CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JACOB
WILSON, of Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Upholsterer, sond greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excollent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Ninth day of May, One thousand eight hundred and forty-two, in the fifth
year of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Jacob Wilson, my
exors, adññiors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Jacob Wilson, my exors, adññiors, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Jacob Wilson, my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might mako, use, exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney,
Sark, and Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso, that I, the said Jacob Wilson, shall
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jacob Wilson, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following instrument in writing (reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures aflixed thereto, that
is to say-
The nature of my said Invention consists in so constructing bedstends that
the tester of each bedstead can be raised or lowered to any extent within
certain limits, at pleasure, for tho purpose of fitting, adjusting, cleaning, and
removing the furniture, by means of a leverage power fixed to the head and
foot of the bedstead and connected with the tester, whereby the trouble and
inconvenience attending the ordinary use of steps for the purpose are avoided,
and the least skilled domestic can perform with case that which is at present
seldom done without the aid of the upholsterer. And the manner in which the
said Invention is performed is represented in the said Drawings annexed
hereto.
Figure 1 represents a bedstead, constructed according to my said improve-
ments, in its complete state; Figure 2 is a view of the foot of the bedstead,
with the apparatus by which the tester is raised or lowered; and Figure 3
represents my said bedstead with the tester lowered. The frame of the
bedstead A, A, is made in the usual way of making bedsteads, with this
exception, that the posts are to be made from three feet nine inches to
four feet six inches high, or any other suitable height, with head and foot
boards of any shape or size required. I then make two boxes B, 13, of a
suitable size to the bedstead, but which I prefer to be about fourteen inches
wide by about four feet high, and fix the same to the head and foot
boards framing, one to cach, at the places and in manner shewn in the
Drawings. In the centre of each box there is placed a screw rod S, S, and
which works in and through a square head or aut T, which fits exactly into
the space between the two cheeks of the box, or may be made to slide in
grooves made between theso cheeks. To the ends or wings of this nut, at top,
two metal vertical rods are attached, which support at their upper extremities
the metal or wood tester of the bedstead, so that by turning the handles of the
screw rods S, S, (both at the same time) the rods and tester are caused to
ascend or descend at pleasure within the limits of the length of the screw rods.
V is a spring knob or catch, which is kept depressed by the finger, then tho
handle of the adjoining screw rod is turned round, and when left free prevents
the handle and rod from turning. The same sort of apparatus may be applied
to a French bedstead, or to any other.

page_text: And I declare that what I claim as my Invention is, the constructing of
bedsteads in the manner before specified, whereby the tester can be raised or
lowered by mechanical leverage to any desirable extent at pleasure, and that
whether the means employed are precisely the same in all respects as those I
have before described, or not, as long as they vary only to the extent of pro-
ducing by analogous and equivalent means the like useful result. And such my
Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, new, and never before
used within that part of Her said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and also in the Islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, I do hereby
declare this to be my Specification of the same; and that I do verily believe
this my Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve
or disguse, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jacob Wilson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-two
JACOB (L.B.) WILSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid Jacob Wilson came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Ninth day November, in the year of our Lord One thousand