CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VARIOUS ARTICLES OF AN OFFICER'S FIELD EQUIPAGE, BY WHICH EVERY THING ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY FOR AN OFFICER'S PERSONAL COMFORT MAY BE PACKED SO AS TO BE CARRIED ON THE BACK OF ONE HORSE OR ANIMAL
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
CHERRY, of Croydon, in the County of Surrey, Veterinary Surgeon in the
Army, do send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of November
now last past, did give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Cherry, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Frederick Cherry, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF VARIOUS
ARTICLES OF AN OFFICER'S FIELD EQUIPAGE, BY WHICH EVERY THING ABSOLUTELY
NECESSARY FOR AN OFFICER'S PERSONAL COMFORT MAY BE PACKED SO AS TO BE
CARRIED ON THE BACK OF ONE HORSE OR ANIMAL;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Frederick Cherry, under
my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed; 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, as
in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at
large' appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Frederick Cherry, do hereby declare that my said Invention is fully described
and ascertained in manner and form as follows, that is to say:-
The various articles of an officer's field equipage to which my improvements
relate are, a chair, a table, and bedstead; and my Invention consists in
adapting or fitting up two small boxes or trunks, so that they shall, with
small additions, serve not only the purposes of carrying an officer's apparel and
canteen, but also become his chair, table, and bedstead, and at the same time
so contrived that they may be packed and carried on the back a horse or
mule. The Drawings in the margin of these presents, with the description
thereof, clearly exhibit the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed. It must, however, be understood that I do not
mean to confine myself to the precise forms or contrivances there shown,
as experience and fancy doubtless will suggest various modifications of the
figure and sizes of the boxes or trunks, of the materials of which they may be
made, and of the mechanical means of connecting them together, or converting
them to the several purposes above named.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a trunk or box A, about two feet one inch long, twelve
inches wide, and fourteen inches deep, fitted up with iron or other suitable
bands, elevated upon the top of which is shewn two flaps C unfolded as a
table, supported above the box by two frames of iron (D), each frame equal
in width, and the two together equal in length to the lid of the box; the
frames are attached to the box lid by hinges, as at E; the frames, when raised,
are kept steady and firm in their places bars of iron, as at F, also hinged
to and rising from near the centre of the box lid, as at G. The upper parts
of these bars have dovetails, which fit into recesses in the upper parts of the
iron frames; the table top is attached to the frames by button, bolt, or other
contrivance. The manner in which the iron work is disposed when folded
down is shewn at A, Fig. 4.
•
Fig. 2 represents another box (B), above which is shewn a frame H, which
forms a back of a chair, the box forming the seat of it, the chair back is sup-
ported by two bars of iron I, turning upon centres at K, the lower ends resting
upon the box lid. The bottom of the frame is fixed either by a nut screw
passing through it into the box lid, as at L, or by any other convenient means.
There are vacancies in the frame from where the irons are attached at K
upwards, for the purpose of completely turning the frame, and thereby causing
it to lie flat on the surface of the box lid. This is shewn more particularly

page_text: in B, Fig. 4, where M points to a nut screw, by which also the frame when
laid down is firmly fixed to the box lid. Note, one of these boxes may be
fitted up as a canteen, and the other to carry apparel or other things, as fancy
or convenience may direct.
Fig. 3, represents the mode of forming a bedstead by means of the two
boxes A and B placed parallel to each other, and N, N, two bars of
wood about four feet long, and about two inches square, having an iron
or other hook at each end fitted to sockets or eyes fixed to the corners of the
boxes. In the bars of wood are holes about three inches apart, through which
a cord passes to form the frame or basis of a bedstead, or, if preferred, to these
bars a sacking may be attached as in the common bedstead. Note, with
the addition of a blanket these cords make a very comfortable bed, but it is
desirable to have a folding mattrass to lay on them, as the same will also
be useful to aid the pack saddle in defending the horse's back in carrying
the equipage from place to place.
Fig. 4 is the plan of the tops of the two boxes A and B, with the rails or
bars N, N, and rope forming the bedstead.
Figs. 5 and 6 represent detached parts, which may be fixed to the b edsted
(as shewn in Fig. 3) for the support of furniture or covering. These are
formed in three parts, each of cane wood with iron attached to the ends, and
covered with leather, about four feet long, being bound together at one end
by a rivet, as at P; at the lower ends of two parts in each Figure are flat
iron hooks Q, and at the lower end of one part in each figure is a nut
screw R, and at the upper end (S) of one part, as in Fig. 5, is an iron screw
hole answering to the nut R at the bottom of Fig. 6; they are shewn in Fig. 3
attached to the bedstead. At T are sockets on the sides of the boxes to
receive the iron hooks at the ends of the cane work; on the side of the box,
as shewn more particularly at u, Fig. 2, is a screw hole to receive the nut
screw R, in Fig. 5. These parts to carry the furniture are not essential, and
may be more or less in number as fancy and convenience may suggest, and,
as well as the other things described, formed of any other suitable materials.
To each box or trunk are handles for the convenience of removing them, and
iron rings for the convenience of packing and carrying. The box tops are
hinged and secured in front by hasp and staple.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Cherry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of January, One thousand eight
hundred and fourteen.
FREDERICK (L.S.) CHERRY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of January, in
the fifty-fourth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third, the
said "Frederick Cherry came before our said Lord the King in his Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written: And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
forty-eighth year of His said Majesty's reign.
Inrolled, the Tenth day of January, One thousand eight hundred and
fourteen.
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