IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ORNAMENTATION OF THE RAILS OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF METALLIC FURNITURE."
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Atkins, of the Firm of Robert Walter
Winfield and Company, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Merchants and Manufacturers, for the Invention of
$8 IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ORNAMENTATION OF THE RAILS
OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF METALLIC FURNITURE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Atkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th October 1874.
I, JAMES ATKINS, of the Firm of Robert Walter Winfield and
Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchants and
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ORNAMENTATION OF THE RAILS OF
METALLIC BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF METALLIC FURNITURE," to be as
follows:-

page_text: tubular junction pieces, the horizontal tube passing through the head of
the T shaped piece, and the vertical tube entering the vertical portion
of the junction piece, the three parts being secured together either by a
screw passed through the head of the junction piece and horizontal tube,
and taking into a plug in the top of the vertical tube, or by a screw on t
the top of the vertical tube taking into the horizontal tube.
In constructing and ornamenting the rails of metallic bedsteads and
other articles of metallic furniture according to my Invention I proceed
as follows:-I form by stamping two half junction pieces, having three,
four, or other required number of arms or sockets corresponding to the 1
number of rods or tubes to be joined together. I connect the said
halves of the junction piece by means of soldering or brazing, and into
the tubular sockets thus formed I insert the ends of the tubes or rods to
be joined, or pass the tubes through the said sockets as may be required.
Holes are drilled or punched across the tubular socket, and the inserted 1
tubes and pins with heads being passed through the said holes are
rivetted at the inner side of the rail, and the parts are thus secured
together.
The central part of the junction pieces may have any required
ornamental form given to it during its manufacture by the stamping a
process, and I further ornament, when required, the said junction pieces
by means of ornaments formed by the same dies and at the same time
as the central junction pieces and tubular sockets are formed. These
ornaments may either be formed wholly on one of the stamped pieces,
or partly on one and partly on the other; or they may be made like the
central junction pieces and tubular sockets, that is in halves, connected
together by soldering or brazing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Atkins in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ATKINS, of the Firm of Robert Walter Winfield and Company, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchants and Manufacturers,
send greeting.
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Atkins, Her special license that
I, the said James Atkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said James Atkins, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 THE
CONSTRUCTION AND ORNAMENTATION OF THE RAILS OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS AND
OTHER ARTICLES OF METALLIC FURNITURE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Atkins, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing, under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, 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 James Atkins, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
The said rails, as ordinarily constructed, consist of a combination of
horizontal and vertical rods or tubes connected together by T shaped
tubular junction pieces, the horizontal tubes passing through the head of
the T shaped piece, and the vertical tube entering the vertical portion
of the junction piece, the three parts being secured together either by a
screw passed through the head of the junction piece and horizontal tube
and taking into a plug in the top of the vertical tube, or by a screw on
the top of the vertical tube taking into the horizontal tube.
In constructing and ornamenting the rails of metallic bedsteads and
other articles of metallic furniture according to my Invention, I proceed
as follows:-I-form, by stamping, two half junction pieces having three,
four, or other required number of arms or sockets corresponding to the
number of rods or tubes to be joined together. I connect tho said →

page_text: halves of the junction piece by means of soldering or brazing, and into
the tubular sockets thus formed I insert the ends of the tubes or rods to be
joined, or pass the tubes through the said sockets, as may be required.
Holes are drilled or punched across the tubular sockets, and the inserted
tubes and pins with heads being passed through the said holes are t
rivetted at the inner side of the rail, and the parts are thus secured
together.
The central part of the junction pieces may have any required
ornamental form given to it during its manufacture by the stamping
process; and I further ornament, when required, the said junction pieces 1
by means of ornaments formed by the same dies and at the same time
as the central junction pieces and tubular sockets are formed. These
ornaments may either be formed wholly on one of the stamped pieces,
or partly on one and partly, on the other; or they may be made like the
central junction pieces and tubular sockets, that is, in halves connected ]
together by soldering or brazing.
I will now describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings,
the manner in which my Invention may be carried into effect.
Figure 1 represents in elevation a rail for a metallic bedstead, con-
structed and ornamented according to my Invention.
Figure 2 represents in elevation, drawn of the full size, the concave
or hollow side of one of the halves of which the junction pieces are
made; and Figure 3 is a section of the same.
Figure 4 represents a section, Figure 5 an elevation, and Figure 6 a
plan of a junction piece composed of two of the halves, Figures 2 and 3,
the said Figures 4, 5, and 6, exhibiting the manner in which the rods or
tubes to be joined together are passed through or inserted in and fixed
to the junction piece. The halves of the junction pieces, Figures 2
and 3, are made by stamping in dies, the central part of the said
junction pieces being ornamented by the stamping process in any
desired manner. Each half junction piece is furnished with three, four,
or other number of semi-tubular arms or sockets a, a, which radiate
from the cupped or hollow central part b. In order to connect the
halves of the junction piece together, the said halves are placed edge to
edge with their concave sides presented to each other, and the abutting |
edges are soldered or brazed together. A hollow junction piece is thus

page_text: formed having four tubular arms or sockets a, a, radiating from the
central part b. The tubes or rods c, d, to be joined to the junction
piece a, b, thus made are passed through or inserted in the sockets a, a,
and the central part 6 of the junction piece, in the manner best seen in
Figure 4. The vertical tube or rod o passes completely through the
junction piece while the horizontal tubes or rods d, d, terminate on
opposite sides of the rods c. The tubes or rods c, d, are fastened to the
junction piece by headed pins e, e, the stems of which pins are passed
through holes drilled or punched across the tubular sockets a, a, and
also through the inserted tubes or rods c, d, the ends of the headed pins
situated at the inner side of the rail being rivetted in the manner best
seen in the edge view, Figure 6. The junction pieces at the top and
bottom rods of the bedstead rail, Figure 1, are provided with three arms,
the summits of the junction pieces of the top rod being furnished with
terminal ornaments corresponding with those on the pillars of the rail,
as represented.
Figure 7 represents in front elevation a junction piece made as before
described, but having side ornaments, marked ƒ, f, combined with it;
and Figure 8-represents one of the half junction pieces of the same.
The side ornaments f, f, may be made at the same time as the halves of
the junction pieces are made by the stamping process, and both the side
ornaments may be made on the same half-stamped junction piece, as
represented in the Drawing, or one ornament may be made on one stamped
half and the other ornament on the other stamped half. Ornaments
similar to those marked f,f, may be applied to the other side of the
junction piece, Figure 7, and made in a like manner.
Figure 9 represents in front elevation a junction piece made according
to my Invention having ornaments on each side or surrounding the
stamped junction piece; and Figure 10 represents an edge view of one
of the halves of the said junction piece. The additional ornaments of
this junction piece are marked g, g.
The ornaments f, f, Figures 7 and 8, and g, g, Figures 9 and 10,
instead of being formed complete on one or on both of the halves of the
junction pieces, may themselves be made in halves and be soldered or
brazed together at the same time as the halves of the junction pieces are
soldered or brazed together. These half ornaments may either be made
in one piece with the half junction picces or separately...

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention the improvements in the con-
struction and ornamentation of the rails of metallic bedsteads and other
articles of metallic furniture, herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, making the junction pieces
by which the horizontal and vertical rods or tubes of the said rails are
connected together in halves by the process of stamping and joining the 1
said stamped halves together by soldering or brazing, the said stamped
junction pieces being constructed and the rods or tubes being connected
to them, substantially as described and illustrated; also combining with
the said stamped junction pieces additional ornaments, made wholly on
one half of the stamped junction piece, or partly on one half junction 1
piece and partly on the other half junction piece, or making the
ornaments in halves and soldering or brazing them together, substantially
as herein-before described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Atkins, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of March, in the 2
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five
Witness,
CHARLES WALKER TORR.
JAMES ATKINS. (L.S.)