and other Beds and Bedsteads.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Mar., 1887
Complete Left, 24th Dec., 1887
Complete Accepted, 3rd Feb., 1888
Hospital, and other Beds and Bedsteads.
We ISAAC CHORLTON of 19 Blackfriars Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Spring Mattress Manufacturer, and GEORGE LAMB SCOTT of Manchester
aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our said Invention relates to the construction and arrangement of beds and bed-
steads and has reference chiefly to beds and bedsteads for use in barracks, schools,
hospitals, workhouses and other institutions in which there are a number of beds
arranged in rooms or dormitories as is woll understood. To provide for the regular
arrangement, and spacing of such beds and to make them more capable of being
easily and expeditiously and neatly stowed away when not in use, we make the heads
of such beds capable of attachment to hinges or pivots upon a circular or other bar
or support preferably extending the whole length of the room or dormitory and at a
suitable distance from the wall. The bedsteads may be of any suitable material but
we prefer to make them with angle iron ends and tubular sides, and to provide them
with elastic metallic mattresses. The sides are fitted with legs or supports which rest
upon the floor when the bed is in a position for being used. When not in use the
bed either with or without the bed clothes is folded up or turned against the wall, by
which it is supported in an inclined position leaving a clear and unoccupied space
on the floor. If it is desired to remove the beds to another situation the bolts or
other means for attaching the heads of the beds to the pivots or hinges are unscrewed
and the beds removed, leaving the pivot or hinge attachments for use in conjunction
with other beds. In the case of a barracks for example a company of soldiers could
be removed say into camp taking their beds with them and leaving the hinge or pivot
attachments to be used for the beds of the company which would replace them in
barracks. The legs of the beds are made to fold into the plane of the mattress so as
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page_text: to render the beds more easily packed. The tubular sides of the bed may also
be divisible into two more lengths, the various lengths being united by an internal
link and coupled when the bed is erected by a split coupling or sleeve which slides
over the joint of the tube and is drawn together by a screw or bolt so as to tightly
grip both of the coupled ends of the tube and convert it practically into a rigid bar.
When such a bed is to be packed for transport the split couplings on the tubular sides
are slackened and slid clear of the joints. The internal link gives sufficient play to
allow the portions of the tubes to fold side by side and as a consequence the whole
bedstead can be folded into a very small space.
1
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.

page_text: Improvements in the Construction and Arrangement of Barrack,
Hospital, and other Beds and Bedsteads.
We ISAAC CHORLTON of 19 Blackfriars Street, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Spring Mattress Manufacturer and GEORGE LAMB SCOTT of Manchester
aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention and in what
inanner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement and accompanying drawings:
Our said Invention relates to the construction and arrangement of beds and bed-
steads and has reference chiefly to beds and bedsteads for use in barracks schools,
hospitals, workhouses and other institutions in which there are a number of beds
arranged in rooms or dormitories as is well understood. To provide for the regular
arrangement, and spacing of such beds and to make them more capable of being
easily and expeditiously and neatly stowed away when not in use, we make the heads
of such beds capable of attachment to hinges or pivots upon a circular or other bar
or support preferably extending the whole length of the room or dormitory and at a
suitable distance from the wall. The bedsteads may be of any suitable material but
we prefer to make them with angle iron ends and tubular sides, and to provide them
with elastic metallic mattresses. The sides are fitted with legs or supports which rest
upon the floor when the bed is in a position for being used. When not in use the
bed either with or without the bed clothes is folded up or turned against the wall, by
which it is supported in an inclined position leaving a clear and unoccupied space
on the floor. If it is desired to remove the beds to another situation the bolts or
other means for attaching the heads of the beds to the pivots or hinges are unscrewed
and the beds removed, leaving the pivot or hinge attachments for use in conjunction
with other beds.
And in order that our said invention may be properly understood we will now
proceed more particularly to describe the same with reference to the annexed sheet of
illustrative drawings.
In the said drawings Fig. 1 is a plan of our improved arrangement. Fig. 2 is a
side elevation.
The line marked A in the said Figs. represents the wall of the room in which the
arrangement is fitted up. In Fig. 2 the line B is the ground line. At a suitable
distance from the wall (say for example about a foot) and at the requisite height from
the floor we place a fixed bar a which is supported in any suitable manner by
standards b or it might be by brackets from the wall. This bar a serves as the hinge
pin or pivot of the beds. In Fig. 1 the beds are marked 1..2. and 3 each bed being
represented under separate conditions, for example bed 1 is shown resting on its feet
on the floor and attached to the bar ready for use. The same bed appears in side
elevation in Fig. 2. Bed 2 in Figs. 1 and 2 is shown as having been turned up on
'

page_text: the bar a until it leans against the wall as clearly seen by the drawings. Bed 3 in
Fig. 1 is shown as detached from the bar and folded together for transport, the
head c and the legs d being all folded into the plane of the mattress surface e so as to
occupy no more space than the depth of the frame. The beds shown in the drawings
have tubular sides g and angle iron ends with elastic metallic mattresses e this class
of bed being probably the most suitable for use in our improved arrangement; but
it will easily be understood that bed frames of any suitable make could be hinged
to the bar a or to an equivalent for the bar a. The drawings show a convenient mode
of connecting and disconnecting the beds to the hinge bar. Porters or hinges ff are
slipped on the bar and are formed with screwed shanks which pass through the end
members of the beds and are secured thereto by nuts which screw on the shanks.
When it is desired to remove the beds the nuts are unscrewed and the bed taken
away, the porters and binding nuts being left with the bar a ready to receive another
bed. The bed frame shown folded together and marked 3 in Fig. 1 might be made
to occupy still less bulk by rendering the tubular side members g divisible into two
or more lengths. For example these side members might be made capable of being
disunited at about the centre of their length a firm union being effected when desired
by means of the sleeve coupling shown at Figs. 3 and 4. As shown at Fig. 3 the
divided length g. g¹ is coupled by a link h and a split sleeve i is slipped over the joint
and drawn together by a bolt ; so as to make a firm connection between the parts g
and g. By slackening the bolt j and sliding the sleeve i clear of the joint, the bed
frame becomes separated midway in its length and can thus be folded together into
half its proper length.
We do not confine ourselves to the construction or disposition of parts shown in
the drawings, for example instead of a circular iron bar or tube a as shown we might
use a bar of another material and of a different shape and hinge the beds thereto by
means other than those described. The bar or support might either be continuous
or interrupted for example a separate hinge bar might be used for a section of the
range of beds or a separate bar might be used for each bed. Instead of the beds
being folded back against the wall as described they might lean against supports
arranged to receive them and instead of being hinged at the end they might be
hinged at the side especially in cases where the dormitory is too narrow to permit of
their being placed end on to the wall.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention
and in what inanner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is
(1) The improved arrangement of beds for hospitals barracks schools workhouses
and other institutions where a number of beds are congregated together the beds
being hinged to a bar pivot or support which permits of their being turned up
against the wall or against a support so as to be out of the way when not in use
substantially as described and shown.
(2) The mode of connecting the bed-frames to the bar A by means of porters ff.
formed and acting in the manner described and illustrated.
(3) In beds having tubular side members the improved joint represented in
Figs. 3 and 4.
Dated this 23rd day of December 1887.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.