IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING ELASTIC SEATS OR SURFACES OF FURNITURE
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
WILKIE, of Nassau Street, Marylebone, Upholsterer, and JoHN CHARLES
SCHWIESO, of George Street, Saint Pancras, Musical Instrument Maker, both
in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Second day of March, in the fourth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Jobn
Wilkic and John Charles Schwieso, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said John Wilkie and John Charles
Schwieso, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
John Wilkic and John Charles Schwieso, our exors, adiiors, or assigns,
should at any time agree and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING ELASTIC SEATS
OR SURFACES OF FURNITURE;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that we, the said John Wilkie and John Charles Schwieso, or one of us,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Wilkie and John Charles Schwieso, do hereby declare that the nature
of our Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon (that is to say):-
Our Invention relates to a mode of constructing the elastic seats or surfaces
of furniture by forming the bearing surfaces in separate parts, and com-
bining those parts with springs, whereby the bearing surfaces will be rendered
most agreeably elastic, and will be found far superior to the present modes of
using laths or webbing as the bearing surfaces of seats and other stuffed or
padded surfaces of furniture. And in order that our Invention may be most
fully understood and readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe
the Drawing hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents the side section of a chair, having an elastic surface,
constructed according to our Invention.
Figure 2 shows a section of a French bedstead.
Figure 3 is part of a plan of Figure 2, showing the construction of an
elastic surface according to our Invention.
And Figure shows a plan and edge view of part of one of the bars or
laths, of which the elastic surfaces are composed, and we prefer these bars.to
be of hoop iron; and although we have shown the surfaces as being only
applied to chairs and bedsteads, it will readily be understood that clastic
surfaces, according to our Invention, may be applied to sofas and other parts s
of furniture requiring similar clastic surfaces.
In each of the above-mentioned Figures the same letters indicate similar
parts. a, a, represent the parts of which the elastic surfaces are composed.
These bars or laths are secured to the back and front rails, as is shown in
Figure 1, or to the two side rails, as is shown in Figures 2 and 3, and in a s
similar manner may they be applied to a sofa or other similar frame. b, b,
are rods which are affixed to the rails c, c, of the frame of the piece of
furniture to which an elastic surface, according to our Invention, is desired
to be applied. The portions of the bars or laths a, a, have springs applied
thereto in the following manner: d, d, are spindles passing through openings
formed in the turned-down ends of the separate parts of the bars or laths a, a.
On to each of these spindles is applied a coiled spring e, which, resting against
a washer fat one end, is retained on the spindle by a screw nut and washer
at g, there being a pin h to retain the spindle through the turned-down ends

page_text: of the parts of the bars or laths a, a. It will therefore be evident that if
pressure takes place on the upper surfaces of the bars a, those bars can be
deflected, as is indicated by dotted lines in Figure 2; and when the pressure
is removed or lessened, the springs will cause the parts (of which the bars,
a, a, a, are composed) to return to or approach an even or a straight surface.
And it should be remarked, that when the length of a bar or lath a is
considerable, such as for a bedstead, each bar or lath a should have two,
three, or more elastic spring joints, which, allowing the bars or laths a to
bend in their length at various parts, will produce an agreeable elasticity to
such surfaces of furniture.
We would remark, that we have thus shown and described the best means
of carrying out our Invention with which we are acquainted; but we do not
confine ourselves to the precise arrangement of the details of elastic spring joints
to the bars or laths a, a, so long as those bars or laths are made in parts, and
And
combined by clastic spring joints, acting in the manner above described.
we would have it understood, that we do not claim any of the separate parts
herein described. The elastic surfaces so formed to chairs, sofas, bedsteads, and
other parts of furniture requiring similar surfaces, are to be covered with
cushions, squabs, or mattrasses; or when for seats or reclining surfaces, the
elastic surfaces may be stuffed as heretofore when webbing was used. And we
wish it to be understood, that what we claim as our Invention is, the mode herein
described of making elastic surfaces of furniture, by causing each bar or lath to
be composed of parts connected by elastic spring joints, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Wilkie, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this 30th day of August, in the year of our Lord One
icht hundred and fortrong