An Improved Bed, Mattress, or Cushion.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Nov., 1897-Accepted, 18th June, 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Bed, Mattress, or Cushion.
I, JOHN FRANCIS NUNAN, of Nos. 248 to 258, Swanston Street, Melbourne, in
the Colony of Victoria, Furniture Warehouseman, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to an improved bed, mattress or cushion designed either
for being inflated with air or stuffed with bed filling material such as horsehair,
kapok, feathers, flock, asbestos wool or the like. The preferred type of air bed
or mattress is made by combining an inner rubber or other airtight casing with
an outer canvas or other covering and securing the casing and covering together
in an airtight manner and in position within a novel supporting frame as herein-
after described. In a modified form of the bed, mattress or cushion the outer
covering is made of airtight material and hence needs no separate inner rubber
casing. Each bed or mattress made according to my invention is supported
either from its edges within a suitable movable frame or from specially devised
bars preferably tubular forming part of a bedstead also neither form of my bed
or mattress require further support in the way of bed-laths, palliasses or the like,
in fact they serve as a combined mattress and palliasse.
In order that my invention may be well understood I will now describe it
aided by a reference to the accompanying sheets of drawings in which,
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an air mattress as made for a single bed and
supported in a wooden frame, one corner of the mattress being broken away in
order to shew it in section.
Fig. 2 a central longitudinal section on line aa Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 a perspective view of the end part of a double bed air mattress and
shewing the method of securing the combined rubber and canvas sheeting to both
the side and end bars of its supporting frame; in this figure also one corner of
the mattress is broken away.
Fig. 4 an enlarged cross section of the side bar of the mattress frame at bb
in Figs. 1 and 3.
Fig. 5 an enlarged cross section of the end bar of the double-bed mattress frame
at cc Fig. 3.
Fig. 6 a perspective view of an air bed when supported at its sides direct from
the specially devised side tubular bars of a bedstead. In this Fig. one end of the
bed is shewn attached to the end angle rail by springs-whilst the other end of
the bed casing material is shewn looped and passed over a dovetail ended bar
or rail and,
Fig. 7 is an enlarged cross section of the tubular side bars at dd Fig. 6 and
shewing the method of securing the side edge of the material forming the bed
or mattress therein.
In constructing a single or three feet air bed or air mattress of the type shewn
in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, I take a sheet of thin spread-rubber A say twelve feet long
and four feet wide and fold it upon itself lengthwise and lap and solution a
width of about four inches at its ends together as shewn at A¹ (Fig. 2). I also
гр

page_text: solution about three inches of each side margin together with the exception that
at one side I leave a length of about two feet unsolutioned and thus the
spread-rubber sheeting is formed into a casing or bag having a mouth or
opening about two feet wide at one side. Said mouth or opening is provided to
enable a patch to be readily secured on the inside should the rubber be punctured.
I now take a sheet of strong canvas B, about twelve feet long and four feet
six inches wide, and double it upon itself bringing the free edges at the sides
and the two ends together. At the uncut or looped end I run two lines of stitches
about one and a half inches from the end and say one quarter of an inch apart;
said stitches having a strip of leather or canvas, say half an inch wide, laid
on before beginning to stitch in order to strengthen the seam. I now insert in
the hem or loop a half inch round iron rod, say two feet eight inches long, or a
bar of light flat iron B of the same length, in which are bored several small
holes to receive coiled springs E. The opposite or cut end is stitched together in
a similar manner and strengthened with an extra piece of canvas, also within its
hem or loop a similar rod or bar is inserted to receive the end springs E. The
rubber casing or bag A is now placed inside the canvas covering B and an
inflating nozzle and valve A2 at one end of the casing A passes out through a
small hole in the canvas covering and said combined rubber casing and canvas
covering is now in readiness for being secured within its supporting frame. The
frame is constructed either of wood or metal; the side bars C (Figs. 1 and 4) of
which have two grooves D and D' formed in them whilst the end or head and foot
bars Care firmly secured to the side bars and made flush therewith along their
top edge. Along the whole length of the side bars C at about eight inches apart,
and close to the bottom of the uppermost and deep groove D
bore holes to
receive clamp bolts marked L, whilst near the top edge of the head and foot
bars I bore several small holes to receive the ends of coiled springs E or other
fastening devices. The combined rubber and canvas sheets or casing and cover-
ing A B are now placed and stretched evenly over the frame C-C₁ each side
being equalized and having say six inches of surplus rubber beyond the width
of frame and about nine inches of surplus canvas. Said surplus width at the
sides is then pressed into the upper grooves D, D and a cleat or bar F
placed in each upper groove upon it, the material at each side
now lifted upwards over the cleat Fand a second cleat or bar Fi
placed in each groove upon it. The material now in the groove D), being between
the two bars or cleats F and F1, the clamp bolts L are placed in position and
screwed up so that their finger heads will press the cleats and material within the
groove firmly together and make the sides of the combined casing and covering
airtight; the remaining surplus material is now brought down over the bolts
and pressed into the second groove D and secured therein by a wooden cleat F³,
which may be screwed or otherwise secured in position. The one end of coiled
springs E are now fastened in holes in the light iron rod B¹ (secured in the hem
at ends of the canvas covering) whilst the other ends of said springs are passed
through and secured in the holes in the head and foot bars C¹. The bed or
mattress is now ready for inflation and when inflated the rubber casing or bag
fills it out to about the form shewn in Figs. 1 and 2 the purpose of said springs
being to assist in retaining the bed taut.
