IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BEDS, MATTRASSES, CHAIRS, SOFAS, CUSHIONS, PADS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF A SIMILAR NATURE
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LOUIS BACHELARD, of Saint Martin's Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Thirtieth day of July, in the fourth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Louis Bachelard, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said John Louis Bachelard, my exors, admors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Louis Bachelard, my exors, adiñors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF BEDS, MATTRASSES, CHAIRS, SOFAS, CUSHIONS, PADS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF A
SIMILAR NATURE," communicated to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad;
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said John Louis
Bachelard, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled 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

page_text: in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
.
,
NOW KNOW YE, that in coinpliance with the said proviso, I the said
John Louis Bachelard, do hereby declare that the nature of the Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
The Invention relates to a mode of stuffing beds, mattrasses, chairs, sofas,
cusbions, pads, and other articles, which are intended.. for persons to sit or
recline on or against, by the employment of cork cut into fine, or a coarse saw-
dust fibre, and in lengths of half an inch to two or more inches long; and I
prefer that such fibres of cork should not be straight, but curved by cutting
from a curved surface, though that is not absolutely necessary. I have,
however, found that where lengths cannot be obtained, it is desirable to use it
cut very small, and similar to sawdust. By this means a cheap and elastic
material will be obtained for stuffing such articles. In using such material for
stuffing beds, mattrasses, chairs, sofas, cushions, pads, and other articles of a
similar nature, the workman will perform his work in a similar manner to
that now pursued where stuffing with horsebiair, wool, or other fibre, simply
substituting the fibres of cork for such horsehair, wool, or other fibres at
present in use for like purposes. But I would remark, that I do not recom-
mend wholly to discard the use of horsehair and wool for such stufling pur-
pose; on the contrary, I believe the combined use of the fibres of cork with
horsehair or with wool will be found the best mode of carrying out the
Invention; for I have found that by using the fine cut fibres of cork as a
substratum, and then placing a thin covering of horsehair or wool thereon,
particularly when the covering materials are thin, the surface will have all
the smoothness as if wholly stuffed with horsehair or wool, with the elasticity
of the cork, as well as the advantage derived by the use of a much cheaper
material; and it may be remarked that articles so stuffed-with-cork, or cork
and horsehair or wool, will not be so liable to be injured by the moth. Hence
this mode of stuffing will be found particularly applicable in stuffing seats
which are subject to varying temperatures and moisture, and therefore will be
found particularly useful for saddles, the paddings or stuffings of which are
liable to be destroyed by moths. In preparing the fibres of cork for the
purposes of the Invention, I generally obtain the refuse cuttings of cork
cutters, owing to its cheapness, and then cut such cuttings into fine fibres,
retaining as much length as possible for each fibre, making the thickness or
transverse section thereof as small as possible. That which I have generally
used is about the thirtieth of an inch thick, and from an eighth to a twentieth

page_text: of an inch wide, but this may be varied, taking care to keep the fibres as
uniform in thickness and width as possible, and as small as conveniently can
be done.
Having thus described the Invention, I would remark, that I am aware that
the refuse cuttings of cork cutters have been before employed for stuffing
(what are called "fenders," on board ship, and perhaps for other purposes;
I do not therefore claim the use of cork generally as a material for stuffing
various articles, but only when reduced into fine fibres, as herein described,
and applied to the manufacture of beds, mattrasses, chairs, sofas, cushions,
pads, and other articles for persons to sit or recline on or against.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Louis Bachelard, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-one.