THE IMPROVE- MENT OF ELASTIC SPRING BEDS, MATTRASS'S, CUSHIONS, AND ALL KINDS OF SPRING STUFFING FOR UPHOLSTERY WORK GENERALLY, MAKING THEM LIGHTER AND MORE PORTABLE
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Brown, Upholsterer, 71, Leadenhall
Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "THE IMPROVE-
MENT OF ELASTIC SPRING BEDS, MATTRASS'S, CUSHIONS, AND ALL KINDS
OF SPRING STUFFING FOR UPHOLSTERY WORK GENERALLY, MAKING THEM
LIGHTER AND MORE PORTABLE."
Sealed the 25th November 1853, and dated the 30th May 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th May 1853.
I, JOSEPH BROWN, Upholsterer, 71, Leadenhall St, in the City of
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "THE
IMPROVEMENT OF ELASTIC SPRING BEDS, MATTRASS'S, CUSHIONS, AND ALL
KINDS OF SPRING STUFFING FOR UPHOLSTERY WORK GENERALLY, MAKING
THEM LIGHTER AND MORE PORTABLE," to be as follows:-
Instead of the spiral springs now in use I purpose substituting india
rubber straps, or webing made of elastic material, to be fixed horizon-

page_text: tally or otherways to the article required to be stuffed. The method of
fixing the straps will be fully explained in my final Specification. The
stuffing to be attached to the webing; and when I make cushions
or mattrass's for carriages, or for use on board of ship or other ways,
purpose suspending them with the elastic webing or straps to counter-
act the ossillation.
I
The method of fixing the elastic straps will be by nailing or screwing,
or by a loope at one or both ends, or with cycletts or buckles, for the
conveniance of tightening them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 30th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOSEPH BROWN, of No. 71, Leadenhall Street, in the City of London,
Upholsterer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Ierself, 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 Joseph Brown, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 "THE IMPROVEMENT OF ELASTIC
SPRING BEDS, MATTRESSES, CUSHIONS, AND ALL KINDS OF SPRING STUFFING
FOR UPHOLSTERY WORK GENERALLY, MAKING THEM LIGHTER AND MORE POR-
TABLE," 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

page_text: 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 Joseph Brown, 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, viz.:
The nature of the said Invention consists in this, that instead of the
spiral springs now in use for the above purposes I purpose substituting
india rubber straps, or webbing made of clastic material, to be fixed
horizontally or otherwise to the article required to be stuffed; the
method of fixing the straps may be by sewing or nailing them, or by
loops or buckles and straps. The stuffing to be attached to the web-
bing; and when I make cushions or mattresses for carriages, or for use
on board a ship or otherwise, I intend to suspend them with the clastic
webbing or straps to counteract the oscillation of ships or carriages.
And for the better exemplification of my said Invention, and particularly
as regards the manner the same is to be performed or carried into
operation, I have annexed hereto certain Sheets of Drawings, Nos, 1, 2,
and 3, which I will now proceed to describe and refer to by the words,
letters, and figures following, that is to say:
Figs. 1, 2, 3, illustrate the application of this Invention to the for-
mation of a spring mattress for beds; Fig. 1, being a longitudinal
section of a bedstead with the said Invention applied thereto; Fig. 2, a
transverse section thereof; Fig. 3, plan thereof.
It will be observed that this mattress supersedes the ordinary laths
or sacking attached to bedsteads. In order to effect the object pro-
posed it is necessary only to have rails such as A, inside the frame of
the bedstead, over which the ends of the webbing (some only marked B,)
may be passed over and buckled or secured, as at C. This webbing
may be interlaced; that is, one strap may overlap one webbing and pass

page_text: under another, and so on. D, shews the adaptation of a second set of
straps at the head, as in an invalid bedstead.
In Figs. 4, 5, 6, the mattress is shewn complete; that is, with an
ordinary mattress attached and secured to the webbing, arranged as
above described.
Fig. 4, is a transverse section; Fig. 5, a longitudinal section; and
Fig. 6, plan.
The same letters of reference are placed upon the same parts as
above described; but E, denotes the mattress attached to four of the
said webbings or straps at F; and K, elastic straps attached to the
rising part of the bedstead, for hanging or suspending the same in
its proper position, particularly when used on shipboard. (See also
Figure 8 A.)
Figs. 7, 8, exhibit this Invention as applied to a sofa; but as the
arrangement of the webbing (or straps) differs not essentially from
the foregoing, it will be sufficient to remark that the same letters of
reference will be found denoting the same parts, and that it will be
observed that the ends of the webbings are nailed to the framing of the
sofa. Also, that there are two elastic straps or springs I, attached to
the ends of the rising part of the bed, and to the wall or bedpost of
the bedstead, for the purpose of hanging or suspending the same in its
proper position.
In Fig. 9, is exhibited the adaptation of this Invention to a pillow,
which is a simple semicircular frame with webbing B, secured thereto.
Fig. 10, plan and section of another form of pillow or an ottoman,
which will be readily understood upon inspection.
Fig. 11, section, plau, and end view of a carriage seat.
The same
may also be applied to the seat of an easy chair or the seat of a sofa,
or even to a bedstead. And this plan will be found exceedingly useful
on board yatchs and other vessels.
Fig. 12, section and end view of a seaman's cot or hammock.
In these two last-mentioned figures not only is the webbing arranged
as above described, but there are webbings G, attached to the ends of
the article, by which it is suspended or hung to a bent rod or framing

page_text: H, which may be fixed in any convenient position for the purpose in
view.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is, the
adaptation of indian rubber or other elastic material as a substitute for
springs for promoting elasticity in mattresses, cushions, and all kinds of
spring stuffing and upholstery work generally, and also in the suspend-
ing, by means of india rubber or other elastic material, beds, mattresses,
seats, and cushions, as I have herein-before stated and illustrated by the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Brown, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
JOSEPH BROWN. (L.B.)
Signed and sealed in my presence,
F. W. CAMPIN,
Patent Agent, 156, Strand.