging wire supports are quickly and cheaply made by any suitable
automatically operating machine, and' they are to be of different sizes to suit the
chair seat, and they require no fitting to place and they are adapted' to hang down
more or less below the seat frame, hence it is not necessary to use any box for the
springs as heretofore provided with shallow seat frames.
In the drawing
Fig. 1 is an inverted plan of a chair seat showing my wire supports:
Fig. 2 is a cross section of the same diagonally of the seat frame at the line as.
Fig. 3 is an elevation of a wire support detached..
Fig. 4 is a partial elevation of a modified wire support detaclied!
Fig. 5 is a cross section showing springs and such modified support, and
Fig. 6 is a detached view showing a modified lower end to the spiral springs.
a represents the frame of the chair seat with holes for the upper ends of the legs
at the respective corners, and the dotted lines represent the openings for connecting
the back frame to the seat frame. bed represent the spiral springs whose lower
ends rest upon the wire supports, and the upper ends of the said springs are con-
nected and held by an interlaced network of cords whose ends are connected to the
: seat frame in the usual manner.
:
e e e e represent my improved hanging wire supports. These wire supports
have a horizontal portion 2, and the respective ends are bent upwardly at 3, and
said ends are turned over at 4 and finished with points which can be driven into the
upper face of the seat frame, or with eyes for attaching nails or screws for connecting
the wire support in place.
The horizontal portions 2 of my hanging wire supports may be formed' with eyes
or return bends 5 6 7, bent in said horizontal portions. The wire supports e e¹ in
Figs. 1 and 2 are shown as placed diagonally across the seat frame and the
springs cd are shown as having downwardly projecting lower ends b cd, and
said ends are received in the eyes of the horizontal portion 2, the end c' passing
through two eyes 6, so that lateral swaying is prevented.
The horizontal portions of my hanging wire supports e e³ may be made as
shown in Figs. 4 and 5 with return- bends or vertically disposed corrugations, the
depressions of which when the supports are crossed,.receive and retain the. bases of
the hour glass springs, or the hook shaped end of the spiral spring shown in. Fig. 6,
and these corrugated supports interlock with each other at the crossings..
The respective ends of said wire supports are bent upwardly. at. 3, either upon a
gradual curve as shown in full lines Figs. 2 and 3, or nearly at right angles as
shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 and full lines in Fig. 5; or said ends may be con-
voluted as shown in Fig. 4, which latter construction permits the bend to yield
slightly in placing the support in the seat frame, and to conform to slight
inequalities in sizes of seat frames. The form of the hanging wire supports
permits of their being introduced into the opening in the seat frame with the
horizontal portion sufficiently below the top of the seat frame to provide ample

page_text: space for the springs b c and d. With said supports it is not necessary to build a
box in a shallow seat frame to get sufficient depth for the springs.
These hanging wire supports are to be made of lengths suitable for different
sizes of chairs, sofas and settees or similar articles of furniture where springs and
upholstery are employed, and I do not limit myself to the manner of placing the
same in the seat frame as with the long opening of a sofa seat frame they will
usually be placed lengthwise and crosswise to carry the springs.
In my improvement the wire forming the spring support is bent upwardly near
the ends, hence the operative length of the spring support can be varied to suit
different sizes of seat frames by bending the wire to a greater or less inclination,
and when the extreme ends of the wire are bent downwardly they can be driven
into holes in the seat frame similar to nails and form a very strong attachment and
one that is not liable to be pried out or become loose under the action of the
springs.
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:
First. The combination with the seat frame, of spring supports formed of wire
with horizontal portions of approximately the measurement of the opening of the
seat frame and having bends in the wire to receive the springs, and end portions
extending upward and laterally to rest upon the upper surface of the seat frame
and adapted to be bent to fit various sizes of frames, and means for permanently
attaching the ends of such spring supports to the upper surfaces of the seat frame,
substantially as set forth.
Second. The combination with the seat frame, of spring supports formed of wire
with corrugated horizontal portious of approximately the measurement of the
opening of the seat frame to receive the springs, and end portions extending
upward and laterally to rest upon the upper surface of the seat frame and adapted
to be bent to fit various sizes of frames and means for permanently attaching
the ends of such spring supports to the upper surfaces of the seat frame, sub-
stantially as set forth.
Third. The combination with the seat frame, of spring supports formed of wire
with horizontal portions of approximately the measurement of the opening of the
seat frame and having bends in the wire to receive the springs, and end portions
extending upward and laterally to rest upon the upper surface of the seat frame and
adapted to be bent to fit various sizes of frames and downwardly projecting ends to
enter holes in the seat frame, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 2nd day of August 1892.
BREWER & SON,
Agents.