IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BEDS, MAT- TRASSES, PILLOWS, CUSHIONS, PADS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF A SIMILAR NATURE, AND IN MATERIALS FOR PACKING
Year: 1840

page_text: WALTON'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WALTON, of Sowerby Bridge, Halifax, in the County of York, Cloth Dresser,.
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twelfth day of May, in the third year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James
Walton, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said James Walton, my exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said James Walton, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BEDS, MAT-
TRASSES, PILLOWS, CUSHIONS, PADS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF A SIMILAR NATURE,
AND IN MATERIALS FOR PACKING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso that I, the said James Walton, shall cause a particular description
of the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Walton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be practised and carried into effect, are
described in manner herein-after expressed and appearing.
My Invention consists, first, of a mode of manufacturing and constructing of
beds, mattrasses, pillows, cushions, pads, and other articles of a similar nature,
by an assemblage or combination of elastic air vessels or cells, either connected
together externally or enclosed within a common covering, or both, as herein-
after described; secondly, in the application of such elastic air vessels, either
connected or unconnected with each other, to the purpose of packing articles
of a delicate or fragile nature; and, thirdly, my Invention consists of a mode
of making air vessels for the manufacture of beds, mattrasses, cushions, pads,
and articles of a similar nature, and for packing, by forming such air vessels
by means of dies, and exhausting the air from the external surfaces of the
caoutchouc from which the vessels are produced. My Invention having for
its objects the use and application of accumulations of small elastic air vessels
as stuffing materials, and for the purposes of my said Invention I generally
employ hollow balls or globes, or vessels of other shapes, of india-rubber, filled
with atmospheric air, as forming the most convenient elastic air vessels for
those purposes, and I shall therefore, in the first place, describe, with reference
to the Figures contained in the first three Sheets of the annexed Drawings,
the means and apparatus by which I construct such air vessels of india-rubber
in all the Drawings, as well in the first three as in the fourth and last Sheet.
The same letters of reference are employed to denote the same parts in the
several Figures contained in one and the same Sheet, but not in different
Sheets. In Sheet 1 of the annexed Drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of an
apparatus for making hollow globes or balls of india-rubbber by the force of
condensed air inflating the india-rubber; and Figure 2 is a section of a part
of the above; and Figure 3 is a plan of part of the under side of the lever d,
shewn in Figures 1 and 2, herein-after referred to. In Figures 1 and 2, a is
an air-tight metallic vessel, of suitable strength, into which air is to be con-
densed by an air pump connected with it by a pipe b; c is a cock fixed to the
upper part of the vessel a.
The top or end of the cock is turned smooth, and
so as to present either a flat or curved surface, upon which the lever d, moving
on the joint e, bears when not lifted up. This lever is cut down or hollowed
out where it bears upon the top of the cock c, for the purpose of holding the
india-rubber tight and fast, and it is perforated with a conical hole f, Figure 3,
concentric with the top of the cock c. If the top of the cock c is curved, the
hollowed part of the lever may be formed on a curve of a smaller radius, so as

