IMPROVEMENTS IN APARTMENTS AND BEDSTEADS TO BE USED BY PERSONS SUFFERING FROM INFECTIOUS AND OTHER DISEASES
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Currall, of Birmingham, in the County
Warwick, Manager of Works, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APARTMENTS AND BEDSTEADS TO BE USED BY PERSONS SUFFERING FROM
INFECTIOUS AND OTHER DISEASES.”
"
caled the 7th May 1875, and dated the 8th March 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Currall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th March 1875.
I, JOHN CURRALL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manager of Works, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APARTMENTS AND BEDSTEADS TO BE USED BY PERSONS
SUFFERING FROM INFECTIOUS AND OTHER DISEASES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described, in
constructing apartments and bedsteads to be used by persons suffering
from infectious and other diseases, whereby the said persons are more or
less isolated, and the emanations from them are rapidly carried away,
and the danger of infection by the attendants is wholly or practically
removed.

page_text: In constructing an isolating apartment according to my Invention, I
arrange within the room occupied by the patient a rectangular frame of
metal or wood divided into rectangular divisions or spaces, the said
frame extending from the floor to near the ceiling of the room. I fill
these divisions or spaces in the said frame with panels of wire gauze or
perforated metal or of framed panels of wire gauze or perforated metal,
some or the whole of the said panels being connected to the principal
frame of the isolating apartment by hinges, or the said panels may be
made to slide in the principal frame. By means of the hinged or sliding
panels access to the isolating apartment may be obtained. The top of
the isolating apartment is covered by a dome or pyarmidal shaped cover,
having at its summit an exit fluc or pipe which is in communication
with the chimney of the room, or with the external air. The bedstead
occupied by the patient is stationed in the middle of the isolating
apartment.
By constructing the isolating apartment in the manner described the
required amount of fresh air is admitted through the wire gauze panels
of the apartment without draught, and the emanations and vitiated
air from the patient are carried through the exit pipe at the top of the
apartment into the chimney or external air. A throttle or other valve
may be placed in the exit pipe described for regulating the current of
air through the apartment. An upward current may be determined in
the isolating apartment by burning a gas flame or a lamp under the
exit pipe of the cover.
I construct bedsteads to be used alone or in combination with the
isolating apartment described, essentially in the same manner as the said
apartment, that is to say, I enclose the bedstead in a frame of metal or
wood and apply to the said frame panels of wire gauze or perforated
metal, the bedstead forming a support for the said frame.
The wire gauze panels at the ends of the bedstead may be fixed, but
those at the sides are hinged to gain access to the patient.
A small or
half panel may be hinged to one of the panels to enable the attendant
to hand food, medicine, or the like to the patient without opening the
larger hinged panels of the bedstead; or a curtain may be used to
close the opening in the panel. The enclosed bedstead is covered at top
by a cover having an exit flue, as described with respect to the isolating
apartment. At one cud of the bedstead, and either in communication or

page_text: not with the bedstead, is a small compartment made in a similar manner
to the isolating apartment, which small compartment may be used as a
bath room.
Or in place of wholly enclosing the bedstead as described,
a portable hood-like cover may be hung or suspended over the bedstead.
The sides of this hood-like cover are made of wire gauze and a pipe or
flue at its summit is in connection with a chimney or with the external
air. A lamp may be suspended inside the hood-like cover to determine
an upward current of air. From the sides of the suspended hood-like
cover curtains may be hung. This arrangement is particularly applicable
to half tester or French bedsteads.
I prefer to raise the bedsteads as high above the floor of the room as
is practicable to diminish the risk of the attendant inhaling the effluvia
not with the bedstead, is a small compartment made in a similar manner
to the isolating apartment, which small compartment may be used as a
bath room.
Or in place of wholly enclosing the bedstead as described,
a portable hood-like cover may be hung or suspended over the bedstead.
The sides of this hood-like cover are made of wire gauze and a pipe or
fluc at its summit is in connection with a chimney or with the external
air. A lamp may be suspended inside the hood-like cover to determine
an upward current of air. From the sides of the suspended hood-like
cover curtains may be hung. This arrangement is particularly applicable
to half tester or French bedsteads.
I prefer to raise the bedsteads as high above the floor of the room as
is practicable to diminish the risk of the attendant inhaling the effluvia
from the patient.
Besides being applicable to the isolation of persons suffering from
infectious diseases, my Invention may be used by persons suffering from
discases which are attended with the emission of offensive effluvia.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Currall in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 1st September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
OURRALL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manager of
Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Currall, Her special
license that I, the said John Currall, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Currall, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN

