IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING MATTRESSES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SPRING MATTRESSES."-A communication from abroad by Madame
..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 12th May 1863.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING MATTRESSES," to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to construct spring mattresses which
can be taken to pieces when required and packed into a small space for
removal or otherwise. The frame of the mattress may be made of wood or
iron.
I will first proceed to describe the construction when the frame is made of
wood. Two boards or planks forming the sides of the mattress carry brackets
for receiving two other boards or planks for the ends, transverse bars strengthen
the sides and carry spiral or other springs. The ends are connected to the
sides by bolts and nuts, which bolts pass thro' the brackets. Transverse planks
are fixed on the ends; pegs are fixed on these planks, to which laths or flat
chains passing from end to end of the mattress are hooked; these chains pass

page_text: over and are sustained by the springs which are supported by the first-mentioned
transverse bars, and are strengthened by other transverse laths.
To take to pieces a mattress constructed as before described, it is only
necessary to unhook the laths and to unscrew the bolts and nuts. When
spiral springs are employed, I attach them to the laths or chains by hooks.
I now proceed to describe the construction of the mattress when the frame
is made of iron. It is composed of an upper frame slightly bent near one end
to form a head or pillow, and of a lower frame formed of several bands of flat
iron. The two frames are connected at the corners by angle irons, and are
kept apart in the middle by stays. The sides of the mattress are connected
by transverse bars of T-shape, riveted or screwed to the bands forming the
lower frame; metal plates for supporting springs are fixed to these transverse
bars and laths, or flat chains are passed over and sustained by the springs in
the same manner as in the mattress first described, except that they are
hooked at their ends to holes formed directly in the upper frame. Head and
foot frames and legs may be hinged to the mattress, and retained in place
when in use by screws or otherwise, to enable the mattress to form at tho
same time bedstead and mattress. The metal of which the laths and springs
are formed may be galvanized or tinned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 12th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of IIer
reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as 1, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention

page_text: for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SPRING MATTRESSES," (communicated to me from abroad
by Madame Julie Adolphine Massé, of Paris, France,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
The chief object of this Invention is to construct spring mattresses which
can be taken to pieces when required and packed into a small space for
removal or otherwise. The frame of the mattress may be made of wood or
iron.
I will first proceed to describe the construction when the frame is of wood.
Two boards or planks forming the sides of the mattress carry brackets for
receiving two other boards or planks for the ends; transverse bars strengthen
the sides and carry spiral or other springs. The ends are connected to the sides
by bolts and nuts, which bolts pass through the brackets. Transverse planks
are fixed on the ends; pegs are fixed on these planks, to which laths or flat
chains passing from end to end of the mattress are hooked; these chains pass
over and are sustained by the springs which are supported by the first-mentioned
transverse bars, and are strengthened by other transverse laths.
To take to pieces a mattress constructed as before described, it is only
necessary to unhook the laths and to unscrew the bolts and nuts. When
spiral springs are employed, I attach them to the laths or chains by hooks.
Figuro 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal section, and
Figure 2 a plan of a mattress constructed as just described. a, b, are two
boards or planks forming the sides of the mattress and carrying brackets c for
receiving two other boards or planks d, f, forming the ends; 9, 9, are transverse
bars which strengthen the sides a, b, and support springs h. The ends d, f,
are connected to the sides a, b, by bolts i, and nuts j; the bolts pass through
the brackets c, and their heads are sunk in the ends d, f. k, k, are transverse
planks fixed on the ends d, f, and pegs are fixed on these planks, to which
laths or flat chains m are hooked by means of movable hooks n. The chains m
เ

page_text: pass over and are sustained by the springs h, and are strengthened by transverse
laths o, fitted over the springs h. Figure 3 is a plan of a mattress in which
the springs are spiral. The laths and springs are sustained laterally by
movable leather loops p which are hooked on to pegs 9, on the sides a, b, of
the mattress. The spiral springs are secured to the laths by hooks ", as
represented in Figure 4.
I now proceed to describe the construction of the mattress when the frame
is made of iron. Figure 5 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 6 a plan of
such a mattress. It is composed of an upper franie r, slightly bent near one
end to form a head or pillow, and of a lower frame 8, formed of several bands
of flat iron. The two frames are connected at the corners by angle irons t,
and are kept apart in the middle by stays u, v. The sides of the mattress are
connected by transverse bars x, of T-shape, riveted or screwed to the bands
forming the lower frames s. Metal plates y for supporting springs are fixed to
these transverse bars x, and laths or flat chains m are passed over and sustained
by the springs h, in the same manner as in the mattress first described, except
that they are hooked at their ends to holes formed directly in the upper
frame 1. Head and foot frames and legs A may be hinged to the mattress,
and retained in place when in use by screws or otherwise, to enable the mattress
to form at the same time bedstead and mattress. The metal of which the
laths and springs are formed may be galvanized or tinned.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
First, the construction of spring mattresses substantially as herein-before
described and represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the accompanying
Drawings.
Second, the construction of spring mattresses substantially as bercin-before
described with reference to Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.S.)