IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Richard Cottam, of St. Pancras Iron Works,
Old St. Pancras Road, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS."
Sealed the 5th. November 1867, and dated the 8th May 1867..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Richard Cottam at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th May 1867.
1, HENRY RICHARD COTTAM, of St. Pancras Iron Works, Old St. Pancras
Road, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in bedsteads. I form the
posts, the angle irons, and the bars of head and foot rails of iron and brass
bedsteads with grooves with overlapping flanges, and into each such groove I
slip lengths of ornamental tiles, so as to fill up the groove from end to end; in
this way a highly ornamental effect is inexpensively obtained; or in place of tiles
slips of ornamental glass may be employed, or plain glass backed with color.
or ornament may be used.
In place of employing overlapping flanges to retain the tiles or glass slips.in
position the overlap may be omitted.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Richard Cottam in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th November 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
RICHARD COTTAM, of St. Pancras Iron Works, Old St. Pancras Road, in-the-
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her-Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of May, in year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Richard Cottam, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Richard
Cottam, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Richard Cottam, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BEDSTEADS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henry Richard Cottam, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent..
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Richard Cottam, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-.
This Invention has for its abject improvements in bedsteals. I form the
posts, the augle irons or lath bars, and the bars of the head and foot rails of
iron and brass bedsteads with grooves with overlapping flanges, and into each
such groove I slip lengths of ornamental tiles, so as to fill up the groove from

page_text: end to end; in this-way a highly ornamental effect is inexpensively obtained;
or in place of tiles slips of ornamental glass may be employed, or plain glass
backed with color or ornament may be used. .
In place of employing overlapping: flanges to retain the tiles or glass slips
in position the overlap may be omitted.
The posts of bedsteads may be made double, or each of two parts at a
distance the one from the other, and the ornamental tiles or slips of glass
introduced between the two parts and retained by flanges; in this case tiles
-ornamented on both faces may be employed.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is an end view of a bedstead constructed according to my Invention.
, a, are the posts of the bedstead, they are made in cast iron. a', a¹, are
the corner joints to receive the angle irons, and a², a², are caps fitting to the
tops of the posts. A section of one of the posts at the line A is shown at
Figure 2; it is of trough-like form and has overlapping flanges. a, a³, are
ornamental tiles which are dropped into the trough-like recess in the post.
The cap a is afterwards put on, and it is secured by tap screws as represented
in the Drawing; the cap is cast on to the end of the head or foot rail. b is
one of the end angle irons or lath bars of the bedstead; it may have as is
usual a joint piece cast on to it at each end. 6', ', are ornamental tiles
applied to it; they are secured by overlapping flanges as is shown by the
section Figure 3, which is taken at the line C, Figure 1. The upper flange b³
is secured by means of the studs 3 which receive the laths in the usual way.
The lower flange is secured by small rivets **; these overlapping flanges
are formed of thin sheet metal. The head and foot rails of the bedstead are
formed conveniently of wrought-iron bars c, c, of the sectional form shown at
Figure 4, which is a section taken at the line G in Figure 1. The bars c
are held together by the ornaments c¹, c', cast upon them. The tiles may
he introduced by an opening or recess of the length of a tile in the centre
ornament which is shown in section at Figure 5; this opening or recess is
afterwards made good with a covering plate or raised ornament c. In order
to insert the tiles into the outer bars the ornaments c¹, c', may be cast with
openings in them, as is shown in edge view at Figure 6.
afterwards filled in with a block of wood and painted over.
forming the posts, the head and foot rails, and angle irons,
The opening is
The method of
may be varied

page_text: without departing from my Invention, so-long-as-they-are-made-with-flanges
retaining the tiles. Frequently, I make the upper part of the post of wrought
iron. Figure 7 is a section of such a post; the wrought-iron trough here
shown is cast into the corner joint; or the post may be made in cast or
wrought iron to receive tile ornaments on both sides, as is shown at Figure 8.
The ornament may be obtained with single faced, tiles back to back as this
Drawing represents, or it may be with tiles having a face on either side, as is
shown in section at Figures 9. In place of using overlapping flanges to
secure the tiles they may be secured.as.is shown in front_view at Figure 10,
and in section at Figures 11 and, 12 which are taken at the lines D and E
in Figure 10. The fastening, is here obtained by means of rosettes
overlapping the tiles, and having stems which pass through the back of the
bar and receive screw nuts. Other means of securing the tiles between tho
flanges may also be resorted to. In place of making the lath bars as is shown
at Figure 3. they may be made as is represented at Figures 13 and 14.
In place of earthenware tiles glass may be employed, it may be painted glass
or plain glass, with a design on paper or other surface attached to it, as is
well understood. The glass may be backed by casting plaster upon it.
In witness whereof; I, the said Henry Richard Cottam, have hereunto-
set my band and seal, this Fifth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
HENRY RP. COTTAM. (L.S.);