AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC SEAT
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Howard, of Berners Street, Oxford Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Cabinet Maker, for the Invention of
"
Sealed the 9th April 1867, and dated the 28th November 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Howard at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th November 1866.
I, GEORGE HOWARD, of Berners Street, Oxford Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Cabinet Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC SEAT," to be as
follows:
The object of this Invention is to obtain an elastic seat suitable for drawing
rooms and boudoirs possessing the softness obtainable only by using a stuffing
of feathers or down. When using such stuffing it has been requisite to make

page_text: the case containing it loose to allow of the shaking up of the feathers, their
tendency being to lose their evenness of distribution, and work together into
detached masses.
In making elastic seats according to my Invention I form first a spring
seat or mattress in the usual way, and upon the canvas covering I apply and
secure a coating of horsehair, or its equivalent elastic stuffing, of sufficient
thickness to prevent the individual springs being felt through the stuffing;
over this I apply a bed or cushion of feathers, the case of which I forms with
cells or transverse or longitudinal divisions. Within the cells or compartments
thus formed I insert feathers or down in such quantity as will make a soft
plump stuffing, and from the stuffing being confined by the small cells or
narrow compartments its even distribution will be maintained. I thus secure
at once the elasticity and softness requisite for a luxurious seat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Howard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
May 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HOWARD, of Berners Street, Oxford. Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Cabinet Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Howard, Her special licence that I, the said George Howard, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Howard, 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 "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF
ELASTIC SEAT," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Howard, 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

page_text: Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Howard, 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 state-
ment, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to obtain an elastic seat suitable for drawing
rooms and boudoirs possessing the softness obtainable only by using a stuffing
of feathers or down. When using such stuffing it has been requisite to make
the case containing it loose to allow of the shaking up of the feathers, their
tendency being to lose their evenness of distribution, and work together into
detached masses.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a vertical section of an easy
chair with an elastic seat and back cushion constructed according to my
Invention.
In carrying out my Invention I form first a spring seat or mattress a, a,
in the usual way, and upon the canvas covering of this spring mattress I
apply and secure a coating of horsehair b, b, or its equivalent elastic stuffing,
of sufficient thickness to prevent the individual springs below from being felt
through the stuffing; over this I apply a bed or cushion c, c, of feathers, the
case of which I form with cells or transverse or longitudinal divisions. The
cellular form of this bed or cushion and the arrangement of the cells is shewn
in the plan, Fig. 2. Within the cells or compartments thus formed I insert
feathers or down in such quantity as will make a soft plump stuffing, and
from the stuffing being confined by the small cells or narrow compartments its
even distribution will be maintained, and I thus secure at once the elasticity
and softness requisite for a luxurious seat.
The back cushion and the pads for the arms are also constructed in a
cellular manner as shewn in the Drawing.
It will be evident that this mode of forming elastic seats may also be
adapted to couches, sofas, and other seats besides chairs.
Having now described my Invention of "An Improved Manufacture of
Elastic Seat," and having explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid,
the combination of the spring mattress or cushion a and horsehair covering b,
with the cellular cushion c, constituting an improved manufacture of elastic
seat as herein set forth.

page_text: ・ I claim particularly constructing feather cushions for chairs, sofas, couches,
and other seats in a cellular manner as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Howard, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
GEO. HOWARD. (L.S.)