Improvements in Metallic Cots.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Apr.. 1893
Complete Specification Left, 5th Jan., 1894-Accepted, 10th Feb., 1894
C
PROVISIONAL
SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Metallic Cots.
We EVERED AND COMPY. LIMITED of Surrey Works Smethwick in the
County of Stafford, Manufacturers, and EDGAR SMALLWOOD, of No. 23 York
Road, Edgbaston Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manager of Works do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The said invention relates to those kinds of metallic cots which for convenience
in making the cot bed and for putting a child into or removing it from the cot are
provided with vertically sliding or rising and falling side rails and the said
invention has for its object principally so to construct and arrange the parts of
the said cots that they are made more durable in use and efficient in action than
cots of the ordinary construction.
In metallic cots as ordinarily constructed the upper and lower horizontal bars of
the side rails are terminated by wrought iron guiding eyes which engage with and
In the usage to
slide upon vertical rods parallel to the corner pillars of the cot.
which these cots are subjected it commonly happens that one or more of the guiding
eyes are broken off the side rails and the said side rails are thereby rendered useless
or their use is attended with great inconveniences; further, the vertical rods on
which the said eyes work get bent or distorted and render the raising and lowering
of the side rail difficult.
The principal object of the said invention is so to construct the said sliding side
rails as hereinafter described that the breaking of the said guiding eyes from the
said rails or the bending of the vertical guide rods are rendered impossible
thereby obviating the inconveniences indicated.
Instead of the said wrought iron guiding eyes herein before referred to, we make
the guiding portions of the side rail. of metallic tubes of a length equal or nearly
equal to the depth of the said rail and of such an internal diameter that they
will slide easily on the guide rods of the cot. We chill cast the said metallic tubes
on the ends of the side rail. A recess left in the upper and lower chill castings
or in the ends of the said tubes to receive a leather or other packing so as to make
the said tubes work tightly and noiselessly on the guiding rods of the cot. The
packing in the lower chills or ends projects slightly beyond the said chills or ends
and constitutes buffers for the said rails thereby preventing the concussion produced
when depressing the rails into their lowered positions.
The vertically sliding side rails are supported or fastened in their raised positions
in either of the following ways.
According to one of the arrangements, the side angle bars of the cot are provided
near their middle and on their underside with short parallel rods the said rods being
carried by vertical depending brackets fixed to the said side angle bars. Turning
on the ends of the short rods are lever supports consisting of a horizontal bar,
which is hereinafter referred to as the side rail supporting bar, the ends of which
bar are provided with lever arms situated and turning on the short fixed rods
described. One of the lever arms is prolonged inwards and is connected by means
of a coiled spring with the lower ends of the depending brackets carried by the
angle bars of the cot. Stops on the said depending brackets prevent the outer
ends of the lever arms of the lever supports from turning beyond a horizontal
position.
When the side rail is raised from its lowered position and it is wished to fix it in
its normal position the said side rail is carried upwards slightly beyond that position
and the lever support is turned outwards by hand until the side rail supporting bar

page_text: comes under the said side rail. By slightly depressing the said side rail onto the
side rail supporting bar, it is held and supported in its raised or normal position.
In order to depress the side rail into its lowered position it is first necessary to
slightly raise it from the normal position so as to allow the coiled spring herein-
before described acting on the lever arm of the lever support to take the side rail
supporting bar out of action when the side rail can be lowered.
According to another arrangement the side rail supporting bar is carried by and
jointed to the outer ends of two short arms the inner ends of the said arms being
jointed to the underside of the angle bar. The side rail supporting bar approaches
and closes under the side angle bar similar to the way in which the parts of a
jointed parallel ruler close. When the side rail supporting bar is closed under the
side angle bar it is out of action and the side rail of the cot can be depressed into
its lowered position. When the side rail is raised and the side rail supporting bar
is opened out it comes under the said side rail and supports it.
According to another arrangement the side rail supporting bar may be carried by
the outer ends of two horizontally sliding rods or bars working in guides on the
underside of the said cot.
Dated this 14th day of April 1893
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicants.
Improvements in Metallic Cots.