page_text: APARTMENTS AND BEESTEADS TO BE USED BY PERSONS SUFFERING FROM INFECTIOUS.
AND OTHER DISEASES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Currall, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Scal 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 Currall, 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 :-
-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
constructing apartinents and bedsteads to be used by persons suffering
from infectious and other diseases whereby the said persons are more or
less isolated and the emanations from them are rapidly carried away and
the danger of infection by the attendants is wholly or practically removed.
In constructing an isolating apartment according to my Invention,
I arrange within the room occupied by the patient a rectangular frame
of metal or wood divided into rectangular divisions or spaces, the
said frame extending from the floor to near the ceiling of the room.
I fill portions of these divisions or spaces in the said frame with panels
of wire gauze or perforated metal, or of frame panels of wire gauze
or perforated metal, some or the whole of the said panels being con-
nected to the principal frame of the isolating apartment by hinges, or
the said panels may be made to slide in the principal frame. By means
of the hinged or sliding panels access to the isolating apartment may be
obtained. Portions of the isolating apartment may be glazed with sheets
of glass for admitting light to the said apartment. The top of the
isolating apartment is covered by a dome or pyramidal shaped cover
having at its summit an exit flue or pipe, which is in communication
with the chimney of the room or with the external air; or the isolating
apartment may have an inverted V shaped cover and the exit pipe or
flue be situated at one end of the said cover. The bedstead occupied by
the patient is stationed in the middle of the isolating apartment.
By constructing the isolating apartment in the manner described the
required amount of fresh air is admitted through the wire gauze panels

page_text: of the apartment without draught, and the emanations and vitiated air
from the patient are carried through the exit pipe at the top of the
apartment into the chimney or external air. A throttle or other valvo
may be placed in the exit pipe described for regulating the current of
air through the apartment. An upward current may be determined in
the isolating apartment by burning a gas flame or a lamp under the exit
pipe of the cover.
I construct bedsteads to be used alone or in combination with the
isolating apartment described essentially in the same manner as the said
apartment, that is to say, I enclose the bedstead in a frame of metal or
wood and apply to the said frame panels of wire gauze or perforated
metal, the bedstead forming a support for the said frame.
The wire gauze panels at the ends of the bedsteads may be fixed, but
thoso at the sides are hinged to gain access to the patient. A small or
half panel may be hinged to one of the panels to enable the attendant
to hand food, medicine, or the like to the patient without opening the
larger hinged panels of the bedstead; or a curtain may be used to close
the opening in the pancl. The enclosed bedstead is covered at top by a
cover having an exit flue as described with respect to the isolating apart-
ment. At one end of the bedstead, and either in communication or not
with the bedstead, is a small compartment made in a similar manner to
the isolating apartment, which small compartment may be used as a
bath room or contains a night stool; or in place of wholly enclosing the
bedstead as described a portable hood-like cover may be hung or sus-
pended over the bedstead. The sides of this hood-like cover are made of
wire gauze, and a pipe or fluc at its summit is in connection with a
chimney or with the external air. A lamp may be suspended inside the
hood-like cover to determine an upward current of air. From the sides
of the suspended hood-like cover curtains may be hung.
ment is particularly applicable to half tester or French bedsteads.
This arrange-
I prefer to raise the bedsteads as high above the floor of the room as
is practicable to diminish the risk of the attendant inhaling the effluvia
from the patient.
Besides being applicable to the isolation of persons suffering from
infectious diseases my Invention may be used by persons suffering from

