IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING AND OTHER MATTRESSES, COUCHES, AND CUSHIONS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Maria Alice Wilson, of Victoria Road,
Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING AND OTHER MATTRESSES, COUCHES, AND
CUSHIONS."
Scaled the 24th July 1868, and dated the 3rd February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Maria Alice Wilson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition,
on the 3rd February 1868.
I, MARIA ALICE WILSON, of Victoria Road, Kensington, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING AND OTHER MATTRESSES, COUCHES, AND
CUSHIONS," to be as follows:-
My Invention of improvements in mattresses, palliasses, couches, sofa,
chair, railway, and other carriage seats, cushions, or pillows relates,
first, to a mode of providing air channels therein for ventilation. For
this purpose I make circular through openings or perforations in the
wool or other packing of a mattress, for example, at suitable distances
apart all over its area and of sufficient diameter; these perforations are

page_text: to be distended by the aid of spiral springs of the same diameter
throughout inserted between the top and bottom covers of the mattress
in such manner that whatever may be the amount of pressure on the
mattress the perforations will be kept constantly open and afford free
access for air to pass through for the purposes of ventilation, corre-
sponding perforations being made in the sacking of the bedstead,
on which the mattress is laid; but this will be unnecessary for lattice
bottomed bedsteads, through which air can pass freely. This improve-
ment is also applicable to spring mattresses with a similar object
as also to the various other articles above enumerated.
My Invention relates, secondly, to the application of the above im-
provements to mattresses or pallets used for medical purposes in hospitals
and otherwise, in which case the said mattress, provided with a
waterproof casing, would have through openings distended by spiral
springs, as before, by means of which the application of douche and
other baths may be greatly facilitated, as the water employed will readily
run off through the perforations in the mattress. Steam baths may
also be applied in connection with these improved mattresses, in which
case the steam would be caused to pass up through the perforations
from below, so as to act on the patient for the purpose desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patents,
filed by the said Maria Alice Wilson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MARIA
ALICE WILSON, of Victoria Road, Kensington, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Ier heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Maria Alice Wilson, Her special licence
that I, the said Maria Alice Wilson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Maria Alice Wilson, 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

page_text: upon the
term thercin 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 SPRING AND OTHER MATTRESSES, COUCHES, AND CUSHIONS,"
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Maria Alice Wilson, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 Maria Alice Wilson, 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 Sheet
of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of improvements in mattresses, palliasses, couches, sofa,
chair, railway, and other carriage seats, cushions, or pillows relates,
first, to a mode of providing air channels therein for ventilation. For
this purpose I make circular through openings or perforations in the
wool or other packing of a mattress, for example, at suitable distances
apart all over the area and of sufficient diameter; these perforations aro
distended by the aid of spiral springs of the same diameter throughout
inserted between the top and bottom covers of the mattress in such
manner that whatever the amount of pressure on the mattress the
perforations will be kept constantly open and afford free access for air to
pass through for the purposes of ventilation, corresponding perforations
being made in the sacking of the bedstead, on which the mattress is
laid; but this will be unnecessary for lattice bottom bedsteads,
through which air can pass freely. This improvement is also applicable
to spring mattresses with a similar object, as also to the various articles
above enumerated.
My Invention relates, secondly, to the application of the above
improvements to mattresses or pallets used for medical purposes in
hospitals and otherwise, in which case the said mattress would be
provided with a waterproof casing and have through perforations
provided distended by spiral springs, as before, by means of which the

page_text: application of douche and other baths may be greatly facilitated, as the
water used will readily run off through the perforations in the mattress.
Steam baths may also be applied in connection with these improved
mattresses, in which case the steam would be caused to pass up through
the perforations from below, so as to act on the patient for the purpose
dosirod
My Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1
of which shows a partial longitudinal section of a mattress provided
with perforations or air channels, taken on line 1, 2, Figure 2, which
is a plan of same. The Drawing merely serves to illustrate the
improvements, as the mode of carrying them into effect may be varied.
a, a, is the mattress composed of hair, wool, or other packing (or
instead of this it may be a spring mattress) enclosed within a cover b, b,
as usual. I make through openings or channels in the mattress at
suitable distances apart over the entire area, as shown at c, c, c, for the
purposes of ventilation, and keep such openings constantly free for the
admission of air by the aid of springs d, d, which are inserted and fixed
between the top and bottom casing of the mattress, as shown. The air
apertures are shown at c, c, as provided with a lining introduced within
the coiled spring d, whilst at c¹ the springs & are inserted inside said
lining. In this manner through channels are provided in the mattress,
which will be kept constantly open for the passage of air for ventilating
purposes by the aid of the springs whatever may be the amount of
pressure thereon when in use. From the example shown the application
of the Invention to the other purposes before enumerated will be readily
understood, the air channels being similarly provided in the case of sofa
oushions, chair and other seats for a like purpose.
In applying the Invention to hospital mattresses or pallets the through
channels made therein serve for carrying off the water employed in
administering douche and other baths to a patient lying thereon, or it
may be steam that is caused to pass up through the perforations with
a like curative object. In the latter cases the mattresses are of course
covered with some waterproof material. The bottom of a bedstend on
which a ventilating mattress is placed should, if of sacking, be similarly
perforated to admit of a free current of air passing through both, and

page_text: if the bottom be formed of metal or wood laths they should be so
arranged as not to obstruct the air apertures in the mattress.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to
be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1st. Providing air channels in mattresses, sofa and other cushions,
seats, and other like articles for the purposes of ventilation, substantially
in the manner shown and described.
2ndly. I claim the application of these improvements to hospital
mattresses and pallets, as and for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Maria Alice Wilson, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Third day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.