AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF METALLIC FURNITURE
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Walter Winfield, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Merchant and Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC
BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF METALLIC FURNITURE."
Sealed the 8th July 1856, and dated the 30th January 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Walter Winfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th January 1856.
I, ROBERT WALTER WINFIELD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Merchant and Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said. Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC
BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF METALLIC FURNITURE," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists in making certain parts of metallic bedsteads
and other articles of metallic furniture of zinc, coated with an electro-deposit
of copper on brass, or of iron coated first with zinc and afterwards with copper
or brass. The parts to which my Invention is specially applicable are the
ornamental parts, such as the capitals and bases of columns, and other parts
having only an ornamental object, also the parts which have a partly useful
and partly ornamental object, such as the ornaments which effect the junction
of joined or crossing rods or parts. I prefer to make the ornaments of sheet
zinc stamped in dies and coated with copper or brass, and I prefer to make
the ornamental joinings of cast zinc coated as aforesaid.
My Invention is also applicable to the corner blocks and dovetails by which
the junction of vertical and horizontal pillars, rods, and rails in metallic
furniture is effected. In applying my said Invention to corner blocks and

page_text: dovetails, I make the same of cast iron, and coat the cast iron with zinc by
the well-known process called galvanizing, and afterwards coat the same with
copper or brass as aforesaid. I also coat zinc tubes with copper or brass, and
use the said tubes in the manufacture of bedsteads and other articles of
metallic furniture, whether the zinc tubes have or have not an internal core or
support of iron.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Walter Winfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th July 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WALTER WINFIELD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchant
and Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Walter Winfield, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Walter Winfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Robert Walter Winfield, 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 In-
vention for" AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC
BEDSTEADS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF METALLIC FURNITURE,"
upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Robert Walter Winfield, 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 per-
formed, 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 Walter Winfield, 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 the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists in making certain parts of metallic bedsteads

page_text: and other articles of metallic furniture of zinc coated with an electro-deposit
of copper or brass, or, where great strength is required, of iron, coated first
with zinc and afterwards with copper or brass, as herein-after particularly
described. The parts of metallic bedsteads and other articles of metallic
furniture to which my Invention is specially applicable are the ornamental
parts, such as the capitals and bases of columns, and other parts having only an
ornamental object. Also the parts which have a partly useful and partly
ornamental object, such as the ornamental pieces or castings which effect the
junction of joined or crossing rods or parts.
In carrying my Invention into effect I prefer to make the ornaments of
sheet zinc stamped in dies, and coated with copper or brass, where the figure
of the said ornaments permits such a method of manufacture to be adopted;
but where the ornaments are of such a figure that they cannot be made by the
process of stamping, I make the said ornaments by casting or otherwise, and
afterwards coat them with copper or brass. I prefer to make the ornamental
joinings of cast zinc coated as aforesaid.
My Invention is also applicable to the corner blocks and dovetails by which
the junction of vertical and horizontal pillars, rods, and rails in metallic bed-
steads and other articles of metallic furniture is effected.
In applying my Invention to corner blocks and dovetails, I make the said
corner blocks and dovetails of cast iron, and coat the cast iron with zinc by
the well-known process called galvanizing, and afterwards coat the same with
copper or brass as aforesaid. I make the said corner blocks and dovetails of
iron, in order that they may have the requisite strength. Where greater
strength is required in ornaments or ornamental joinings than zinc possesses,
the said ornaments or ornamental joinings may be made of iron coated with
zinc, either before or after the said iron has been made into the said ornaments
or ornamental joinings.
I prefer in all the various applications of my Invention to make the parts of
zine where that metal is sufficiently strong, and where greater strength is
required than zinc possesses, to make the parts of iron, the said iron parts
being coated with zinc, and afterwards with copper or brass, as herein-before
described. I also coat zinc tubes with copper or brass, and use the said tubes
in the manufacture of bedsteads and other articles of metallic furniture,
whether the said zine tubes have or have not an internal core or support of
iron. I do not think it necessary to describe the processes, whereby the zinc
is to be coated with an electro-deposit of copper or brass, or the iron to be
coated with zinc, as the said processes are well known and commonly practised,
and constitute no part of my Invention. My Invention is applicable to all

page_text: the ornamental and exposed or partly exposed portions of metallic bedsteads,
and other articles of metallic furniture,
Having now described the nature. of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from. the nature of my said Invention. But I claim as my
Invention, making the ornamental and exposed or partly exposed portions of
metallic bedsteads and other articles of metallic furniture. of zinc, coated with
an electro-deposit of copper or brass, or of iron first coated with zinc, and
afterwards with copper or brass, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Walter Winfield, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness;
WILLIAM C. AITKEN.
ROBERT WALTER WINFIELD. (L.S.)