IMPROVEMENTS IN THE THE CONSTRUCTION OF BEDSTEADS AND CHILDREN'S COTS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Key, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
THE CONSTRUCTION OF BEDSTEADS AND CHILDREN'S COTS.”
>
THE CONSTRUCTION OF BEDSTEADS AND CHILDREN'S COTS.'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Key at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th May 1875.
I, JOHN KEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchant;
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BEDSTEADS AND CHILDREN'S COTS," to be as follows
(that is to say):-
My improvements in bedsteads and cots consist in introducing into
their manufacture wood and metal or metals by constructing the head
and foot part, or in some cases the foot part only, principally of wood,
leaving the framing, sacking, and connecting joints of metal as now used

page_text: WHICH SUCH Deusteaus and cots are consmucked why DE NOM DE MOR WARM
brass ornaments.
In giving effect to my Invention various alterations in detail may be
pursued, but I will describe the mode that I think will be found
suitable.
I form the joints as adapted for T or angle iron framing, and so
fashion them that the head and foot framing pieces can be applied by
separate joints, so as to permit such parts to be readily detached or
applied when needed.
1
In forming the foot end or rail of the bedstead or cot I unite the
corresponding angle joint to the foot and post or upper part, according
to the design, and connect the said feet and upper part with panels
curved or straight, or with round or other shaped rails, united or other-
wise formed or worked in with the upper outside parts to assume or
represent the desired pattern or design.
The meeting or intersecting parts, if preferred, may be adapted to
sockets or to other shaped devices in brass or iron, so as to give or impart
an appearance of lightness with elegance. This mode of construction
permits the foot framing piece to be sufficiently set in from the foot
panelling or railing forming that part of the bedstead to permit the
clothes of the bed to fall down between the foot framing piece and the
inside of the foot wooden rail or framing, and also allow the foot railing
or panelling to extend down below the said foot framing, and this same
system may be pursued with regard to the head, the construction being
carried out that the face or front of such head rail or parts be towards
the foot of the bed; or, if preferred, the said Tangle or other shaped
foot or foot and head framing may be united to the metal angle joints
by running the said joints on to the end of the said framing piece, that
the same may form the base for receiving the feet and upper part,
panels, or rails, according to the design of the said foot part of bedstead
or cot, so that by this mode of construction the foot or foot and head
parts of bedsteads and cots may be made and finished in an entire part,
or by pursuing the mode first described the said head and foot part may
be constructed in detail for putting together when required..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Key in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
3 KEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,, Merchant, send
greeting.
'
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of May, 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 successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Key, Her special license that
I, the said John Key, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Key, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF BEDSTEADS AND CHILDREN'S COTS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Key, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, 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 John Key, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
.
My improvements in bedsteads and cots consists in introducing into

page_text: Teaving the framing, sacking, and connecting joints of metal as now used
when such bedsteads and cots are constructed wholly of iron or iron with
brass ornaments.
In giving effect to my Invention various alterations in detail may be
pursued, but I will describe the mode that I think will be found
suitable.
I form the joints as adapted for T or angle iron framing, and so
fashion them that the head and foot framing pieces can be applied by
separate joints, so as to permit such parts to be readily detached or
applied when needed.
In forming the foot end or rail of the bedstead or cot I unite the
corresponding angle joint to the foot and post or upper part, according
to the design, and connect the said feet and upper part with panels
curved or straight, or with round or other shaped rails united or other-
wise formed or worked in with the upper outside parts to assume or
represent the desired pattern or design.
The meeting or intersecting parts, if preferred, may be adapted to
sockets or to other shaped devices in brass or iron, so as to give or impart
an appearance of lightness with elegance. This mode of construction
permits the foot framing piece to be sufficiently set in from the foot
panelling or railing forming that part of the bedstead to permit the
clothes of the bed to fall down between the foot framing piece and the
inside of the foot wooden rail or framing, and also allow the foot railing
or panelling to extend down below the said foot framing, and this same
system may be pursued with regard to the head, the construction being
carried out that the face or front of such head rail or parts be towards
the foot of the bed; or, if preferred, the said T angle or other shaped
foot or foot and head framing may be united to the metal angle joints
by running the said joints on the ends of the said end framing piece,
that the same may form the base for receiving the feet and upper part, or
panels, or rails, according to the design of the said foot part of bedstead
or cot, so that by this mode of construction the foot or foot and head
parts of bedsteads and cots may be made and finished in an entire part,
or by pursuing the mode first described the said head and foot part may
be constructed in detail for putting together when required.

