IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS. SOFAS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Edward Sarney, of No. 10, Spencer Place,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, and Thomas Sexton Sarney, of
No. 48, Catherine Street, Sheffield, in the County of York, for the
Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS. SOFAS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Edward Sarney
and Thomas Sexton Sarney at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 16th March 1871.
We, SAMUEL EDWARD SARNEY, of No. 10, Spencer Place, Brixton,
in the County of Surrey, and THOMAS SEXTON SARNEY, of No. 48,
Catherine Street, Sheffield, in the County of York, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS, SOFAS, AND
SIMILAR ARTICLES OF FURNITURE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in bedsteads, sofas, and
similar articles of furniture.

page_text: In order to construct an clastic foundation for the support of the
mattresses or cushions we dispense with the laths ordinarily employed
and attached to the side and end rails of the frame. We substitute for
the laths metal springs formed of wire or rod bent to a zig-zag form.
These springs are attached to the two side frames and nearly meet mid-
way between them where each bend of the one zig-zag spring is linked
by means of a strong india-rubber ring with a corresponding bend of the
spring on the other side. To make the attachment between the zig-zag
springs and the side rails of the frame, the wire or rod of which the
spring is formed is at each of the points where it meets the frame
doubled closely on itself, bent down, and so inserted into a hole formed
through the top flange of the angle iron of which the frame is made.
On the under side of the frame the end or angle of the spring wire or
rod is again bent, so that it may bear on the upright flange of the
frame which forms an abutment for it.
In order that the several limbs of the spring may act together and
contribute to each other's support a bow spring is threaded through the
series of india-rubber rings, and is fixed to the ends of the frame, but
leaving the spring free to play.
In adapting this Invention to metal or wood-framed bedsteads, sofas,
and similar articles of furniture already made we form the frame and
springs complete in themselves and fix them to the original frame of the
bedstead or other article of furniture.
In the case of a wood-framed bedstead, sofa, or similar article of
furniture, we sometimes insert in the side frames metal sockets into
which studs or pins attached to the sides of the frame drop.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Edward Sarney and Thomas Sexton Sarney
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL 3
EDWARD SARNEY, of No. 10, Spencer Place, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, and THOMAS SEXTON SARNEY, of No. 48, Catherine Street,
Sheffield, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year of 3

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Samuel Edward Sarney and Thomas
Sexton Sarney, Her special licenso that we, the said Samuel Edward
Sarney and Thomas Sexton Sarney, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel Edward Sarney and
Thomas Sexton Sarney, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS, SOFAS, AND SIMILAR ARTICLES OF FURNITURE,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Samuel Edward
Sarney and Thomas Sexton Sarney, our executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Edward Sarney, on behalf
of myself and the said Thomas Sexton Sarney, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by tho
following statement thereof, that is to say :-.
This Invention has for its object improvements in bedsteads, sofas, and
similar articles of furniture.
In order to construct an elastic foundation for the support of the
mattresses or cushions we dispense with the laths ordinarily employed
and attached to the side and end rails of the frame. We substitute for
the laths springs of tempered steel. These springs are attached to the
two side frames (or in some cases it might be to the two end frames)
and nearly meet midway between them, where the springs opposite to
one another are linked together by means of strong india-rubber rings.
The springs on each side may be formed of a continuous length of wire
or rod bent to a zig-zag form, and where the bend of one zig-zag spring
comes opposite a similar bend of the spring on the opposite side they

page_text: are linked together by the strong india-rubber rings. In this case in
order to make the attachment between the zig-zag springs and the side
rails of the frame, the wire or rod of which the spring is formed is at
each of the points where it meets the frame doubled closely on itself,
bent down, and so inserted into a hole formed through the top flange of
the angle iron of which the frame is made. On the under side of the
frame the end or angle of the spring wire or rod is again bent so that it
may bear on the upright flange of the frame which forms an abutment
for it.
A bar is passed through the several before-mentioned rings of india-
rubber to equalize the strain on the several springs. The ends of this
bar may be bent downwards so as to form a bow spring, the ends of
which rest on the frame, or the ends of the bar might be supported by
other springs resting on the frame. In place of making the springs of
wire or rod we prefer to form them of strips of steel similarly arranged
in zig-zags and connected to one another by strong rings of vulcanized
india-rubber. A spring mattress so formed is shewn at Figures 1, 2,
and 3.
Figure 1 is a plan view; Figure 2, an end view; and Figure 3, a
longitudinal section.
a is an angle iron frame formed of four lengths of angle iron con-
nected together by cast corner pieces a¹, to which the ends of the angle
iron are attached as shown on a larger scale at Figures 4, or the frame
might be otherwise made. To the sides of the frame strips of spring
steel 6 are connected by preference by forming holes or slots in the
strips to pass over heads on studs fixed in the angle iron sides. The
opposite ends of the spring strips are rivetted in pairs on to the top of
plates b', which carry hooks 62, on to which are hooked the strong
vulcanized india-rubber rings c. Two rings are hooked on to each hook,
and between the several pairs of rings is passed the bar d. This is
supported at its centre by an arched spring e, which also is threaded
between some of the rings, and at its ends bears upon the ends of the
frame a, or in place of thus supporting the bar the ends of the bar might
be supported by springs in the manner shewn in Figures 5 and 6. In
place also of the ends of the strips being rivetted in pairs to plates
having hooks formed on them, as shewn at Figures 1, 2, and 3, the ends
of the strips might each be bent into a hook formed as shewn in the

page_text: part plan view and end view shewn at Figures 5 and 6, the hooked ends
of the springs being hooked in pairs on to vulcanized india-rubber rings
as there shewn.
Although we prefer to arrange the springs in a zig-zag form, as above
described and shewn by the Drawings, yet each spring strip on one side
of the frame might be similarly linked separately by an india-rubber
ring to a spring strip on the opposite side of the frame. The spring
strips also may either be covered separately or in pairs with canvas
or other material, or left uncovered, or be covered over with canvas
or material in the form of an apron stretched from side to side and end
to end of the frame.
We would also state that although in the Drawings hereunto annexed
we have only shewn our Invention as applied to spring foundations for
supporting the mattresses of bedsteads, yet that spring foundations for
the seats and backs of chairs and similar articles of furniture may be
constructed in a like manner.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
in which we prefer to carry the same into effect, we would have it
understood that what we claim is, the constructing elastic foundations
for bedsteads, sofas, chairs, and other similar articles of furniture,
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Edward Sarney, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord Ono thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.
SAMUEL EDWARD SARNEY. (L.s.)