page_text: to impinge on only one point or line round the curved surface of the cock, and
so leave the india-rubber above that line free to expand when subjected to the
force of the condensed air, as after mentioned. The mode of manufacturing
the india-rubber globes or balls by means of this apparatus is as follows:-
The air is to be condensed into the vessel a by a pump of the ordinary con-
struction. A sheet of india-rubber is laid on the top of the cock c, and pressed
down by the lever d, and the cock is then opened, and a sufficient quantity of
the condensed air allowed to pass through to force the rubber through the
conical hole f, and expand it into a thin ball or globe, as shewn in the
Drawing at g, Figure 2. When the ball is expanded as much as required,
according to the intended size and strength of the ball, the cock is shut, and
the neck of the ball is then closed by tying it tightly with thread close to the
upper surface of the lever d at the opening f; the ball is then removed by
lifting the lever d, and the refuse rubber is cut off. In order better to confine
the air contained in the ball, a little india-rubber cement may be applied to
the edges of the rubber where cut off, and by compressing the same together
they will be firmly united, and the ball will be completed; but when it has
been made from such rolled or prepared india-rubber, as herein-after men-
tioned, it should be kept for about one or two months, to acquire due toughness,
before it is used for the purpose of my Invention. It will be obvious that,
instead of using the vessel filled with condensed air, the air pump may be
applied directe by affixing it to the cock c, and the air forced through, by
which means the same result will be produced; but I prefer the use of a vessel
filled with condensed air as being more convenient. The thickness of the
sheets of india-rubber used will of course depend upon the intended size and
strength of the inflated ball, and on the quality of the india-rubber employed.
For making separate balls in the manner I have described, I prefer the use of
new bottle india-rubber, which I steep in warm water, 90° to 100° of Fahren-
heit, for several hours, and afterwards in cold water for several days. The
bottle being cut through before steeping, and after being so steeped the layers
of india-rubber, of which a bottle is composed, may easily be separated, and
will be ready to be inflated into balls, but I make no claim to the blowing balls
of india-rubber, as above described, my Invention consisting in the application
of such balls. In the same Sheet of Drawings 1, Figures 4 and 5 represent
an apparatus for making the india-rubber balls by a different process. Figure 4
being an elevation; and Figure 5 a section of part of the same. a is an air vessel
similar to that shewn in Figure 1, but from which the air is to be exhausted,
and thus causing the india-rubber to be pressed into dies; vis the exhausting
pipe; c, the cock; h, h, are hemispherical cups or dies connected by a hinge i

page_text: One of these cups is fixed on the top of and communicates with the cavity of
the cock c, and the other is connected to and communicates with it by a
flexible tube j. To manufacture the india-rubber balls by means of this
apparatus, the air vessel a is to be first exhausted by an air pump or other
means. The cups or dies are opened into the position shewn in Figure 5, and
a sheet of india-rubber is stretched tightly over both the cups. The cock c
is then opened, and the pressure of the atmosphere acting on the surface of
the rubber expands or forces it into the cups or dies, until it comes into
contact with the inner surfaces, during which operation the edges of the india-
rubber must be held down by hand or other convenient mode to prevent
the air from getting into the cup underneath the india-rubber, and also to
prevent the india-rubber from being depressed into the cups without being
expanded. The cups are then closed, as shewn in Figure 4, when the
surfaces of the india-rubber, covering the edges of the cups or dies, are
brought into contact, and adhere so as to form a ball. The refuse rubber
is then cut off round the external edge of the cups or dies, and the
cups being opened, the balls or other shaped vessels so produced in their
complete state may be removed and kept for future use. Here again it is
obvious that if the air pump be applied direct to the cock, and the air by that
means drawn out of the cups or dies, the same result will be produced; but I
prefer the intervention of the exhausted vessel a as more convenient for use.
In Sheet 2, Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, represent an apparatus for forming a
number of balls at one time, connected together in Sheets. Figure 1 is a
plan, and Figure 2 is a section of the apparatus when opened; Figure 3 is
an elevation, and Figure 4 is a section of the apparatus when closed;
a, a, are two plates of metal, connected together by a hinge b, and in each of
which plates are cut out several hemispherical or other shaped recesses
c, c, c, c; the situation of the recesses, in one plate, corresponding with those in
the other; e, e, are two air chambers formed one within each of the plates, and
connected together by the flexible tube d; f, Figure 1, is a tube by which the
air may be extracted from both chambers, and also from the hemispherical
recesses through the holes or passages g, g. To manufacture the india-rubber
balls by this apparatus, a sheet of india-rubber is to be stretched over each of
the plates whilst the apparatus is open, as in Figures 1 and 2, and confined by
a small metallic frame fitting over the india-rubber into a step or shoulder cut
round the plates, as shewn in the Drawings, to hold the india-rubber close to
the plates, and thereby prevent the air from entering into the recesses; the air
being then exhausted from beneath by the like means as herein-before men-
tioned, through the tube f, the pressure of the atmosphere will expand the

