AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF ELASTIC SURFACE, SUITABLE FOR SPRING MATTRESSES AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR SITTING OR RECLINING UPON
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lionel Smith, of the City of Manchester,
Salesman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF ELASTIC
SURFACE, SUITABLE FOR SPRING MATTRESSES AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR SITTING
OR RECLINING UPON."
Sealed the 21st January 1873, and dated the 23rd July 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lionel Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd July 1872.
I, LIONEL SMITH, of the City of Manchester, Salesman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION
OF ELASTIC SURFACE, SUITABLE FOR SPRING MATTRESSES, AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR
SITTING OR RECLINING UPON," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the production of an elastic surface suitable
for being fixed upon a framework, and thus to form a spring mattress,
and also useful for producing the elastic action in the seats of chairs,

page_text: sofas, and other articles for sitting or reclining upon, and consists in the
use and application to the purpose of a series of double bowed springs,
formed by preference of riband steel, which are connected together in a
corrugated form, so as to allow of vertical, spiral, or other suitable
springs being introduced between every other corrugation, the ex-
tremities of these springs being jointed together in a diagonal or
rectangular direction; or double continuous ribands may be employed,
extending across the framework and joined together in a diagonal or
rectangular direction by means of rivets, rings, or in any other con-
venient manner.
This arrangement of elastic surface permits of the necessary springing
effect being produced without the friction and consequent wear and tear
which results when spiral springs are arranged in an horizontal direction
in the formation of an elastic surface.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Lionel Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd January 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LIONEL
SMITH, of the City of Manchester, Salesman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Lionel Smith, Her special licence
that I, the said Lionel Smith, 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 of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF ELASTIC
SURFACE, SUITABLE FOR SPRING MATTRESSES, AND OTHER ARTICLES FOR SITTING OR
RECLINING UPON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said

page_text: Linonel Smith, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Lionel Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be.
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
:-
This Invention relates to the production of an elastic surface suitable
for being fixed upon a framework, and thus to form a spring mattress,
and also useful for producing the elastic action in the seats of chairs,
sofas, and other articles for sitting or reclining upon, and consists in the
use and application to the purpose of a series of double-bowed springs,
formed by preference of riband steel, which are connected together in'
a corrugated form, so as to allow of vertical, spiral, or other suitable
springs being introduced between every other corrugation; or the ex-
tremities of these springs may be jointed together in a diagonal,
rectangular, or radial direction by means of plates, rivets, rings, or in any
other convenient manner.
This arrangement of elastic surface permits of the necessary springing
effect being produced without the friction and consequent wear and tear:
which results when spiral springs are arranged in a horizontal direction:
in the formation of an elastic surface.
And for the purpose of more clearly setting forth the nature of my
Invention, and to enable it to be more readily carried into effect, I have
hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings illustrative of the same, in which
Fig. 1 is a plan, and Fig. 2 a cross section of a seat of a circular form,
such as a music stool, with my improvements applied thereto, drawn to
a scale of about one-half full size.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section of so much of a railway carriage as will
shew the manner of applying my Invention to the seats and backs of the
same, and Fig. 4 a plan of the framework and spring seating with the
upholstered work removed, both drawn to a reduced scale.

page_text: Fig. 5 is a plan, and Fig. 6 a longitudinal section along the line a—b,
(in Fig. 5) of a spring mattress constructed according to my Invention,
drawn to a scale of about 1 inches to the foot.
Similar letters of reference are used to denote similar parts throughout
the several views.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, which, as before mentioned, illustrate the
application of my Invention to a seat of a circular form, such as a music
stool, A, B, are a series of double bowed springs, or an upper bowed
spring A, and a lower flat spring C (shewn dotted), constructed by pre-
ference of riband steel, the lower spring B or C being provided with a
hole at each of its extremities, and the upper spring A with a corre-
sponding slot D (seen best in Fig. 1), so that when the two springs are
connected by studs or pins E, and bolts or rivets F passing through
them, the upper spring A may freely yield to compression by the sliding
of its ends over the ends of the lower one B or C, in other words such
upper springs will become flattened as the pressure is brought to bear
upon them. A number of these double springs so mounted is disposed
upon the circular framework G in a radial direction, connecting their
outer extremities to the said framework by the studs or set screws E,
which may be secured in such framework or to a separate metallic plate
attached to the framework, sufficient freedom being left for the easy
sliding of the extremities of the upper springs over the lower one,
as before mentioned. The inner ends of the said springs connect
together by inserting them between two metallic plates H and I, by
preference of a circular form, the lower plate I having holes formed in
it at equal distances from and around the centre corresponding to the
number of the springs, so that by the bolt F passing through the slot in
the upper spring A, thence through the hole in the lower spring B or C,
and finally through the corresponding hole in the lower plate I, the
inner extremities of the springs A and B, or C, are connected together
in an effectual manner. These plates H and I should not be bolted
down hard upon the ends of the springs, as the necessary sliding action
of the upper over the lower spring would thereby be interfered
with, but such plates should be preserved a sufficient distance apart to
allow of that action taking place freely, for which purpose a washer J is
introduced between the plates, This method of uniting the ends of the
springs entirely obviates any destructive or injurious action upon the