We EVERED AND COMPY. LIMITED, of Surrey Works, Smethwick in the
County of Stafford Manufacturers, and EDGAR SMALLWOOD, of No. 23 York
Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham in the County of Warwick, Manager of Works,
do hereby declare the nature of our invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The said invention relates to those kinds of metallic cots which for convenience
in making the cot bed and for putting a child into or removing it from the cot
are provided with vertically sliding or rising and falling side rails; and the said
invention has for its object principally so to construct and arrange the parts of the
said cots that they are made more durable in use and efficient in action than cots
of the ordinary construction.
In metallic cots as ordinarily constructed the upper and lower horizontal bars
of the side rails are terminated by wrought iron guiding eyes which engage with
and slide upon vertical rods parallel to the corner pillars of the cot.
In the usage
to which these cots are subjected it commonly happens that one or more of the
guiding eyes are broken off the side rails and the said side rails are thereby
rendered useless or their use is attended with great inconveniences; further, the
vertical rods on which the said eyes work get bent or distorted and render the
raising and lowering of the side rail difficult.
The principal object of the said invention so to construct the said sliding side
rails as hereinafter described that the breaking of the said guiding eyes from the
said rails or the bending of the vertical guide rods are rendered impossible thereby
obviating the inconveniences indicated.
Instead of the said wrought iron guiding eyes hereinbefore referred to, we make
the guiding portions of the side rail of metallic tubes of a length equal or nearly
equal to the depth of the said rail and of such an internal diameter that they will
slide easily on the guide rods of the cot. We chill cast the said metallic tubes on the
ends of the side rail. A recess is left in the upper and lower chill castings or in
the ends of the said tubes to receive a leather or other packing so as to make the
said tubes work tightly and noiselessly on the guiding rods of the cot. The

page_text: packings in the lower chills or ends project slightly beyond the said chills or ends
and constitute buffers for the said rails thereby preventing the concussion produced
when depressing the rails into their lowered positions.
The vertically sliding side rails are supported or fastened in their raised positions
in either of the following ways.
According to one of the arrangements, the side angle bars of the cot are provided
near their middle and on their underside with short parallel rods the said rods being
carried by vertical depending brackets fixed to the said side angle bars. Turning
on the ends of the short rods are lever supports consisting of a horizontal bar,
which is hereinafter referred to as the side rail supporting bar, the ends of which bar
are provided with lever arms situated and turning on the short fixed rods described.
One of the lever arms is prolonged inwards and is connected by means of a coiled
spring with the lower ends of the depending brackets carried by the angle bars
of the cot. Stops on the said depending brackets prevent the outer ends of
the lever arms of the lever supports from turning beyond a horizontal position.
When the side rail is raised from its lowered position and it is wished to fix it in
its normal position the said side rail is carried upwards slightly beyond that position
and the lever support is turned outwards by hand until the side rail supporting bar
comes under the said side rail. By slightly depressing the said side rail onto the
side rail supporting bar, it is held and supported in its raised or normal position.
In order to depress the side rail into its lowered position it is first necessary to
slightly raise it from the normal position so as to allow the coiled spring hereinbefore
described acting on the lever arm of the lever support to take the side rail
supporting bar out of action, when the side rail can be lowered.
According to another arrangement the side rail supporting bar is carried by and
jointed to the outer ends of two short arms the inner ends of the said arms being
jointed to the underside of the angle bar. The side rail supporting bar approaches
and closes under the side angle bar similar to the way in which the parts of a
jointed parallel ruler close. When the side rail supporting bar is closed under
the side angle bar it is out of action and the side rail of the cot can be depressed
into its lowered position. When the side rail is raised and the side rail supporting
bar is opened out it comes under the said side rail and supports it.
According to another arrangement the side rail supporting bar may be carried
by the outer ends of two horizontally sliding rods or bars working in guides on the
underside of the said cot.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents in perspective a metallic cɔt
provided with parts of the improvements constituting the said invention;
Figure 2 represents in side elevation one of the corner pillars of the said cot and
a portion of the sliding rail drawn to a larger scale and
Figure 3 represents in side elevation the middle part of the cot exhibiting the
supporting arrangement for the sliding side rail, also drawn to a larger scale;
Figure 3 represents a portion of Figure 2 in vertical section drawn to the same
scale as Figure 3 ;
Figure 4 represents a cross section of the supporting arrangement for the sliding
side rail.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of
the drawings.
a, a are the vertically sliding side rails of the cot; b, are the chills at the ends
of the upper and lower horizontal bars of the said side rails, the said chills being
connected by the vertical tubes c. The said tubes c take and work upon the fixed
vertical rods d, d carried by the corner pillars of the cot (see Figures 2 and 3) the
said tubes e constituting long guides for the said side rails. By means of the long
tubular guides c the side rails can slide upon the fixed rods d from their normal or
raised position into their lowered or dotted line position indicated in Figure 1, or
the reverse.
