IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS FOR MILITARY AND OTHER USE
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th January 1882.
A communication from abroad by Alphonse Henri Léopold Oudry, of Paris,
France.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK of 53 Chancery Lane in the County of
Middlesex Patent Agent. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS FOR MILITARY AND
OTHER USE." [A communication from abroad by Alphonse Henri Léopold Oudry,
of Paris, France.]
This Invention relates particularly to bedsteads for military use and it has for
its object to combine strength and economy with hygienic conditions and is
specially constructed to prevent harbouring vermin.
The bed bottom is made of wire-work of peculiar construction, and is stretched
in an iron frame which is pivoted at one end upon its legs or supports so that it
can be raised into a vertical position during the day time. When in the horizontal
position its other end rests upon a movable support adapted to form a seat to a
table which is combined with or affixed to the bed frame at the underside thereof
in such manner as to be readily placed in a horizontal position for use when the
bed is raised.
In order that the Invention may be more readily understood I have illustrated
examples thereof in the accompanying Drawings and will proceed to describe it in
detail with reference thereto.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the bedstead in the horizontal position and
Figure 2 is a plan of the same showing the construction of the trellis or wire work
forming the bed bottom. Figure 3 represents the bed bottom turned up upon
its pivots into an upright position. Figure 4 is a plan of the movable support
for the foot end of the bed, and which also forms a seat. In these four Figures the
same letters of reference indicate the same parts.
a is the frame of the bedstead constructed of two side bars of T-iron and two
cross bars c of flat iron which connect the ends of the side-bars. bare eyebolts
on the side bars a through which the wire work is led and by which it is held in
tension laterally and e are similar eyebolts on the cross bars c through which
flexible steel rods d are passed both b and e having screw stems and nuts for
[Price 4d.]

page_text: the purpose of readjusting the tension of the bed-bottom when it has become
slack by use. The bed bottom is constructed of lozenge-shaped segments f
of iron wire (hardened) the several sections being connected together by having
their one end bent to a loop form and hooked onto the adjacent ends of the
adjoining sections as shown in Figure 4 in edge view on a larger scale. gare
coupling pieces uniting the sides of the adjacent lozenges which form the several
sections of the bed bottom, or they may be simply interlaced.
The frameof the bedstead is pivoted at i between two legs or standards h of
the form shown in Figures 1 and 3, and is capable of being turned upon those
pivots into the raised position shown in the latter Figure. The head k of the
bedstead is jointed to the side bars a so as to fold down upon and partly protect
the bed bottom and occupy less room in store, the ends of the side bars a being
reslotted to receive the ends of the head piece.
The rods d being flexible impart a certain degree of elasticity to the bed
bottom and combined with the means of regulating the tension are of great
advantage.
I will now describe another construction of wirework having for its object to
impart a still greater degree of elasticity to the bed bottom and simplify its
manufacture for the purposes of this Invention.
Figure 6 is a plan and Figure 7 a cross section on line 1-2 Figure 6 of the
modified bed bottom and Figure 5 illustrates on a larger scale the details of
construction. Each section of which the bed bottom is composed is formed of a
single wire bent of the zigzag form shown and extending from side to side of the
frame, its end portions being led through the eyebolts b on the side bars a, and
the several sections are connected together in series by coupling thimbles c, or they
may be simply interlaced with one another as represented in Figures
and 9.
In constructing the bed bottom shown in these Figures the wire e is bent to
form a Ushaped link as shown and its two ends are bent to a loop form to hook
onto the rounded ends of the adjacent links. In order to interlace the laterally
adjacent links, their sides are bent at the middle of their length as shown at f in
Figures 8 and 9 to facilitate their connection and avoid projections from the
surface of the bed bottom.
The construction shown in these Figures imparts great elasticity and the bed
bottom retains the curved form shown in Figure 7.
The different sections of the bed bottom may also be alternated with metal
laths or with straps..
The bedding may be attached to the bed bottom by webbing or otherwise.