page_text: 3 Fig. 1 represents a design for the foot rail of a bedstead composed of
wood, having a central metal tube or bar passing up the centre of two
foot posts for receiving a castor at the lower end and the terminal carved
bosses marked A, A, which said bosses may be arranged with a tapped
metal collar for screwing down on the ends of the tubes before mentioned.
as passing through the post.
The top rail B, B, is curved at the end, as is also the lower panel or
rail C, C, both taking the form as represented in the plan, Fig. 2,
wherein sufficient of the foot rail is shown in irregular transverse section
marked O, C, to define its curved ends and its relative position with the
foot angle framing marked D, D, in which view I have also exhibited
sufficient of the said angle iron marked E, E, to simply explain the mode
of construction; but instead of the foot angle iron being let down with
a dovetail into the angle joint, as at D', the foot angle iron may be cast
to the angle joint, as shown at D.
The outer woodwork of the pillars is made in sections, and passed over
the inner tube and over the exterior part of the chilled angles, so that it
may be placed and fastened together in one entirety, or be capable of
being taken to pieces for packing.
Fig. 3 represents another design for the foot rail of a bedstead as
composed of wood for uniting to the ordinary iron frame, in which orna-
mental foot rail I have adapted the design for receiving a cheval glass
fixed or made to swing on a visible or invisible axis, the foot angle
framing of the bedstead marked G, G, being sufficiently set in for that
purpose, and constructed in the manner herein-after set forth, which
glass is introduced principally to show that the application of wood for
foot rails to metallic bedsteads may be greatly diversified and carried out
to any extent of elaboration and elegance, and that the same may be en
suite with the general furniture of the chamber in which it is placed.
As it will easily be conceived that if such bedsteads are required to

page_text: stand out in the room, or with one side towards a wall, both ends, can. be
made alike, or the head part be so elevated as to receive a projecting
wood cornice, so as to make up the class known as Arabian bedsteads;
in which case all the visible parts connecting with the head rail may be
of wood en suite with the foot, the same being attached to the metal
framing, as herein-before described, so that the designer has full scope
for ornamenting and diversifying.
But if economy with neatness is required, as in ward bedsteads for
barracks, hospitals, or other like institutions, the same may be produced,
as exhibited at Fig. 4, either with an entirely plain panel, which slides
down from the top in grooves formed in chilled castings on the tubes
forming the foot posts (which may be contracted in their height), or as
here represented, the left side of the foot panel being exhibited plainer
than the right side merely to show adaptability; and instead of the foot
panel being arranged for passing down below and in front of the foot
angle framing of the bedstead (which may be set in for the bed clothes
to fall down over the foot angle frame and the inside of the foot panel),
the said foot angle iron may be central and flush with the foot post, and ⠀
the foot panel may rest on it.
At Fig. 5 I have represented in section a plan of Figure 4 taken
through the dotted lines F, F, which shows a groove formed in the orna-
mental portion cast on the chilled' parts of the metal tubes forming the
foot supports, which performs the double duty of adding an ornament
and affording a groove for receiving the foot rail, notwithstanding this
same simple mode of construction may be carried out by drawing or
forming the tube not only open jointed but with parallel flanges, so as
to form a groove for such wood panels to slide in. Tubes thus formed
may have a terminal knob or boss for the sake of finish of any suitable
economic material, and receive the usual chilled corner pieces for con-
necting with the sides and foot framing, as here shown.
In many instances I prefer the use of horizontal dovetails instead of
perpendicular ones as a means of connecting the foot or head angle
framing with the corresponding chilled corners referred to at G, G,
Figure 3. This I have shown drawn to a large scale at Fig. 6, believing
that such mode of construction will be found convenient in variously

page_text: formed bedsteads, and which Figure 6 I will now describe. H is a top
view of a corner joint cast upon the usual tube or rod J, and the dotted
line K, K, represents the direction of the horizontal dovetail, which
slides in from the foot towards the head, as will be seen by reference to
Fig. 7, which shows an end view of the said corner joints, with the foot
angle framing attached thereto.
If preferred, instead of using the ordinary tube for receiving the
chilled angles, the said chilled angles may be constructed with rising
and descending vertical straps, so that the said chilled angle parts may.
be screwed or otherwise secured to the corner posts or supports composed
of wood, in which case I should prefer uniting the said chilled angles to
the foot or foot and head angle framing by casting the said chilled angles
to suitable angle rails, as will be well understood by artizans accustomed
to this department of iron bedstead manufacture, and such foot angle
framing may be set in to permit the bed clothes to fall down within the
foot rail proper of such constructed bedsteads, as reference to Fig. 8 will
illustrate, in which Figure L, L, are the foot posts in transverse section
vertically grooved for the foot panel to descend, after the manner
described at Figures 4 and 5, and in both instances the chilled angles
M, N, though different, are both arranged for screwing or otherwise
securing to the foot posts, the chilled angle N being so constructed that
the end angle framing P is united by the said chilled angle being cast to
its end, whilst the angle piece Q may be united to M either by the
vertical dovetail, as shown, or slid in from the end, as. herein-before
described. And this mode of construction may (as mentioned in regard
to Figures 1 and 3) be greatly diversified, as, for instance, Fig. 9 repre-
sents as much of the foot part in plan of the iron frame of a bedstead as
is necessary to illustrate that the wood end rail may be applied and
detached at pleasure after the framing of the bedstead is put together.
In giving effect to this mode of construction I unite the end angle
framing permanently to the chilled angles by casting, as before described,
providing in the said chilled angles a vertical opening, as at 8, 8, for
receiving counter dovetails marked T, T, which are secured on the inside
to the wood rail, represented with circular ends marked U, U, and for
stability a recess or counter dovetail may be formed at the bottom end
of the tubes or feet that I prefer using for carrying the castors, as exhi-
bited at Fig. 10, which is an end view of Figure 9 with the wood framing.
"

page_text: finish or ornamentation being imparted to such large or small bedsteads
according to the position in which they may be required to stand.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Key, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five
Witness,
JAMES S. COCKINGS,
Patent Agent,
16, Ann St.,
Birmingham.
.
JOHN KEY. (L.S.)