Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Feb., 1887
Complete Left, 17th Nov., 1887
Complete Accepted, 20th Dec., 1887
WO ISAAC CHORLTON of Blackfriars Street, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Spring Mattress Manufacturer, and GEORGE LAMB SOOTT also of Manchester aforesaid,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
Our said Invention relates chiefly to the construction of iron bed frames and bedsteads
and has for its object to dispense with the usual dovetail attachments employed to connect
together the members of the bedstead at the four corners as is well understood.
Owing to the difficulty of obtaining a perfect fit the said dovetails are seldom
sufficiently secure to prevent relative movements of the parts and to keep the ends of
the bedstead exactly at right angles horizontally and vertically to the side members,
while owing to variations arising in moulding and casting, the parts intended to come
together and which should be interchangable are not always so. In addition to these
defects the dovetail is inherently weak and is frequently broken. According to our
invention we form the corner casting or bracket of the bedstead, which usually
contains the female dovetail recess or recesses, with a projecting ledge or rectangular
block and we cast, screw or otherwise secure or insert a bolt or pin into the said corner
bracket or we pass a loose bolt from the outside through the corner bracket and
upright and preferably projecting from or through the said rectangular block. The
casting which is usually formed with the male dovetail and which is attached to the
side members, or to the side and end members where such casting is intended to carry
both, is cast with a recess into which the aforesaid rectangular block enters, an accurate
fit not being necessary. The bolt or pin projecting from or through the corner
bracket passes through a hole in the recessed casting and the two castings are held
firmly together by a nut screwed upon the bolt or by a tapered cottar driven through
a slot in the pin when such is used. The recessed casting rests upon the ledge or on
the top of the block on the corner bracket so that the bedstead can be put loosely
together preparatory to the screwing up of the nuts or the driving in of the cottars so

page_text: that only one person is required for the operation. When the castings are brought
closely together by the nuts or cottars the contact of the extended fitting surfaces of
the respective castings makes a firm joint and secures absolute perpendicularity of
the ends of the bed and also prevents the bed from being twisted in any direction.
Instead of forming rectangular blocks on the corner brackets as aforesaid we might
form the said blocks on the castings to which the side and end members are attached,
and correspondingly recess the corner brackets or we might form ledges or projections
on one casting or bracket which would enter corresponding recesses in the other
casting or bracket so that the two castings would interlock and support each other
when placed together preparatory to bolting or securing. In cases where both the
side and end members of the bedstead are secured directly to the corner brackets, these
brackets are correspondingly formed to take both the side and end recessed castings,
but where the recessed castings which carry the side members are also arranged to
carry the end angle irons or members, only one face of the corner bracket
is prepared to receive the recessed casting. Where the corner casting is in
direct connection with both side and end members, we might attach the side
members by means of our improved arrangement and utilize the old dovetail
joint to secure the end members in position. The side and end members may
be of angle iron or of iron tubing, or they may be composed either wholly or partially
of wood, the recessed castings being correspondingly formed to receive whatever class
of side and end member may be used. We prefer to make the aforesaid improved
joint of constant proportions so that the parts may be interchangable not only for
the same size and class of bedstead but also for bedsteads of different types of
construction. To facilitate the putting together of the bedstead and to render the
height of the mattress surface capable of adjustment either in the case of an ordinary
bed or of a ship's berth, we form the corner brackets in such a manner that they can
be clamped to the uprights at any desired and suitable height. To effect this each
of the corner brackets is made in two separable parts or halves, each half being
recessed to receive the pillar or upright so that when the two halves are placed
over the upright and bound together by screws or bolts the upright is securely held and
the mattress surface sustained at the required height. This method of securing
the corner brackets to the uprights may be applied in conjunction with the arrange-
ments herein before described or with other or ordinary arrangements. In some cases
the side and end members might be so formed and combined with clamping pieces that
the usual separate castings or so termed corner brackets might be dispensed with and
the members clamped direct to the uprights.
