CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC BEDSTEADS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Key and Ebenezer Hoskins, of Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Metallic Bedstead Manufacturers, for
I MORATI REDS "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Key and Ebenezer
Hoskins at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 8th February 1868.
We, JOHN KEY and EBENEZER HOSKINS, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Metallic Bedstead Manufacturers, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC
BEDSTEADS," to be as follows (that is to say):-
Metallic bedsteads depend much on the portability of their con-
struction, which is mainly effected by the taper dovetail angular joints
now universally used, and which joint as ordinarily constructed
consists in a centre hole for receiving the posts or standards and
circular recesses placed at right angles for receiving corresponding
projections attached to the ends of the head, foot, and side parts of
the bedstead.

page_text: And our improvements partly consist in the addition of another
such like or equivalent joint suitably placed or formed with the angles
of the foot posts; and which additional joint we purpose using for
receiving or partly supporting the foot rail or ornamental frame that
is now commonly made and fitted up permanently between the foot
posts, but which part by our improvements is made portable so that
the bedstead proper may be erected or put up and the foot rail applied
and supported by the additional joints before stated, while the top
part of the foot rail is secured on each side to the posts by means of
the terminating post ornaments as commonly used or their equivalents.
This improved arrangement gives us the advantage of making the
foot rail of an elliptical or other desired curvelinear shape either
horizontally or vertically, and permits at the same time of the general
ornamental character of such portable or detachable foot rails being
extended down below the foot or end rail proper of the bedstead.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said John Key and Ebenezer Hoskins in the Great
Scal Patent Office on the 8th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, JOHN
KEY and EBENEZER HOSKINS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Metallic Bedstead Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said John Key and Ebenezer Hoskins, Her
special licence that we, the said John Key and Ebenezer Hoskins, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
John Key and Ebenezer Hoskins, our 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC

page_text: 33
BEDSTEADS,' upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
John Key and Ebenczer Hoskins, by an instrument in writing under
our 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 we, the said John Key and Ebenezer Hoskins,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
Metallic bedsteads depend much on the portability of their con-
struction, which is mainly effected by the taper dovetail angular joints
now universally used, and which joint as ordinarily constructed consists
in a centre hole for receiving the posts or standards and circular
recesses placed at right angles for receiving corresponding projections
attached to the ends of the head, foot, and side parts of the bedstead.
And our improvements partly consist in the addition of another such
like or equivalent joint suitably placed or formed with the angles of
the foot posts, and which additional joint we purpose using for receiving
or partly supporting the foot rail or ornamental frame, that is now
commonly made and fitted up permanently between the foot posts, but
which part by our improvements is made portable so that the bedstead
proper may be erected or put up and the foot rail applied and supported
by the additional joints before stated, while the top part of the foot
rail is secured on each side to the posts by means of the terminating
post ornaments as commonly used, or their equivalents.
This improved arrangement gives us the advantage of making the
foot rail of an eliptical or other desired curvelincar shape, either
horizontally or vertically, and permits at the same time of the general
ornamental character of such portable or detachable foot rails being
extended down below the foot or end rail proper of the bedstead;
which foot rail, technically so named, may be formed with tubing or
bars united together by suitable ornamental castings as now commonly
pursued in the making or fitting up of head or foot rails of metallic
bedsteads, or the additional foot rail forming the subject of our Invention
may be formed of sheet iron or other suitable metal, or compound
metals, the desired form being obtained by hammering and planishing