page_text: india-rubber and force it into the recesses, as shewn in section, Figure 4, where
the yellow line indicates the india-rubber. The apparatus is then to be closed,
as in Figures 3 and 4, when the surfaces of the portions of india-rubber
between the recesses will be brought into contact by the closing of the plates,
and will adhere to each other. The portions of india-rubber expanded over the
surfaces of the corresponding recesses in the upper and lower plates will thus
be united at the edges, and form spheres or balls, or other shaped vessels
depending on the dies within which the air will be confined. The plates a, a,
and the recesses therein, may be made of any dimensions, according to the size
required and the number and size of the balls to be made, and the form of the
recesses may be varied so as to form either hemispherical cups or halves of
other figures, agreeably to the wish of the manufacturer. Although I use and
have referred to an air pump as the instrument of exhausting the air from the
cups or recesses or dies in this and the previously described apparatus, the
same effect may be produced by any other efficient method of exhausting the
air, as by the cosdensation of steam in connected vessels or other well-known
methods. In Sheet 3, Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2 an elevation of the
apparatus last described, in connexion with a further apparatus for coating the
insides of the balls with cotton, flock, or other similar material, to prevent the
insides of the balls from adhering together in case of collapse; a, a, is the
apparatus delineated in Sheet 2, and herein-before described; is a plate of
metal, which may be either detached or affixed to one of the plates a, a, by a
hinge, as shewn in the Drawing, and sufficiently large to cover both the plates
a, a; the plate 6 is perforated with holes d corresponding in position and
dimension with the recesses in the plates a, a, at the surface of the plates.
After the sheets of india-rubber are laid on the plates a, a, and the air
exhausted, the plate 6 is placed on the face of the india-rubber, and the cotton'
flock or other similar matters used is strewn on through a sieve. The plate b
covering a portion of the sheets of india-rubber between the recesses, and
which are intended to adhere, prevents the cotton flock from falling on those
portions whilst the insides of the hemispherical portions of india-rubber are
completely coated with it. The sheets of india-rubber used in the process of
making connected balls or vessels by means of the apparatus delincated and
shewn in Sheet 2, and bèfore described, may be cut from blocks or be made
from prepared or rolled india-rubber. For this purpose good clean india-rubber
well washed and freed from extraneous substances is mixed with naptha or
other solvent in the proportions herein-after mentioned, and these ingredients
are then worked in a mortar until they become completely incorporated. The.
mass is then in a fit state for rolling into sheets by smooth metal rollers, which

page_text: is well understood, which when in action ought to be heated to from eighty to
one hundred degrees of Fahrenheit. The proportions of the india-rubber and
solvent which I generally employ are two parts of rubber to three of solvent,
but these may be varied, or the rubber may be prepared without any solvent,
but will require more working in the mortar, the quantity of working required
being in inverse proportion to the quantity of solvent used. The sheets then
formed will be very adhesive, and the parts intended to come in contact in
forming the balls or vessels will readily and firmly adhere, but when the sheets
are cut from blocks, or prepared in other ways, not producing the sheets in a
sufficiently adhesive state, then those parts of the surfaces of the sheets which
are intended to be united should be covered with a little india-rubber cement,
which
I may be applied by means of a roller covered with cloth or other suitable
material for imparting the cement, or by any other convenient mode.
I shall now proceed to describe, with reference to the Figures contained in
the fourth and last Sheet of the annexed Drawings, a mode of using the india-
rubber balls or vessels for the purposes of my said Invention:-In Sheet 4,
Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2 an edge view or elevation of a bed or cushion
formed of india-rubber balls or air vessels; a, a, a, a, a, are a series of Sheets
or connected layers of balls. The red lines indicate the portions of the india-
rubber sheets which adhere in forming the balls by means of the apparatus
delineated in Sheet 2, and before described, and which connect the balls or
other shaped air vessels; b, b, b, b, are thin sheets of rubber or other air-tight
material, laid alternately between the sheets of balls; c, c, c, c, are stronger
sheets of india-rubber, which enclose the whole, and to which the edges of the
sheets a, a, a, a, a, and b, b, b, b, must be well cemented by the india-rubber
cement, so that not only the external covering or india-rubber sack of the whole
bed or cushion c, c, c, c, may be air-tight, but also each distinct chamber between
any two of the india-rubber sheets (indicated by the lines in Figure 3,) may
be air-tight. By this means if any of the balls burst, the air will still be confined
in the tier or chamber to which it belongs so long as the sheets which form the
chamber remain perfect. The bed or cushion thus constructed may then be
enclosed in a covering of bed tick or other fabric. The mode above described
of protecting the balls by intervening sheets of india-rubber or other air-tight
material will much add to the durability of the bed or cushion so made. For
the manufacture of beds I generally use india-rubber balls of from one to two
inches in diameter, but the size of the balls for this and other purposes must
depend on the taste or fancy of the manufacturer of of beds & other stuffed
articles.
Figure 3 is an elevation of a cushion or bed, which is formed of layers of

page_text: sheets of balls without intervening layers of sheets of india-rubber; in all other
respects it is formed the same as the one described above. If unconnected
balls are used, they may be either enclosed between layers of sheets of india-
rubber to confine and protect them, or they may be loosely into such covering
or receptacle as it is wished to fill. The sheets of balls may also be used
without either the external or internal sheets of india-rubber or other air fabric,
but without such sheets they will be more liable to injure, though they will
allow a more free circulation of air. It is obvious that beds and other articles,
as above mentioned, manufactured in the manner described by me, are much
more free from liability to serious injury than such articles would be if
consisting of a single large air vessel; any injury to such, causing a rent or
perforation, allows the escape of all the air, and the article is rendered useless,
whilst, should one or even several small air vessels burst, no material injury is
occasioned. When sheets of air-tight material are interposed between the layers
of air vessels, it is evident the air, which may escape from a burst air vessel, will
still be confined within the chamber formed by the surrounding sheets, or within
the outer air-tight covering if no intervening sheets are used; and should the
sheets or outer covering be ruptured or punctured, the escape of air will be
partial and inconsiderable, unless a great number of the air vessels be burst.
The liability to such accidents is greatly diminished by the reciprocal pressure
and support of the adjacent balls or air vessels, by which means the force of
any external pressure is distributed among the balls, and the pressure on each
in great measure equalized, except as to those next adjacent to the external
covering, and which have consequently the least support. The balls, either in
sheets or single, may be applied to the stuffing or filling of beds, mattrasses,
cushions, pillows, or for pads and other articles of a similar nature. The small
india-rubber balls or vessels are also applicable to packing, in substitution or in
aid of materials now used for such purposes, by means of which articles, such,
for instance, as plate glass, or instruments, or machines, or other articles and
things of nice construction or easily liable to injury to their parts may be packed,
and such packing may either be by enveloping them in sheets of air vessels
or surrounding them by a sufficient quantity of unconnected balls or other
shaped air vessels, the yielding and elastic nature of which would protect the
article packed therein from injury by shaking, percussion, or otherwise (except
in cases of extraordinary violence), and the packing itself would not chafe or
injure the articles enclosed, and when packing with such sheets of air vessels,
they would furnish an air-tight and water-tight covering when required by causing
the edges to be joined or cemented by india-rubber cement. The objects of
the Invention being to obtain lightness and elasticity in packing or padding the

page_text: articles or things requiring to be packed or padded, and such is the case in
stuffing beds, mattrasses, pillows, cushions, and pads, and other articles of a
similar nature.
I would, in conclusion, remark, that the using of such accumulations of small
elastic air balls, or other shaped vessels, as a means of stuffing and packing, the
modes of doing so will require to be varied, and the workman, aided by the
description herein given, will readily make such variations as the shapes and
sizes of the articles may require, and he will cover the beds, mattrasses, pillows,
and other articles made according to my Invention with any fabrics or coverings
his taste may dictate.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Walton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of November, in the year of our
Land One thousand night hundred and fortse