IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO INVALID BEDSTEADS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Hope Alston Hunter, of 65,
Malvern
Road, Dalston, in the County of Middlesex, Student of Medicine,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO INVALID
BEDSTEADS."
Sealed the 21st August 1875, and dated the 1st March 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Hope Alston
Hunter at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 1st March 1875.
I, ROBERT HOPE ALSTON HUNTER, of 65, Malvern Road, Dalston, in
5 the County of Middlesex, Student of Medicine, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO
INVALID BEDSTEADS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in and additions to invalid
bedsteads, and consist in fitting to a fixed or other part of a bedstead a
O frame with a top plate, which can be raised and lowered by belt, screw,
or other device from the side or other portion of the main frame.

page_text: The moveable frame is preferably guided in a skeleton frame through a
socket, of which a stem projecting from the under side of the top plate
passes, the lower end of the stem having a roller against which a band
or belt attached to a fixed piece is in contact, the other end of the band
or belt being upon a roller attached to a transverse spindle, so that it
can be wound upon it, and thereby when the spindle is turned by a
winch handle be caused to raise the top plate level or nearly so with the
top of a mattress for a chamber utensil or bed pan to be placed under
the patient without disturbing the patient or invalid from his position.
The mattress or bed on which the patient lies has a hole in it corrres-
ponding with the top plate of the moveable frame, and when the bed pan
or other article has been removed, after lowering the top plate, a cushion
or other padded or air or water bag, which may be a fixture upon the top
plate or only temporarily placed thereon, can be raised by the mechanism
before referred to to bring all flush and level with the bed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Hope Alston Hunter in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 1st September 1875
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HOPE ALSTON HUNTER, of 65, Malvern Road, Dalston, in the County of
Middlesex, Student of Medicine, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Robert Hope Alston Hunter, Her
special licence that I, the said Robert Hope Alston Hunter, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Robert Hope Alston Hunter, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND ADDITIONS TO INVALID
BEDSTEADS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Hope Alston Hunter, 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 Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Hope Alston Hunter, 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 statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, that is to say :—
This Invention relates to improvements in and additions to invalid
bedsteads, and consists in fitting to a fixed or other part of a bedstead a
frame with a top plate, which can be raised and lowered by belt, screw,
or other device from the side or other portion of the main frame.
The moveable frame is preferably guided in a skeleton frame through a
socket of which a stem projecting from the under side of the top plate
passes the lower end of the stem, having a roller against which a-band or
belt attached to a fixed piece is in contact, the other end of the band or
belt being upon a roller attached to a transverse spindle, so that it can
be wound upon it, and thereby when the spindle is turned by a winch
handle be caused to raise the top plate level or nearly so with the top of
a mattress for a chamber utensil or bed pan to be placed under the patient
without disturbing the patient or invalid from his position.
The mattress or bed on which the patient lies has a hole in it corres-
ponding with the top plate of the moveable frame, and when the bed pan
or other article has been removed, after lowering the top plate, a cushion,
or other padded, or air or water bag, which may be a fixture upon
the top
plate or only temporarily placed thereon, can be raised by the mechanism
before referred to to bring all flush and level with the bed.
C
ill ha alearly
understood ht the

page_text: Drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sectional elevation; Figure 2, a trans-
verse section; and Figure 3, a perspective view of a bedstead.
A, A, are the side angles, and B, C, the head and foot respectively;
D is a skeleton frame or guide attached to under part to span a hole
into which a top plate E with a roller on either side of a rising and
lowering rod F can pass when lifted by the strap or band G, one end of
which is fastened to the foot cross frame H, and the other to a roller I
under the control of a handle or lever J on a transverse shaft K, the
turning of which causes the band or strap to wrap or unwrap from the
roller I, and so to raise or to lower the plate, as the case may be, as shown
by the dotted and the full lines in Figure 1. The top plate may when
lowered have a chamber or other utensil placed upon it, so that the top
edge may be level with the mattress L for the use of the patient or
invalid, a cushion shaped to fit the hole in the mattress and of a suitable
thickness, as in Figures 2 and 4, being attached to the top plate to fill
the hole in the mattress when the chamber or other utensil is not in use.
I prevent tho plate E and rod F slipping or running down from the
desired position by a ratchet wheel M. and paul N, which I cause to
drop into the teeth thereof. The lower end of the rod F has a roller P
it for the strap or band to pass under the rollers, serving to reduce
or to prevent the vibration of the rising or lowering action, which would
tend to irritate the patient.
upon
Figure 5 represents the plate E and rod F within the skeleton frame D,
but controlled and actuated by a lever Q, the depression of whose handle
end will elevate the plate, and a lift of the handle end depress the top
plate, the lever Q being retainable in either position by a key or pin R
passed into one or other of the holes in the quadrant bar S, the quadrant
bar forms a leg from the bracket from which the lever is suspended.
I have shown my appliances as being fitted to be operated from the
side of a bedstead, but when necessary they can be worked from the
head or the foot.
The Drawings annexed only illustrate how my Invention can be carried
out in practice, but I do not limit myself to the arrangement, nor to the
manner of fitting it to a bedstead as shown.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what mannor the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the

page_text: improvements in and additions to invalid bedsteads as set forth and sub-
stantially as shown for the purposes described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Hope Alston Hunter, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of August
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
R. H. A. HUNTER. (L.S.)
Witness,
H. GARDNER,
Robertson, Brooman, & Co.,
Patent Agents,
166, Fleet Street,
London.