Each of the ends of the tubes e is provided with a packing (see Figure 3^)
of vulcanised india rubber, leather or other like soft material for the purpose of

page_text: preventing the scratching of the rods d and for constituting a noiseless tight fitting
guide for the said side rails. The said packings 2 project slightly from out of
the open ends of the guiding tubes e and thereby constitute buffers for preventing
concussion on the raising and lowering of the side rails.
The side rails are supported when in their normal or raised position by the side
rail supporting bars e. Each of the said side rail supporting bars e is carried by
the outer ends of two levers f, fixed on the rod y turning in the brackets h, h²
connected to the side angle har of the cot. The bracket 2 is prolonged
downwards below the axis of the levers f, f2 and the lower end of the said
bracket is connected to the inner arm or tail of the lever f2 by the coiled
spring (see Figure 4). The side rail supporting bar e is provided with a
handle e by which it is brought into position for supporting the side rail and the
bracket 2 is provided with a stop ha for preventing the levers f, f² and side rail
supporting bar e from turning beyond the horizontal position represented.
When it is desired to depress the side rail into its lowered position the said side
rail is raised from off the side rail supporting bar e into the dotted position
indicated in Figures 2 and 4, the said side rail supporting bar e being at the same
time automatically turned by the action of the spring into the vertical position
indicated in dotted lines in Figure 4 and the side rail is free to be depressed into
the lowered position indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1.
When it is desired to raise the side rail from its lowered position into its
normal or raised position the said side rail is moved on the rods d, d into its
highest or dotted line position indicated in Figures 2 and 4. The side rail
supporting bar e is now turned by means of its handle under the raised side
rail a and the said side rail is depressed onto the said bar e and is thereby supported
as represented in Figures 1, 3 and 4.
Instead of the arrangement of parts for operating the side rail supporting bar e
represented in Figures 1, 3 and 4 the modified arrangement of parts represented
in side elevation, plan and cross section respectively in Figures 5, 6 and
employed.
may be
In this modified arrangement the side rail supporting bar e is carried by and
jointed to the outer ends of two short parallel arms, the inner ends of which
are jointed at 2 to the underside of the angle bar 7 of the cot as represented.
When it is desired to fix the side rail in its raised position or to depress it into
its lowered position it is only necessary to draw the side rail supporting bar e
outwards or to press it inwards. The inner or non-supporting position of the side
rail supporting bar is indicated in dotted lines in Figure 6.
Or the arrangement represented in side elevation, plan and cross section
respectively in Figures 8, 9 and 10 may be employed for supporting the side rail
supporting bar c.
In this case the said side rail supporting bar is carried by the outer ends of two
parallel horizontally sliding rods m, m working in guides or sockets n, n fixed to
the underside of the side angle bar of the cot.
Although we have described the arrangements of parts for supporting the raised
side rails in connection with side rails having the long tubular guides hereinbefore
described yet we wish it to be understood that the methods of supporting the side
rails inay be applied to cots the side rails of which have the ordinary guiding
eyes.
And although our improvements are especially applicable to cots for the use of
children yet they may be applied to cots for invalids and other persons.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that we claim
as the said invention of "Improvements in Metallic Cots
دو
3-
First. Making the guiding portions of the vertically sliding side rails of
metallic cots of a length equal or nearly equal to the depth of the said side rails
by connecting the ends of the upper, and lower horizontal bars of the side rail by

page_text: means of metallic tubes, of an internal diameter slightly greater than the guide
rods of the cot for the purposes and substantially as hereinbefore described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Secondly. Fixing the vertically sliding side rails of metallic cots in their normal
or raised position by means of side rail supporting bars constructed and operated
and carried by the side angle bars of the cot substantially in the ways hereinbefore
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated the Twenty-second day of December 1893.
EVERED AND COMPY. LIMITED,
By ALFRED H. GRIFFITHS,
Managing Director.
EVERED AND COMPY. LIMITED,
By ALFRED H. GRIFFITHS,
Managing Director.
EDGAR SMALLWOOD.