AN IM- PROVED BEDSTEAD
Year: 1815

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ELIZABETH
BEVERIDGE, of Hatton Garden, in the City of London, * send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of
March, in the fifty-fifth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Elizabeth Beveridge, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full
power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said Elizabeth Beveridge,
my exors, admors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term
of years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IM-
PROVED BEDSTEAD;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso
that if I, the said Elizabeth Beveridge, shall not 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
and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and ad-
vantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and

page_text: become void, 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
Elizabeth Beveridge, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in manner following (that is to say) :-
My improvement in the construction of bedsteads consists of a new method
of attaching the bedpost to the rail, and a contrivance fixed to the tester lath
instead of certain rods. First, the bed rail or frame, to receive laths or sacking,
may be made in one entire frame or two frames to fold together with hinges, which
will in that case enclose the posts, when folded for the purpose of travelling.
The corners of this frame are cut off (as seen in the Drawing, Figure 1) in
order to fit into a corresponding notch cut in the bedpost, Figure 2, and a
thumbscrew A, of sufficient strength, passing through the corner of the bed
rail into the bedpost, will be found to secure the same, which may be per-
formed with ease by a female servant, and spare the usual trouble attendant
upon the old method of putting bedsteads together with bed winches; the bed
rail may in this case be supported either with French castors independent of
the bedpost, or by the bedpost itself.
My other new contrivance, intended as a substitute instead of curtain rods,
and which I conceive to possess advantages and conveniences which entitle it
to considerable preference, consists of a hollow cylinder or tube of tin, brass,
copper, iron, or other metal carried round the tester lath, and attached or
fastened to the under side of the same by nails, screws, nuts, or any other
means, which hollow tube or cylinder is intended to receive a sliding. nob with
a hook coming down through the groove or opening cut for that purposo
entirely along the under side of the tube or cylinder, as seen in Figure 3,
which Figure represents a part of the tester lath, with part of the hollow
cylinder attached; Figure 4 exhibits a section of the tester lath and hollow
tube, or an end view looking into the hollow cylinder. Figure 5 shews the
sort of hook which I recommend to suspend the curtains to instead of curtain
rings; the upper nob or ball is intended to slide within the cylinder, and the
lower part or hook to receive the curtain.
In witness whereof, I, the said Elizabeth Beveridge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifteen.
ELIZABETH BEVERIDGE. (L.S.)--

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of May, in
the year of our Lord 1815, the aforesaid Elizabeth Beveridge came before
our said Lord the King in His 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 stampt according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifteen.