IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDS, SOFAS, CHAIRS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF FURNITURE, TO RENDER THEM MORE SUITABLE FOR TRAVELLING AND OTHER
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Brown, of Leadenhall Street, in the
City of London, Upholsterer and Cabinet Maker, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDS, SOFAS, CHAIRS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF
FURNITURE, TO RENDER THEM MORE SUITABLE FOR TRAVELLING AND OTHER
Sealed the 30th March 1853, and dated the 2nd October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Brown at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd October 1852.
I, JOSEPH BROWN, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDS, SOFAS, CHAIRS, AND
ARTICLES OF FURNITURE, TO RENDER THEM MORE SUITABLE FOR TRAVELLING
AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows, viz. :-
My Invention consists in or has reference to further improvements on
the Invention for which Letters Patent were granted to me on 8th
September 1838, under the same title as above stated, and such further

page_text: improvements consist in suspending beds, sofas, chairs, &c. in an
improved manner.
When required to have a double swinging action, that is, to swing
both from end to end and from side to side, so as to compensate for
both, the pitch" and the "roll" of the vessel when used aboard ship,
no suspension apparatus is required overhead, as is the case with those
constructed according to my former Letters-Patents-such-arrangements
overhead having been found in many cases exceedingly inconvenient.
I
"he bed, sofa, chair, &c. is to be hung upon two centres or pivots,
which work in and are attached to a frame placed on a level therewith,
or nearly so this frame is hung on a pivot placed at the middle thereof,
acting at right angles to the first-mentioned. pivots. From the frame
near this point descends a stay to beneath the bed; sofa, &c., to near to
the floor, and connected at right angles thereto is a cross stay which
ascends to each end-of-the-said-frame-near-to-the two first-mentioned
pivots. This is a double action upon three centres, but I can produce
the same upon four centres by continuing the cross stay, and having a
pivot attached to a fixed post or pillar
As the principal object of my improvements is to counteract both the
"pitch" and the "roll" of the vessel with the greatest ease and
precision possible, I connect springs at or near the corners or other
convenient part of the bed, sofa, &c., which are to be also secured to the
roof or the floor of the cabin, &c. I can construct an improved single
action bed, sofa, chair, &c., by attaching the aforesaid springs to the
corners or other, part thereof; the said-bed sofa, &c,-being. hung on
two centres only as heretofore, except that it is below..the centre of
gravity in such bed sofa &c

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, .by. Her
Letters Patent; bearing date the Second day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Joseph Brown, Her special licence that I, the
said Joseph Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Josepli Brown, 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 term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for." IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDS, SOFAS, CHAIRS, AND OTHER ARTICLES
OF FURNITURE, TO RENDER THEM MORE SUITABLE FOR TRAVELLING AND OTHER
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph
Brown, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 J, the said Joseph Brown, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement or specification thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed and forming part hereof by the figures and
letters placed thereon and herein referred to, that is to say:
The nature of my Invention consists in or has reference to further
improvements in the Invention for which Letters Patent were granted
to me on the Eighth day of September; One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-eight, under the same title as above stated, and whichfurther
improvements consist in suspending beds, &c. in an improved manner,
as hereafter set forth.
7
When required to have a double swinging action, that is, to swing
both from end to end and from side to side, so as to compensate for
both the "pitch." and the "roll" of the vessel when used aboard ships,
no suspending.apparatusis required overhead as is the case, in those

page_text: constructed according to my former Letters Patent, such arrangements
overhead having been found in many cases exceedingly inconvenient.
The bed, sofa, chair, &c. is hung upon two centres or pivots, which
work in and are attached to a frame placed on a level therewith, or
nearly so, and this frame is hung on a pivot placed at the middle thereof,
acting at right angles to the first-mentioned pivots, and from the frame
near this point descends a stay beneath the bed, sofa, &c., nearly to the
floor, and connected at right angles thereto is a cross stay which ascends
to each end of the said frame near the two first-mentioned pivōts.
This is a double action upon three centres, but I can produce the same
upon four centres (which I consider preferrable to three centres) by
continuing the stay, and having it attached also to a pivot attached to a
fixed post or pillar, and it will not be necessary to adopt the cross stay,
but only the stay first mentioned.
As the principal object of my Invention is to counteract both the
"pitch" and the "roll" of a vessel with the greatest ease and precision
possible, I connect springs at or near the corners or other convenient
part of the bed, sofa, &c., secured either to the roof or the floor of the
cabin or other place where the same is used. I construct an improved
single action bed, sofa, &c., by attaching the aforesaid springs to the
corners or other parts thereof, the said bed, &c. being hung on two
centres only as heretofore, but below the centre of gravity in such
bed, &c. This single action, however, will not compensate for both the
"pitch" and "roll" of the vessel, but for one of them only.
In order to the better explanation of my said Invention, and to
particularly describe and ascertain in what manner the same is to be
performed, I will now proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed (No. 1, to No. 3,) in the words and figures following, that is
to say:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS,
Throughout which the letters and figures of reference are placed
upon corresponding parts wherever they happen to appear.
Drawing No. 1. At Fig. 1, is a front view of a bed or bedstead con-

page_text: At Fig. 3, an end view of the same.
At Fig. 4, a plan of the same.
At Fig. 5, a longitudinal section at C, D, (in Fig. 4,) shewing the
under framing of the bedstead and part of the stay iron which passes
beneath same from the centre B, to the centre A.
It will be observed that there is a frame a, (of wood or other
suitable material) which is secured upon centres or pivots (of metal or
other suitable material) A, and B. The pivot B, being attached to the
back and to the cabin or wall, and that marked A, to a post or pillar
b, in front of the bed or bedstead; upon these two it swings from end
to end.
The pivots or centres C, D, (of metal or other suitable material)
secure the bed or bedstead d, to the frame (a,) wherein the said bed-
stead swings from side to side; e, denotes indian-rubber or other
suitable clastic springs, attached from the side of the cabin or other
fixed point to the frame «, in nearly a direct line beneath the centre A.
f, denotes the stay iron, of metal or other suitable material, passing
from the centre or pivot B, to A, beneath the bed or bedstead.
It will be obvious upon examination of the said Drawings that upon
the pillar, being removed, and the stay iron altered so as to be
brought round and secured to the front of the bed or bedstead, that
such bed or bedstead as that described and illustrated by the Drawings
will answer upon three centres, that is, dispensing with the centre A.
In this case, however, it will be necessary to make the elastic springs
stronger, and connect one extremity of cach to the point marked f, and
the other extremity should be secured above that point in order to
counteract the weight thrown on the front of the bed or bedstead.
It will likewise be readily perceived that it will require no very
material variation from the above to adapt the said Invention to sofas,
couches, and the like articles of furniture.
Drawing No. 2. At Fig. 1, represents two swing cots or bedsteads,
placed one above the other, of the single action kind, that is, hung on

page_text: two centres or pivots only; A, B, being the pivots placed at the head
and foot; c, c, indian-rubber or elastic springs; d, the cot proper."
Fig. 2, longitudinal vertical section taken at A; B, (in Fig. 4:)
Fig. 3, transverse section taken at CD, (in Fig. 4:)
-
Fig. 4, plan of the same.
It will be readily understood that cots arranged in this way will
swing from side to side..
..
But when I wish to apply this single action to thwart-ship berths,
instead of the centres being at A, B, I place them at the middle of each
side of the cot, that is, at C, D, (Fig. 4,) when it will swing endways, the
elastic springs (e, e,) being adjusted in the same position with respect
thereto as they are shewn-adjusted with respect to A, B.
The above may be likewise adapted to sofas, couches, and the 'like
articles of furniture:
Drawing No. 3; illustrates the application of my said Invention to
clíairs.
At Figure 1, is a side elevation."
'Fig. 2, a vertical section at C, D, (in Fig. 4.)
Fig: 3, front elevation.
Fig. 4, plan view.
To adapt my Invention to chairs I have for a base the framing i, (of
wood or other suitable material,) upon which I fix standards, of "inetal
or other suitable material, by hanging them on two centres C, D, con-
nected together by a rod passing through the lower part of the framing
of the chair proper L, and by hanging such chairs on the centres or
pivots A, B, in the said standard, A, B, being attached to the arms of
the chair above the seat-thereof, and by this means the chair will sway
from back to front on A, B, and from side to side on C, D; whilst the
springs E, F, prevent the chair having too much play.
. But in order to adjust the action of these springs 1.attach a pendulum
at the back of the chair in the manner shewn by the red lines at Fig. 1;
G, being an upright attached to the base framing on which I hang a
pendulum H, which plays from side to side, and I'connect to the said
pendulum two armis, one on each side I, connected likewise to the

page_text: standard, whereby the side motion will be properly controlled. And
this pendulum so arranged it is obvious may be adapted when desirable
to other articles of swinging furniture.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not
confine or limit myself to the precise details set forth, described, and
illustrated by the Drawings; but I claim as my Invention the improve-
ments in beds, sofas, chairs, and other articles of furniture herein-before
set forth, described, and illustrated by the Drawings. And I do not
claim any of the separate parts or details thereof per sc and apart
from the purposes of my Invention as herein-before particularly ascer-
tained and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Brown, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
JOSEPH BROWN. (L.8.)
Signed and sealed in the presence of
HENRY CORMACK.