Dated this 16th day of February 1887.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Bedsteads, Bed and Mattress
Frames, and Ships' Berths.
We ISAAC CHORLTON of 19 Blackfriars Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Spring Mattress Manufacturer and GEORGE LAMB SCOTT also of Manchester
aforesaid, Engineer, 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 and accompanying drawings:
:-
Our said Invention relates to the construction of iron bed frames, bedsteads and
ships berths.
In our provisional specification we referred at length to certain
improvements in the corner brackets having for their objects to provide an improved
substitute for the ordinary dovetail connections, but as these improvements were fully
set forth and illustrated in the complete specification attached to our Letters Patent
No. 1007 of 1887 we will not enter upon any detailed reference to the said improve-
ments in the present specification but will confine ourselves to the subject matter set
forth in the latter part of our provisional specification.
We
The said latter part deals with improved means intended to facilitate the putting
together of the bedstead and to render the height of the mattress surface from the floor
capable of adjustment either in the case of an ordinary bed or of a ship's berth.
form the corner brackets in such a manner that they can be clamped to the uprights at
any desired and suitable height. To effect this, each of the corner brackets is made in
two separable parts or halves, each half being recessed to receive the pillar or upright,
so that when the two halves are placed so as to embrace the upright and are bound
together by screws or bolts, the bracket is securely attached to the npright and the
mattress surface is sustained at the required height.
And in order that our said invention may be properly understood we will now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, reference being had to the annexed sheet
of drawings.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of our improved clip corner bracket which is shown
clamped to an upright A which might be one of the posts or ends of a bed or the
upright of a ship's berth or other support for the bed or mattress frame.
Fig. 2 is a plan of Fig. 1.
The improved clip corner bracket consists of two parts or halves a and b. A semi-
circular recess is formed in the part a and a similar semicircular recess is formed in
the part 6 so that when the halves of the bracket are put together a circular hole
traverses the bracket. This hole is occupied by the upright A when the bracket is
in position, the two halves of the bracket being placed over the upright and bound
together by means of the screws c or bolts or cottars or other means. The two
halves a and b of the bracket are thus bound firmly together so as to clip and hold the
upright A. By loosening the screws c the bracket may be shifted up or down the
upright A so as to facilitate the adjustment of the height of the mattress surface
relatively to the floor level. In the drawing, the portion 6 of the bracket is shown

page_text: connected to the tubular side member d of a bedstead, this being a useful mode of using
our invention but we do not confine ourselves to this arrangement, as the portion b
might be connected in various ways to the side members and might be used in
connection with angle iron side members; or the portion 6 might form part of or be
used simply as a support or point of attachment for the mattress frame carrying the
mattress. In some cases the adjustable clip bracket might be so formed as to present means
of attachment for both side and end members of the bedstead in which case the clip
bracket might be of the form indicated at Fig. 3 wherein two attaching plugs d and e
are formed on the half b of the bracket the said plugs serving to receive and hold the
tubular side and end members; or the part 6 might be formed to receive a tubular
side member and an angle iron end member or vice versa. The part 6 might
also if desired be formed with dovetail recesses to receive the ordinary dovetail
attachments, and generally any ordinary or suitable means might be used to connect
our improved clip bracket to the bed or mattress frame such connection being no part
of our present invention. The improved clip bracket might also be made for attach-
ment to uprights of other than cylindrical section.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
As means for attaching bed and mattress frames to the ends of bedsteads or to the
uprights, standards or posts of bedsteads or ships berths, the clip bracket composed of
two separable halves or parts a and b held together by screws or bolts or other means
so that the said bracket can be applied and adjusted at any required height or position
on an end standard or upright of a circular or other section, and clamped firmly on
the said upright by the screws or other means so as to sustain the bed or mattress
frame or berth at the adjusted height, substantially as hereinbefere described and
shown.
Dated this 16th day of November 1887.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.