IMPROVEMENTS IN INTERLACED WIREWORK FOR CHAIR SEATS, BED BOTTOMS, UPHOLSTERING, AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thomas Hughes, of the Firm of Hughes
and Son, Patent Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN INTERLACED WIREWORK FOR CHAIR SEATS,
BED BOTTOMS, UPHOLSTERING, AND OTHER PURPOSES."-A communication
from abroad by Samuel Coit, of Hartford, in the County of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Thomas Hughes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th December 1871.
I, EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son, Patent
Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN INTERLACED WIREWORK FOR CHAIR
SEATS, BED BOTTOMS, UPHOLSTERING, AND OTHER PURPOSES," a communication
to me from abroad by Samuel Coit, of Hartford, in the County of Hartford,
and State of Connecticut, United States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of bed

page_text: The first part of the Invention consists in the employment of strands
of metal of the peculiar form herein-after described, interlaced and
secured to the framework of the chair, bed, or other article in which an
open work filling is desirable, and where no great amount of elasticity is
required.
The second part of the Invention consists in interlacing longitudinal
and transverse spiral springs, they being chiefly used for spring bed
bottoms, or for upholstering purposes where elasticity is desirable.
The wire employed in carrying out the first part of this Invention
may be of any suitable metal, as brass, copper, or iron, and is rolled
into shape. The under surface is made flat, the upper surface convex,
the two surfaces rolling to a thin but not sharp edge, and so as to form
a right angle upon the lower side, this right angle preventing the strands
from slipping when interlaced. Wires of this form are arranged in the
frame of the chair and interlaced, that is to say, in substantially the
same manner as the process known as cane seating. The wire may be
left in its natural color or plated with other metals, or tinted by other
processes. The wire employed for ordinary seating may be very light,
No. 22 being sufficiently large, and the seat be much stronger and more
durable than cane seating.
While describing this Invention for chair seating I wish it to be
understood as embracing all purposes for which the same interlacing of
strands may be employed as for chair backs, carriage work, and for other
purposes in which similar filling is desirable.
In the second part of this Invention the frame corresponding to the
size of the bed or article for which it is intended contains longitudinal
springs formed by winding the wire in the usual manner for forming
spiral springs, except that they are wound open. These springs are
secured to end pieces and drawn taut. There are also transverse springs
formed in the same manner and secured to the side pieces, passing over.
and along the longitudinal springs, one supporting the other and com-
bining all together.
The great advantage of this construction over longitudinal springs
only is that in longitudinal springs the weight is not distributed, but

page_text: comes entirely upon these springs upon which the weight rests, whereas
by the interlacing of transverse springs a transverse support is thereby
given connecting all the springs together so that whenever the weight is
applied it is distributed to some extent over the entire bed.
I describe the springs as of single wires, but they may be formed by
the combination of several wires, and in the general construction I do
not arrange the wires too closely together, as the desired result is
attained by arranging the springs two or three inches apart, more or
less, making the article lighter and consequently cheaper than when
arranged closer together.
By longitudinal and transverse I wish to be understood as embracing
the interlacing of one scries of snrinos with another series not narellol
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Thomas Hughes in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 7th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son, Patent Agents, 123,
Chancery Lane, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, Her special
licence that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Thomas
Hughes, 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 Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN INTERLACED WIREWORK FOR CHAIR SEATS, BED BOTTOMS,
UPHOLSTERING, AND OTHER PURPOSES," a communication to me from abroad
by Samuel Coit, of Hartford, in the County of Hartford, and State of

page_text: The wire may be left in its natural color, or plated with other metals, or.
tinted by other processes. The wire employed for ordinary seating may
be very light, No. 22 being sufficiently large, and the seat be much
stronger and more durable than cane seating.
While describing this Invention for chair seating I wish it to be
understood as embracing all purposes for which the same interlacing of
strands may be employed as for chair backs, carriage work, and for other
purposes in which similar filling is desirable.
"
In the second part of this Invention A represents one of the ends,
and B one of the sides of the frame, the size of the frame corresponding
to the bed or article for which it is intended; a are longitudinal springs
formed by winding the wire in the usual manner for forming spiral
springs except that they are wound open as denoted in Fig. 3. These
springs are secured to the end pieces A and drawn taut; d are transverse
springs formed in the same manner and secured to the side pieces,
passing over and under the longitudinal springs, one supporting the
other and combining all together..
The great advantage of this construction over longitudinal springs
only is that in longitudinal springs the weight is not distributed, but
comes entirely upon these springs upon which the weight rests, whereas
by the interlacing of transverse springs a transverse support is thereby
given connecting all the springs together so that whenever the weight
is applied it is distributed to some extent over the entire bed.
I represent the springs as of single wires, but they may be formed by
the combination of several wires, and in the general construction I do
not arrange the wires so closely together as represented, as the desired
result is attained by arranging the springs two or three inches apart,
more or less, making the article lighter and consequently cheaper than
when arranged closer together.
By longitudinal and transverse I wish to be understood as embracing
the interlacing of one series of springs with another series not parallel
with the first. I claim,-
First. The herein described filling for chair seats, chair backs, carriage
work, &c., consisting of strands of wire of the form described and
interlaced substantially in the manner herein set forth.

page_text: Second. A spring for bed bottoms and other upholstering purposes
composed of longitudinal and transverse spiral springs substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of June, in the 5
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.