Improvements in and relating to Ships' Sleeping Berths.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Aug., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 25th May, 1891--Accepted, 25th Aug.. 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Ships' Sleeping Berths.
I, ARTHUR ROBERT THOMAS WOODS of 21 Lime Grove, Seaforth near
Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, Marine Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has reference to ships' sleeping berths, which are usually arranged
in pairs forming upper and lower berths; as the upper berth is necessarily at a
considerable height, inconvenience is often experienced in getting in and out of it
and the object of my present invention is to obviate this inconvenience.
With this object in view, I form the upper berth in two parts hinged together;
the head portion of the berth is about four feet long and is fixed in the ship in any
usual and suitable way; the foot portion of the berth is about two feet long and
being hinged, as already stated, to the head portion, it is capable of swinging until
it hangs vertically downward.
The swinging portion is operated by a hand lever which is held in its normal
position alongside the berth by means of a notch into which it springs, or by
equivalent means. Spur or worm gearing may be fitted if desired in order to
facilitate the raising of the swinging portion and for the same reason it may be
counterbalanced. The mattress is preferably made in two parts corresponding
with the two parts of the berth.
'
To further facilitate getting in and out of the berth, I provide say three steps;
the upper step may be fixed permanently over the foot of the lower berth as it is
sufficiently high to be out of the way; as the middle and lower steps which project
in front of the lower berth would be rather in the way, I preferably arrange them
to fold up when not in use. For this reason they are hinged at one side, linked
together, and one of them linked by a vertical link to a lever formed with or
connected to the swinging portion of the berth, the arrangement being such that
when this portion of the berth is lowered the steps are brought to the horizontal
position and when it is raised to normal position the steps are folded up.
When the hand lever is released from its holder, the foot portion of the berth
swings down and the steps fall to the horizontal position, leaving sufficient room to
get in or out of the berth at the foot; the hand lever is then operated bringing the
berth into normal position and holding it therein.
Dated this 23rd day of August 1890.
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES,
26, Castle Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant..
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Ships' Sleeping Berths.
I, ARTHUR ROBERT THOMAS WOODS of 21 Lime Grove, Seaforth near
Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, Marine Engineer, 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 has reference to ships' sleeping berths, which are usually arranged
in pairs forming upper and lower berths; as the upper berth is necessarily at a
considerable height, inconvenience is often experienced in getting in and out of it
and the object of my present invention is to obviate this inconvenience.
With this object in view, I form the upper berth in two parts hinged together;
the head portion of the berth is about four feet long and is fixed in the ship in any

page_text: usual and suitable way; the foot portion of the berth is about two feet long and
being hinged, as already stated, to the head portion, it is capable of swinging until
it hangs vertically downward, or approximately so.
The swinging portion is operated by a hand lever which is held in its normal
position alongside the berth by means of a notch into which it springs, or by
equivalent means, and in order to facilitate the raising of the swinging portion it
may be counterbalanced. The mattress is preferably made in two parts corresponding
with the two parts of the berth.
To further facilitate getting in and out of the berth, I provide steps; the upper
step may be fixed permanently over the foot of the lower berth as it is sufficiently
high to be out of the way and the lower step which projects in front of the lower
berth as shown in the drawings is also permanently attached thereto.
When the hand lever is released from its holder, the foot portion of the berth
swings down, leaving sufficient room to get in or out of the berth at the foot; the
hand lever is then operated bringing the berth into normal position and holding it
therein.
In the accompanying drawings which illustrate my invention,
Fig. I is a front elevation and Fig. II is a sectional elevation on the line A, A,
of Fig. I.
Throughout the drawings the same parts are indicated by the same reference
figures and the direction in which the section is viewed is indicated by the small
arrows placed adjacent to the letters denoting the plane of section.
1 is the upper and 2 is the lower berth.
The head portion 3 of the upper berth is fixed to the ship in any usual and
suitable way; the foot portion 4 is hinged at 5 to the portion 3 and it is operated
by the hand lever 6, provided with the balance weight 7. The hand lever 6 when
elevated enters a jaw in the stop bracket 8 and it may be secured therein by the
hinged bolt 9 operated by the handle 10. When the hand lever is lowered to
restore the berth to normal condition, as shown in dotted lines, a pin on the side of
the lever engages with the holding pawl 11. This holding pawl is operated to
release the hand lever 6 by means of the arm 12, sliding spindle 13 fitted with
weight 14, and handle 15.
16 is the upper step, fixed across the foot of the lower berth sufficiently high to
be out of the way, and 17 is the lower step, shown in the drawings as a fixture
projecting from the side of the lower berth.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
(1) The improved sleeping berth having a portion adapted to swing downwards
for the purpose of facilitating getting in and out of the berth, substantially as set
forth.
(2) The improved sleeping berth having the foot portion hinged to the head
portion and adapted to swing downwards, with means for operating and securing
the same, substantially as and for the purpose described and illustrated.
(3) In sleeping berths, the combination of the fixed portion 3, the swinging
portion 4, the hinge 5 and hand lever 6, substantially as and for the purpose
described and illustrated.
(4) In sleeping berths, the combination of the swinging portion 4 and the
steps 16 and 17, substantially as described and illustrated.
(5) The improved sleeping berth, substantially as described and illustrated in the
drawings.
Dated this 23rd day of May 1891.
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES,
Castle Chambers, 26, Castle Street, Liverpool.