page_text: or by stamping or pressing in dies, or by using those processes separately
or conjointly to produce the effect desired, ornamental designs being
either applied to or on or raised from the said metal sheet; or the
construction of the foot rail may be partly made with solid rods or
.tubes, or rods and tubes combined, arranged in such a form for
receiving sheet metal panels raised or treated as herein-before stated,
such entire sheet metal foot rail, or sheet metal panels being stamped,
hammered, or otherwise treated to obtain the desired shape, thereby
affording great scope for elaborate ornamentation as well as imparting
to the bedstead to which such foot rail may be applied, great strength
and solidity.
But as our Invention will be better understood when described by
aid of the Drawings hereunto annexed, we will proceed to refer thereto,
that is to say :-
Fig. 1 represents in perspective a detached foot rail identical with
the foot rail represented in position as applied to the foot part of a
metallic bedstead, as exhibited at Fig. 2.
A, A, are the side pieces of the bedstead, and B is the foot piece,
both of these parts being united by ordinary taper dovetails, which fit
into corresponding recesses formed in the joints marked D, D, and
which are attached or form parts of the foot posts marked C, C, and such
foot and side pieces marked A, A, and B, with their respective joints
are quite old and commonly adopted, the part B forming a part of
and main support to the foot rail, which hitherto has been connected
and made inseparable to and with the foot posts.
But our improvements consist in forming an additional recess in the
joint parts D, D, for receiving corresponding dovetail projections on the
additional foot piece marked E, which forms the main support for
the portable foot rail, which as the Drawing represents is united and
secured to the posts by the top terminal ornaments F, F, being screwed
down, on, and through the perforated ends of the rail G, and this
portable foot curved rail is as before stated exhibited detached at
Figure 1.
Fig. 3 represents two halves of the foot portion of a metallic
bedstead not in perspective, and Fig. 4 a joint plan of the same,
showing the pillars which are usually tubular marked C, C, in
section, adopting the same letter for defining the parts as at Figures
1 and 2, and although we have diversified the form and character of

page_text: foot rail, nevertheless the principle of construction is identical with
Figures 1 and 2, viz., that by means of the auxiliary joints H and H
we are, as before stated, able to erect the bedstead proper, and apply
or remove the foot rail at discretion. The right-hand half may be
similar to the foot rail, as described and exhibited at Figures 1 and 2,
but on the left-hand side while adopting the base rail E, E, in connection
with the joint H', shown in dotted lines in Figure 3, as also a top
bar shown in dotted at N, N, for attachment to the tops of the
posts. We have formed the main foot rail from sheet metal which may
be curved as represented in the vertical section Fig. 5, and in a
transverse section at L, L, Figure 4, the sheet iron so formed and
stamped or otherwise brought into shape, being secured to the joint
rail E, and the top rail shown in dotted lines at N, N, Figure 3, by
means of ornamental screw heads, rivets, or other equivalent means,
that may be adopted according to the taste of the workman or the
general design to which the means of production offer great variety,
and the introduction of additional enamelled or otherwise ornamented
panels.
The foot rail may be stamped of sheet metal in parts as at M. and P,
Fig. 6, the said panels being united by cast ornaments laid on them
and rivetted through, or the panels rivetted to framed rails on the
inside, and the circular parts R and S may be additional stamped metal
panels ornamented by enamelling or otherwise, or they may be of
glass or china, tastefully decorated and set up, or the panels may be
elaborately stamped and raised into suitable ornaments with tablets
formed or applied thereto.
Having thus given a general description of our Invention, and the
manner in which the same may be carried into effect, we wish it
understood that we do not limit ourselves to any particular shape or
proportion, or condition, or description of metal with which the Inven-
tion may receive effect; but what we claim and wish to protect by
these our in part recited Letters Patent is, the constructing of the foot
parts of metallic bedsteads, that the foot rail proper may not only be
removed or applied after the erection of the general frame of the
bedstead, but also that the said foot rail may extend down below the
foot sacking rail, and be made either with rods, tubes, or sheets metal,
or partly of sheet iron, or partly of rods or tubes in connection with
the said metal, or instead of rods or tubes the parts forming the joints

page_text: may be cast and secured to sheet metal, in all cases preserving the
quality of being removed or applied without affecting the general
construction of the bedstead frame proper.
In witness whereof, wc, the said John Key and Ebenezer Hoskins,
have hereunto set our hands and scals, this Sixth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and sixty-
cight.
Witness,
WILLIAM LOACH,
Clerk to J. S. Cockings,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.
(L.S.)
JOHN KEY.
EBENEZER HOSKINS. (L.s.)