CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS AND COUCHES OR ARTICLES FOR SITTING, LYING, AND RECLINING UPON
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
WOODS, of Portsea, in the County of Hants, Upholsterer, and ROBERT
WALTER WINFIELD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufac-
turer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of
March (One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one), in the fourteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Thomas Woods and Robert Walter Winfield, our exors.
admors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that we, the said Thomas Woods and Robert Walter Win-
field, our exors, admors, and assigns, or such others, as we, the said. Thomas
Woods and Robert Walter Winfield, our exors, admors, and 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, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BEDSTEADS AND
COUCHES, OR ARTICLES FOR SITTING, LYING, AND RECLINING UPON ;" in which

page_text: said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said Thomas
Woods and Robert Walter Winfield, or one of us, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Thomas Woods and Robert Walter Winfield, do hereby declare that the
nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists,―
Firstly, of an improved ship's cot or sofa bedstead.
Secondly, of an improved stretcher or camp bed.
Thirdly, of improved methods of constructing the blocks or corner pieces for
metallic bedsteads, chairs, &c. And,
Lastly, a method of inserting or attaching the panels or ornaments of
metallic bedsteads, couches, and sofas.
Our improved ship's cot or sofa bedstead is represented in side elevation in
Figure 1, in vertical section in Figure 2, the said vertical section being taken
through the lino x in Figure 1, and in plan, Figure 3. a, a, is the fixed or
stationary frame; b, b, is the stretcher, on which the sacking c, c, is stretched.
The stretcher b, b, is connected at its ends by joints d, d, with the end picces
e, e, the said end pieces having buttons f, f, by which they are suspended on
the vertical ends of the frame a, a. When suspended, as represented in
Figures 1 and 2, the frame b is capable of motion, both at the joints d and
buttons f, and during the motion of the vessel preserves a nearly horizontal
position. When the buttons f, f, instead of being introduced into the holes g
in the vertical ends of the frame a, a, see Figure 2, arc introduced into the
lower holes h, the frame b, on which the sacking c is stretched, drops into
the recesses i, i, made in the horizontal part of the frame for the purpose of
its reception, and the said frame 6 being no longer moveable upon the joints d
and buttons f, the whole constitutes and may be used as a sofa or standing
bed. Underneath the horizontal part of the frame j a receptacle k may be

page_text: placed, which may either be composed, as represented in the Drawing, of a
fabric 7, having a wooden frame m to preserve its shape, or may be made of
wood, with drawers or otherwisc.
Figure 4 represents our improved stretcher or camp bed in end elevation,
and Figure 5 represents a plan of the end of the same. Our improved
stretcher or camp bed resembles a stretcher or camp bed of the ordinary
construction, with the following additions:-a represents a semicircular rod,
having a joint 6 in the middle, and a rack c at one end. At the end d is the
roller d'. The ends c, d, of the curved rod a enter sockets e, f, at the corners
g, h, and are prevented from passing through the said sockets by the collar d'
and rack c. i is a lever, the end of which is pressed against and made to
engage in the rack c by a spring k. By opening the legs 1, 1, to a greater
width the sacking is tightened, and the position of the said legs is preserved
by the rack c and lever i. In putting together our improved stretcher bed
the semicircle a is folded at the joint b, and the end c of the said semicircle is
first introduced into the socket f, and passed through the said sockets to a
sufficient distance to allow the end d when unfolded to enter the socket e.
The legs 1, 1, are not opened so wide as represented in the Drawing during the
introduction of the ends c, d, into their respective sockets. When the end d
has been introduced into the socket e the end c is withdrawn as far as neces-
sary from its socket f, that is to say, it is drawn so far out of the said socket
as suffices to open the legs 1, 1, wide enough to give the sacking the necessary
tightness. We do not confine ourselves to the precise method described of
using a semicircular rod for tightening camp or stretcher beds, as the method
of using the same may be varied; and this part of our Invention consists
essentially in using a semicircular rod in such a way that the legs of the
stretcher or camp bed to which it is applied open as radii to the said semi-
circular rod, and are fixed in their proper places by being connected with the
said semicircular rod by any suitable means. The joint b may be dispensed
with, although we prefer using it.
corner pieces of
Our improved methods of constructing the blocks or
metallic bedsteads are represented in Figures 6, 7, and 8. In carrying into
effect the method of constructing blocks represented in Figures 6 and 7
we take iron tubing or shafting, and cut it into lengths of the proper size
for the said blocks. We cut away, by planing or otherwise, portions of
the said tube, parallel or nearly parallel to the axis thereof, leaving the
parts marked a and b in Figures 6 and 7, which constitute the dovetails
of the said blocks. It will be observed by the Figures that the parts a, b,
are wedge-shaped.

page_text: ROBERT WALTER (L.s.) WINFIELD.
-
(LL.B.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Robert Walter Winfield 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 Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.