A COMBINED SPRING BERTH MATTRESS AND LIFE PRESERVER.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thomas Hughes, of the Firm of Hughes
"
and Son, Patent Agents, 123, Chancery Lane, London, for the In-
vention of "A COMBINED SPRING BERTH MATTRESS AND LIFE PRESERVER.'
-A communication from abroad by Joseph Franklin Peck, of the
City of Springfield, County of Hampden, and State of Massachusetts,
United States of America, Manufacturer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Thomas Hughes
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th August 1878.
I, EDWARD THOMAS HUGHES, of the Firm of Hughes and Son,
Patent Agents, 128, Chancery Lane, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "A COMBINED SPRING BERTH MATTRESS
AND LIFE PRESERVER," a communication to me from abroad by Joseph
Franklin Peak, of the City of Springfield, County of Hampden, and

page_text: State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer, to be
as follows:-
:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a practical life preserver
which may be used in connection with a spring berth mattress for
sleeping purposes on board vessels; and the Invention consists of a thin
mattress supported by a series of springs placed between two frames of
strap iron, each frame having intermediate bars so interlaced in both
directions that each frame forms a very coarse network of bars, with
the springs placed between at proper intervals. This mattress has a
pillow or cushion filled with pieces of cork attached to each end, the
pillows or cushions being equal in thickness to that of the mattress and
spring bottom combined; and to each cushion or pillow of cork is
attached a strap, forming a loop sufficiently large to slip over the head
and one shoulder, so that the mattress and cushions in connection with
the spring bottom may be used for a bed or for sleeping purposes in the
berth of a vessel, and without the spring bottom may be used as a life
preserver by getting astride. the mattress and placing the head and one
arm through one of the loops, at one end, with the cork cushion in
front of the breast, and placing the head and the other arm through the
loop at the other end with the cushion behind the shoulders.
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 10th February 1874.
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 Eleventh day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, Her
special licence that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward

page_text: 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 "A COMBINED SPRING BERTH MATTRESS AND LIFE PRESERVER,"
a communication to me from abroad by Joseph Franklin Peck, of the
City of Springfield, County of Hampden, and State of Massachusetts,
United States of America, Manufacturer, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Thomas Hughes, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, making a part of this Specification, and to the letters
of reference marked thereon (that is to say) :-
Fig. 1 is a plan view of the combined spring berth mattress and life
preserver as arranged for sleeping purposes; Fig. 2, a side elevation of
the same; and Fig. 3, a view of the same as arranged and adapted for
use as a life preserver.
The object of this Invention is to provide a practical life preserver,
which may be used in connection with a spring berth mattress for
sleeping purposes on board vessels, and consists of a thin mattress
supported by a series of springs placed between two frames of strap iron,
each frame having intermediate bars so interlaced in both directions that
each frame forms a very coarse network of bars, with the springs placed
between at proper intervals. This mattress has a pillow or cushion
filled with pieces of cork attached to each end, the pillows or cushions
being equal in thickness to that of the mattress and spring bottom
combined, and to each cushion or pillow of cork is attached a strap

page_text: forming a loop sufficiently large to slip over the head and one shoulder,
so that the mattress and cushions in connection with the spring bottom
may be used for a bed or for sleeping purposes in the berth of a vessel,
and without the spring bottom may be used as a life preserver by getting
astride the mattress and placing the head and one arm through one of
the loops, at one end, with the cork cushion in front of the breast, and
placing the head and the other arm through the loop at the other end
with the cushion behind the shoulders.
In the Drawings A represents a mattress of sufficient length to
support that part of the body between the shoulders and the knees.
This mattress is made quite thin, say two inches, and to each end
thereof at the line a is attached a cushion or pillow B of the same length
as the width of the mattress A, and say one foot wide and about five
inches thick, making the mattress with the pillow at each end sufficiently
long to support a person, say six or six and a half feet, and from end to
end of each cushion or pillow is attached a strap C, which preferably is
made elastic to adjust it properly to the body of persons of different sizes,
or the strap may be rigid and be provided with a buckle or other suitable
fastening.
When arranged for sleeping purposes the mattress is placed upon a
spring bottom D, which is made only of the same length as the mattress,
so that as the whole is placed in a berth the mattress and spring bottom
together are of the same height as the pillow B at each end, and a bed
is made up on the whole in the ordinary manner with a common pillow
placed at one end for the head.
The spring bottom D is made of two frames of metal called strap iron,
having intermediate bars of the metal interlaced with each other in both
directions, at suitable distances apart, and metallic springs placed
between the frames at the intersection of the bars.
For life saving purposes it is only necessary for a person to take the
mattress A with its cork pillows or cushions attached off the spring
bottom D and getting astride the mattress, midway, bring one of the
pillows B up against the back at the shoulders, and place the loop C
over the head and one shoulder, and bringing the other pillow up against
the breast place the other loop C over the head and the other shoulder.
The person having thus secured it to his body may jump into the water.

page_text: with perfect safety, and will be floated with his head and shoulders out
of the water by the cork pillows B, one against his shoulders at his back
and the other against his breast, without any effort on his part for any
length of time, and as long as he remains in the water he cannot without
considerable exertion free himself from it. As he thus floats he may be
carried by the current against rocks or timbers without injury, as the
lower part of his body is amply protected by the mattress, while the
upper part of his body is protected by the pillows B in front and
behind.
Other cords may be attached along each edge of the mattress, and of
the pillows B, so that several of these may be secured together to form
a raft or lashed to small spars to form life rafts, and other like means of
safety for those who may be wrecked.
·
These life preservers being a part of the bed in each berth are always
available to every passenger, and are so simple that it would be almost
impossible for a person to err in adjusting it to himself, and they can be
made as cheaply as an ordinary mattress, therefore saving by its use
either the price of an ordinary life preserver or of the ordinary mattress,
while the floating capacity of the cork pillows is quite sufficient to float
with ease the heaviest person, and is indeed quite equal to the ordinary
life preserver in that particular.
'As the pillows B are attached to the ends of the mattress only at one
edge they may be folded over the mattress, and thereby be rendered
quite compact for shipment.
It is evident that any spring bottom may be used to give the requisite
elasticity to the mattress without departing from the general principle
of operation, or interfering with the life saving feature of the device, but
I prefer to make the spring bottom as herein-before described.
Having thus described the nature and particulars of the said Inven-
otion, as communicated to me from abroad, I claim,-
First. The combination of the cork pillows B provided with loops C
with the mattress A, substantially as and for the purpose described.
Secondly. The combination of a spring bottom D with the mattress A
and cork pillows or cushions B provided with loops O, the whole forming

page_text: a combined spring berth mattress and life preserver, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Thomas. Hughes, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.