page_text: Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figures 1 and 2 represent in perspective an isolating apartment con-
structed according to my Invention. The same letters of reference
indicate the same parts in both Figures. The said apartment consists of
a rectangular frame a, a, of metal or wood, hinged or otherwise con-
nected together so that the parts of the said frame may be readily
separated and put together. The said frame extends from the floor to
near the ceiling of the room in which the apartment is used, and the
said frame is divided into rectangular divisions or spaces. The lower
spaces aro filled with wire gauze or perforated metal, or with framed
panels of wire gauze or perforated metal marked b, b. The other spaces
may be filled some with wood and some glazed with glass. The parts
marked c, c, are generally glazed with glass, and the parts marked d, d,
are filled with wood panels. By means of the door e access is gained to
the isolating apartment; the said door e may be omitted, and hinged or
sliding panels used in place thereof. The apartment thus constructed is
covered with a cover f, and at the end of the said cover is an exit fluc
or pipe g, which flue or pipe is in communication with the chimney of
the room or with the external air. is the beastead stationed in the
isolating apartment. Fresh air enters the apartment through the wire
gauze panels b, b, without draught, and the emanations and vitiated air
from the patient are carried through the exit pipe g to the chimney of
the room or external air. A gas flame or lamp at the cover and near
the exit pipe may be used for determining an upward current in the
apartment, and the thorough ventilation of the said apartment effected.
Instead of making the exit flue at the end of the apartment, as repre-
sented, the cover may be dome-shaped, and the exit pipe or flue be
fixed at the summit of the dome.
Figure 3 represents in perspective a bedstead constructed according to
my Invention. The horizontal frame of the bedstead is marked i, and
is raised a considerable height above the floor of the room. The said
bedstead is enclosed in a frame k, made essentially as before described
with respect to the isolating apartment. The part of the bedstead
frame is made of wire gauze or perforated metal, the air passing through
the wire gauze at 1, entering a space between the sides of the mattrass

page_text: and the said wire gauze, and ascends into the enclosure k. The
panels m, m, which are glazed with glass, are hinged to the frame, so
that by opening the said panels access to the patient may be obtained.
By means of a small or half panel p the attendant may hand food,
medicine, or the like to the patient without opening the larger hinged
panels m, m. Access to the bedstead is obtained through the small
chamber or compartment q at the end of the bedstead, the patient
reaching the bed by steps in the said small chamber q. The said small
chamber or compartment q may serve as a bath room or retiring room,
and may contain a night stool or other conveniences for the use of the
patient. The enclosed bedstead is covered with a cover », at the end of
which is an exit flue or pipes in connection with the chimney of the
room or the external air. Into this flue or pipes the vitiated air
and emanations from the patient pass, and are carried thereby into the
external air. A pipo x from the stool to connected with the exit fluc s
carries off offensive emanations from the stool.
Figure 4 represents in perspective a portable hood-like cover suspended
over a bedstead according to my Invention. The sides of the hood-like
covert are made of wire gauze or perforated metal, and a pipe or fluc u
in its summit is in communication with a chimney or with the external
air. From the sides of the hood-like cover curtains may be hung.
A lamp or gas flame may be used at the roof or cover of the bedsteads,
Figures 3 and 4, for determining an upward current.
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 herein described and illustrated, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion, but I claim as my Invention of improvements in apartments and
bedsteads to be used by persons suffering from infectious and other
discases,―
First. Constructing apartments in the manner herein-before described
and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings,
whereby the patient is more or less isolated from the attendants, the
apartment is ventilated without draught, and emanations and vitiated air
from the patient are conveyed to the chimney of the room or to the
external air without having entered the room in which the apartment is
situated, substantially as described and illustrated.

page_text: Secondly. Constructing bedsteads in the manner herein-before described
and illustrated in Figure 3 of the accompanying Drawings, that is to
say, combining with the bedstead a covered or panelled frame consti-
tuting an enclosure, the cover of the said enclosure being in communi-
cation by means of a flue or pipe with a chimney or with the external 5
air for carrying away the vitiated air and emanations from the patient;
also, the combination with the enclosed bedstead of a small chamber or
compartment, substantially as described and illustrated.
Thirdly. The combination with a bedstead of a portabic hood-like
cover hung or suspended over the bedstead, a flue or pipe in the summit 1
of the cover being in communication with a chimney or with the external
air, substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described and
illustrated in Figure 4 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Currall, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Thirtieth day of August, in the year of 1
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOHN CURRALL. (L.S.)