IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO " BEDSTEADS
Year: 1885

page_text: I, EDWARD CURLEY, of Society Street, Ballinasloe, in the county of Galway,
Ireland, Mechanic and Contractor do hereby declare the nature of the said
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO
"
BEDSTEADS to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to the construction and adaptation to an ordinary
bedstead of a novel arrangement of apparatus by the use of which an invalid can
be easily and conveniently raised from the bed whenever required such as for
making the bed or for other purposes without in any way disturbing the patient.
For this purpose I provide a light frame of a length and breadth to allow it to
slide over the bedstead; the frame is provided with cross bands of suitable
material such as webbing with leather ends to allow of the same being fixed to the
said frame. Over the said cross bands is placed a sheet which is advantageously
provided with a hole in the centre for the convenience of the patient. At each end
of the bedstead provide an upright or standard with suitable provision for
allowing the same to be fixed to the floor at each end of the bedstead. Each
standard is provided with a suitable arrangement for raising and lowering the
hereinbefore described frame.
An arrangement which I have found to answer well consists of a vertical screw
adapted to each standard and actuated by bevil gearing which may be operated by
a winch handle on one of the said standards; the said screws work through screw
nuts in cross bars on the ends of the said frame. The said frame is provided with
removeable head and foot boards sliding in grooves in the frame so that they can
be easily removed if required for the treatment of patients having broken limbs or
otherwise.
By this arrangement it will be understood that the apparatus may be adapted to
an ordinary bedstead and when the frame is in its normal or lowermost position
the crossbands and sheet placed on the frame will rest upon the bed the patient
lying on the said sheet.

page_text: If it be required to raise the patient the herein before described winch handle is
turned and by means of the herein before described vertical screws the frame and
with it the patient or invalid can be raised above the bed so that the latter can be
conveniently made without disturbing the patient; by providing the sheet with a
bole in the centre as hereinbefore described a utensil may be introduced between
the bed and the sheet for the use of the patient and the frame together with the
patient can again be lowered onto the bed by turning the winch handle in the
opposite direction to that for raising it.

page_text: Improvements in or Applicable to Bedsteads.
I EDWARD CURLEY of Society Street, Ballinasloe, in the county of Galway,
Ireland, Mechanic and Contractor, do hereby declare the nature of this 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 construction and adaptation to an ordinary
bedstead of a novel arrangement of apparatus by the use of which an invalid can
be easily and conveniently raised from the bed whenever required such as for
making the bed or for other purposes without in any way disturbing the patient.
For this purpose I provide a light frame of a length and breadth to allow it to
slide over the bedstead; the frame is provided with cross bands of suitable
material such as webbing with leather ends to allow of the same being fixed to the
said frame. Over the said crossbands is placed a sheet which is advantageously
provided with a hole in the centre for the convenience of the patient. Or the said.
sheet can be attached direct to the frame and the cross bands be dispensed with,
means being provided for stretching the sheet. At each end of the bedstead
I provide an upright or standard with suitable provision for allowing the same to
be fixed to the floor at each end of the bedstead. Each standard is provided with
a suitable arrangement for raising and lowering the herein before described frame.
An arrangement which I have found to answer well consists of a vertical screw
adapted to each standard and actuated by bevel gearing which may be operated by
a winch handle or hand wheel on a shaft on the said standards; the said screws
work through screw nuts in cross bars on the ends of the said frane. The said
frame is provided with removeable head and foot boards sliding in grooves in the
frame so that they can be easily removed if required, for the treatment of patients
having broken limbs or otherwise.
In order to enable my invention to be fully understood I will proceed to describe
the same by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1, represents a
side elevation, figure 2, a plan, and figure 3, an end view of an ordinary bedstead
with my invention applied thereto. Similar letters in all the figures represent
similar parts.
A, represents the bedstead of ordinary construction. a, is the light frame which
is made of a length and breadth to allow it to slide or pass over the bedstead A;
b, is the sheet which is preferably made of strong canvas and which is secured to
the sides of the frame a, by means of strips c, nailed or otherwise suitably fixed
over the same; d, is the hole in the centre of the sheet b, for the convenience of
the patient; one of the sides of the frame a, is adjustably fixed to the ends thereof
by means of set screws e, e, working through the ends of the said side of the
frame a, and through brackets f, f, on the ends of the frame; by operating the said
set screws the sheet b, can be stretched or tightened to prevent the sheet from
sinking by the weight of the patient when the frame is being raised from the bed,
and can be slackened again if required; g, and gl, are the uprights or standards at
the head and foot respectively of the bedstead A the said uprights or standards
being fixed to the floor of the room or other compartment in which the bedstead is

page_text: situated;
h and h¹, represent the vertical screws the upper ends of which are held
by set screws a² passing through nuts a³ on the tops of the standards g, and g',
and the lower ends pivot in the standards at i, '; the lower ends of the vertical
screws are provided with bevil wheels j and j', respectively which gear into bevil
wheels k, k, on a horizontal shaft extending underneath the bedstead A and having
its bearings in the standards g and g¹; l, is the hand wheel for operating the said
gearing; m, and m², are the screw nuts on the cross bars forming the ends of the
frame a; n and n¹, are the removeable head and foot boards respectively with which
the frame a, is provided and which fit or slide in grooves shewn in dotted lines
at o, o, in figures 1 and 2, so that they can be easily removed if required for the
purposes herein before described.
It will be obvious that the sheet b, can be secured to and supported in the
frame a, by other means than those shewn in the drawing such as by means of
cross bands of webbing with leather ends to allow of them being fixed to the
frame and to which the sheet can be attached but I have shewn and described the
means which I have found to answer best in practice.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. The use in combination with a bedstead of ordinary construction of a frame
such as a, provided with a sheet fixed thereto and with suitable means such as
those described and shewn for raising and lowering the frame substantially as and
for the purposes hereinbefore described.
2. The combination with a bedstead of ordinary construction of the herein
described arrangement of vertical screws operated by gearing and adapted to raise
and lower a frame having a sheet stretched across the same substantially as and
for the purposes hereinbefore described and represented in the accompanying
drawing.
3. The combination with a frame adapted to be raised and lowered over an
ordinary bedstead by mechanical means such as those herein described of remove-
able head and foot boards substantially as herein before described and represented
in the accompanying drawing.
4. The improved apparatus for raising and lowering an invalid from his or her
bed herein before described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
G. F. REDFERN,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
Agent for the Applicant.