page_text: upholstered work by frictional contact with the sliding joints. From the
centre of and through these two plates H and I, and washer J, I pass a
bolt K, which serves the double purpose of securing such plates together
and acting as a guide for the vertical, spiral, or other form of com-
pression spring L working immediately beneath the lower plate I, the
lower extremity of this bolt working through and guided in a hole in
the cross piece M. Upon the elastic surface so constructed I place the
usual upholstered work, and the action of the springs is then somewhat
as follows: The weight coming upon the double springs A and B par-
tially flattens the upper spring A, the amount of depression depending
upon the weight brought to bear upon each individual spring, and as
these springs transfer a portion of their weight through the plates H
and I to the central spring L (which latter also carries the weight
immediately over it), the result is an elastic surface which adapts itself
readily to the configuration of the body with a pleasant springing effect.
In Figs. 3 and 4 I illustrate the manner of applying my Invention to
the seats and backs of railway carriages, omnibuses, and other such like
vehicles. The construction and arrangement of the double bowed springs
is the same as that already described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2,
except that as the framework N is rectangular and oblong instead of
circular, the diagonal springs O are made longer than those marked P,
which are at right angles to the framework, for the purpose of covering
the increased distance from the plates H to the corners Q of the frame-
work N. The arrangement of the bowed springs for acting upon the
upholstered work at the back of the seat of the carriage is also identical
with that shewn in plan in Fig. 4, the surface of both back and seat
possessing not only the property of great elasticity, but from the entire
absence of wirework or surface extension springs of any kind, the
upholstered work covering my elastic surface is found to wear much
longer than when such wirework and extension springs are employed for
a similar purpose. This modification also shews how my Invention may
be applied to chairs, sofas, and other similar articles, having a rectangular
or oblong framework.
In Figs. 5 and 6 I show the manner of arranging a series of my
double bowed springs, and connecting them together so as to form a
spring mattress. The springs may either be constructed with the double
bow, as seen at A and B, Fig. 2, or with an upper bowed spring A and

page_text: lower straight spring C, and the strength of the upper bow may be;
increased when desirable by the insertion between the upper and lower,
spring of any suitable form of compression spring, such as the one shewn
in conjunction with the double bowed spring marked R, in Fig. 6. This;
method of strengthening the upper spring is applicable to the arrange-
ments already described.
The mode of securing and combining a series of my improved bowed
springs together is seen more clearly and upon an enlarged scale in Figs. 7
and 8, representing respectively a plan and side view of a portion of the
elastic surface used in Figs. 5 and 6, but shewing the diagonal springs
dispensed with.
:
It will be seen that the bowed springs are all connected together at¸
their extremities, either to plates H and I (as seen partly in section in.
Fig. 7), of the same construction as the corresponding plates in Figs. 1
and 2, or such extremities may be connected together by rivets or bolts¯
passing direct through their respective slots and holes, except in the
case of those extremities of the bowed springs which are bounded by.
the framework S, which are attached thereto by studs or set screws E-
in the same manner as the outer extremities of the bowed springs in
Figs. 1 and 2. The compression springs L, situated beneath the plates.
H and I, may be supported and guided in the case of an iron bedstead
by the usual wrought-iron laths, by so arranging the latter that the
longitudinal laths shall cross the transverse ones immediately below the
centres of the plates H and I, at which intersection I form a hole
through the two laths for the passage of the bolt K guiding the springs L,
or the said bolt may be supported and guided by working through holes
in cross timbers suitably disposed upon the framework or sides and ends
of the bedstead, or in a separate framework capable of removal in its.
entirety from the bedstead, thus forming a completely portable spring
mattress. It will be readily apparent that this elastic surface is equally
applicable for forming the bottoms of the bunks or beds in ship's berths.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of this
my said Invention, together with the best methods with which I am‍
acquainted for carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details, relative
proportions, or dimensions of the various parts of my improved clastic
surface, as the same may be considerably varied without departing from

page_text: the Invention; but what I claim is, the combination and arrangement
of a series or number of bowed springs or bowed and flat springs, having
their extremities connected together or mounted in a framework, sub-
stantially as and for the purposes described and illustrated on the
accompanying Drawing.
the Invention; but what I claim is, the combination and arrangement
of a series or number of bowed springs or bowed and flat springs, having
their extremities connected together or mounted in a framework, sub-
stantially as and for the purposes described and illustrated on the
accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lionel Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
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WHE
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accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lionel Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
JOHN G. WILSON,
Patent Office,
71, Market St.,
Manchester.
LIONEL SMITH. (L.S.)