18
A double bed or mattress having a wood frame as shewn in Fig. 3 has the
rubber and canvas sheeting A-B secured together and held in the side bars C
in exactly the same manner as that described with reference to Figs. 1, 2
and 4 but when a bed of extra strength is required the head and foot bars are
made thus: Each end or head and foot bar C2 is secured to the side bars C in
such a manner that the top of both are flush or level and in the top surface of
each end bar C2 a deep groove D2 and a shallow groove D³ is formed, at the
positions shewn in Figs. 3 and 5, whilst groove D2 is of such a depth that it
descends to a position flush with the lower side of groove D). In this type of bed
or mattress the canvas, instead of being cut as in a single bed to about the

page_text: length between the head and footbars it is cut about eight inches longer at each
end and the spread-rubber A may be extended as far as the canvas and be pressed
with it into the grooves D2 and D3 and kept in position by cleats F, F1 and F2
and bolts L as shewn in Fig. 5 in exactly the same manner as described with
reference to Figs. 1 and 4, for securing the sides of the bed or mattress. The
head and foot bars C are shallower than the side bars C in order to leave a clear-
ance space on the under side of the mattress frame for the nuts of bolts L as
shewn in Fig. 3.
In Fig. 6 and 7 I shew the air bed or mattress combined with and secured by
specially devised side tubular bars G which may be made to form the side rails
of any ordinary movable side rail bedstead in lieu of the present angle iron or
tubular side rails. As shewn in said Figs. G are the metal tubes forming the
side rails of a bedstead or frame, said tubes being preferably steel, and having a
bore which is by preference one eighth of an inch larger at one end than at the
other, for the purpose hereinafter explained, although an ordinary parallel tube
will answer the purpose but not with such satisfactory results. Along the whole
length of each of said tubes G a groove G about one quarter of an inch wide
is formed, thus making it approximately of C shaped section, whilst the ends of
each tube are threaded to fit into screwed sockets H upon dovetail pieces H¹ the
dovetails of which fit into the corresponding recesses on the head and foot rails of
ordinary bedsteads, and I find it desirable to have said dovetail pieces H¹ as
short as possible.
To form the bed or mattress I take a sheet of thin spread-rubber A and canvas B,
as before described the rubber in this instance for a three feet bed being about
four feet wide and for any larger or smaller bed, pro rata; the combined canvas
and rubber sheets are joined at their ends as hereinbefore described, with reference
to Figs. 1 and 2, while the length overall of the bed must be shorter than the
length between the dovetail sockets H and each end of the bed as before is
furnished with an iron rod B¹ in the hem or loop to receive the coiled springs E
the other ends of which take into holes provided in the ordinary angle iron rails 1.
As a modification a loop can be made at each end of the canvas to reach a dovetail
ended bar B2 supported on the head and foot pieces or the angle iron rails may be
utilized for such purpose or further an iron bar or tube may be passed through said
loop and through lugs formed on the dovetail pieces. To secure the combined
rubber and canvas sheeting along its sides I fold it double and pass it in a loop
through the slot G₁ in tube G and bring the sheeting to the exact position I
require it to remain; that is, the canvas and rubber should lie clear of the end
screw sockets H. I then force a long wooden plug G2, about one quarter of an
inch less in diameter than the bore of the tube, into the loop formed by the
canvas and rubber, lying within the tube, with sufficient force to cause it to
occupy the entire space therein along the whole length of the loop and so press
the canvas and rubber material well together thus making the sides of the bed
or mattress airtight. I now screw the dovetail pieces H, H' on to each end of
the side tubes G taking care that the grooves G¹ when on the bedstead will lie on
inner side of frame so that when the sheets of canvas and rubber are drawn round
the tubes as shewn in Figs. 6 and 7 and inflated through a nozzle they will draw
from the slots and be pressed hard on the outer surface of the tubes and assist
materially. in making the sides airtight. In order to prevent the tubes G turning
with this pressure, I affix a stop' screw H2 in each socket and the points of such
screws pass into the slot G¹ in the tube G. If so desired the bed or mattress can
be secured and supported at its ends by tubular bars as G-G in exactly the same
manner as that described for the side tubular bars of Figs. 6 and 7. Furthermore
wooden bedsteads having iron dovetail pieces can have their side rails removed
and be furnished with an air or other bed or mattress supported by tubular bars
as G, G as just described with reference to Figs. 6 and 7.
