INVENTION OF A BEDSTEAD ON A NEW CONSTRUCTION
Year: 1792

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HIGGS, of the Parish of Saint Margaret, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex, Joiner, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
His Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eleventh day of February, in the thirty-second year of His
reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Higgs, his especial licence
that I, the said Joseph Higgs, during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my "INVENTION OF A BEDSTEAD ON
A NEW CONSTRUCTION," in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso, obliging me, the said Joseph Higgs, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same
(relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Joseph Higgs, do hereby declare that my said Invention of a Bedstead on a

page_text: and which drop into
with the side Rails are
or
means
Figure 1. Represents the End and Side Rails of a Bedstead firmly joined together so as to compose one solid Frame or Platform, within side which, and continued all round at
proper distances are Screws with small Eyes or Hooks made of Iron or other Metal through which Eyes or Hooks and the Sacking alternately passes the Cord or Line - By this means the Sacking
is formed of
one piece only, which is not nailed or attached to any part of the Frame and (excepting by the Cord) has no connection with it - Only one half of a Sacking so
contrived is shawn in the Figure, in order to leave space to discrive in what new manner Lath bottom Bedsteads are made In this case the Ends of the Laths do not bear
on the side hails of the Frame as usual, but are kept at some distance therefrom by of Pins or Hooks screwed into or otherwise fastened to the Ends of the Laths
For the mou
and are supported by the Eyes on the side hails of the Frame
effectual support of the Laths. Two Rails or Beavers parralet
Pins
fixed into or suspended from the Frame by means of
Hooks and
and Eyes - The Position of each being one third of the Breadth
worthin side the Frame Along the Middle of these hails or Bearers is let in a small Rib or Tongue of Copper or other metal projecting above the Surface
on which projection the Laths rest without touching such Rails or Bearers In the middle of the under part of the end hails of large Bedsteads is a Joint
and Hinge by means of which the Frame folds up and becomes more conveniently portable, the Hinge being placed on the under part of the Rails it
follows that the greater the Wright or pressure
on the Frame the closer the Joint will be..
Figure 2. Shews the end rail with such Joint.
Figure 3. Represents the manner of attaching the Posts or Pillars and Feet to the Frame - The Dosts above the Grame and the Beet below it are
of the Frame either by both Post and Goot having a seperate Screw as at A or by having one Screw of Iron or other metall
fastened into either the Post or Foot and of length sufficient to pass through the Frame and to Screw into a Nutt or Bush let into the opposite part
"as at B. by which means both the Post and Foot are fastened to the Frame
by
It is advisable to put a small thin Plate of Copper
or other Metal on those parts of the Frame, which the shoulders of the Posts and Feet Screw to which will totally prevent any aperture or Secretion
in the Junction of the Posts and Feet to the Frame, or
noise or cracking so much complained of in the common Bedsteads.
any
that in proportion to the firmness with which the detached pieces are screwed together, these ends will be more effectually answered – The Head Board
is not connected with the posts in the usual way, but is attached thereto by Hooks and Eyes in the same manner as the Luths to the Frame
cribed in Figure 1. The Ends of the Tester Laths are made of Copper or other Metal, and fixed to the Lath or
may
be made in the customary way
and covered with a thin plate of such metal, and must have the usual hole for the Admission of the Pins on the Tops of the Posts - These Pins
must be made with a Shoulder to prevent the Tester Lath from resting on the Top of the Posts
screwed into each corner
a
one operation
1
It is obvious
as des-
Figure 4. Represents another manner of attaching the Posts and Feet to the Grame, by means of a Key Din and Staple, and is only given to
shew that although the mode and construction may be variced, yet that the principle and Essential properties of the Invention must in suckl
variation be infringed