IMPROVEMENTS IN ELASTIC SACKINGS OR MATTRESSES FOR " BEDSTEADS AND COUCHES."
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Frances Phillipson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th January 1877.
WILLIAM FRANCES PHILLIPSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Commercial Traveller. IMPROVEMENTS IN ELASTIC SACKINGS OR MATTRESSES FOR
"
BEDSTEADS AND COUCHES."
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in constructing
and arranging the parts of elastic sackings or mattresses for metallic and other
bedsteads and couches. By my Invention the sacking or mattress is readily attached
to and removed from the bedstead or couch; it is very portable, and its elasticity
may be regulated to the weight to be carried by it. The sacking or mattress may
also be used with bedsteads of any width and length.
I will describe my Invention as applied to a bedstead. My improved sacking or
mattress consists of a series of metallic strips or laths, with which are combined the
adjuncts herein-after described. I make the metallic laths of a length somewhat
less than the length of the bedstead, and by preference of a trough or semi-tubular
figure, the convex side of the lath being situated upwards. To each end of the
metallic lath a piece of strong webbing is rivetted or otherwise attached; on the
head and foot ends of the bedstead a series of rollers is arranged and supported, a
pair of rollers, one at the head and another at the foot end, being used with each
lath. The webbings of the metallic lath are passed over the rollers described at
the opposite ends of the bedstead frame, and are secured to the ends of a strong
coiled spring situated under the middle of the metallic lath or within the trough of
the said latb. For the purpose of connecting the ends of the webbings of the
metallic lath with the coiled spring beneath the said lath, buckles are hooked to the
ends of the said spring, and through the frames of these buckles the free ends of
the webbings (after they have been passed around the rollers), are passed. By
pulling the free ends of the webbings through the buckle frames the strong coiled
spring may be elongated, more or less, and the required tension put on the metallic
lath; the webbings are then secured by the buckles.
The rollers over which the webbings pass are supported by and turn in rectanglar
frames provided with hooks or clips, which are hooked upon or made to clip the
framing of the bedstead.

page_text: In making up the sacking or mattress these rollers are placed at the required
distances apart at the opposite ends of the bedstead frame, and the webbings of the
metallic laths are passed around the rollers and fastened to the buckles at the ends
of the coiled springs in the manner before described. A sacking or mattress thus
constructed consists of a series of endless bands fixed at short distances apart and
supported at their ends by the rollers described, the upper side of each endless
band being composed of a metallic lath, having ends made of webbing, and the
lower side consisting of a continuation of the upper webbings connected through
buckles with a coiled spring.
To remove the sacking or mattress it is only necessary to relax the tension on
the endless bands by unbuckling the webbings, when the series of rollers may be
detached from the framing.