In constructing a large bed and in order to reduce the amount of rubber therein
I arrange a strip of rubber say about twelve inches wide either at the side er

page_text: sides or down the centre of the mattress and solution it to a sheet of air-tight
sheeting or other material and then secure each top and bottom sheet at its edges
within a frame as before described, or further the bottom of the mattress or
cushion may be made of strong air proof material and the thin rubber at top be
provided as before with a canvas cover and each secured along its edges as before
described and thus no second covering for the bottom side is used.
In a modified form of air bed or mattress the separate inner rubber casing can
be dispensed with and the outer covering as A only used, in such a case it is made
of rubber coated canvas or other suitable air-tight material, and secured and
held in position within its frame or upon a bedstead in exactly the same manner
as that herein before described for the combined rubber and canvas bed or mat-
tress.
In beds.or mattresses which are filled, in lieu of air, with ordinary bed filling
material such as horsehair feathers, flock or kapok or asbestos wool a suitable
canvas casing or other covering is provided and which can be secured at its sides
and ends within its frame or bedstead in either manner before described. In this
type of bed or mattress the filling material may be bagged before being placed
between the two canvas sheets or it can be filled from one side after the other
has been secured. The bottom canvas sheet should be drawn tighter than the top
and in double beds or large single beds it may be further supported on its under
side by a longitudinal strip or strips of webbing or leather straps attached by
spiral springs to the head and foot rails in order to prevent the sagging of the
under side of mattress, such under straps may also be embodied in the other
types of beds herein described. Further I may modify the method of securing
the stuffed bed or mattress to the tubular bars G, G¹ thus:-I double the canvas
on itself sidewise to form a case and secure the doubled side in the tube after
passing it through slot G¹ by a loose-fitting rod of wood which will keep the
canvas within the slot then at the other open side of the case I form, along the
full length of the bed, and at the extreme edge of each top and bottom covering
a hem or loop just large enough to take a half inch wooden rod, then when the
filling material has been placed between the two covers the looped edges are
passed into the tube through the slot G¹ and a wooden rod is inserted in cach
of the two hems or loops which are now within the tube and thus secure this edge
of the case within the tube. The canvas casing should be amply long to allow a
full turn round the tube and the bottom canvas should be a little narrower than
the top one to prevent it sagging and further the head and foot of mattress can
be supported in slotted tubular rails in the same manner as that described for
the sides.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. A bed or mattress consisting of an inner casing of spread-rubber or other
airtight material as A and an outer covering of canvas or other material as B
combined together as herein specified and furnished with an inflating nozzle as A2
and secured either on a movable frame or upon a bedstead substantially in the
manner described and illustrated in the drawings.
2. A bed or mattress of rubber coated or other air tight material made up as
specified and furnished with an inflating nozzle and secured either upon a movable
frame or upon a bedstead substantially in the manner described and illustrated in
the drawings.
3. An air or other bed or mattress as herein specified provided with a frame as
C, C¹ the sides C of which have grooves D, D₁ cleats F, F1, F2, and bolts as L and
the ends, holes to receive springs as E or the grooves D2 D3 and cleats F, F1, F2, at
their upper surface substantially as described and illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 of the
drawings.

page_text: 4. An air or other bed or mattress as herein specified the tubular supporting
bars G-G of which form the side rails of a bedstead or frame whilst the bed or
mattress is held taut either by springs as E attached to angle irons or other bars
on head and foot pieces or by a dovetail ended rod which passes through a hem
or loop formed in the mattress covering substantially as described and illustrated
in Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings.
5. In an air or other bed or mattress, tubular bars as G each having a slot (1¹
along its whole length and provided with an inner plug as G2 and the end dove-
tail pieces and stop screws substantially as and for the purpose described and
illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings.
1
100
T
P
JOHN FRANCIS NUNAN,
Dated this 13th day of November 1897.
For the Applicant,
W. LLOYD WISE,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.