IMPROVEMENTS IN SOFAS, WARDROBES, OTTOMANS, BEDSTEADS, AND OTHER APPARATUS FOR RECLINING OR SLEEPING ON, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DINING AND BILLIARD TABLES
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDRE
RAMUZ, of Frith Street, Soho, in the County of Middlesex, Cabinet Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-seventh day of September, in the eighth year of Her
reign, did, for IIerself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alexandre Ramuz, Iler especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Alexandre Ramuz, my exors, adiñors, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Alexandre Ramuz, my exors, aditiors, or 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, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SOFAS, WARDROBES,
OTTOMANS, BEDSTEADS, AND OTHER APPARATUS FOR RECLINING OR SLEEPING ON, AND
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF DINING AND BILLIARD TABLES," communicated to me
by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Alexandre Ramuz, shall cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of the Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alexandre Ramuz, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
The Invention relates, first, to improvements in sofas, wardrobes, ottomans,
bedsteads, and other apparatus for reclining or sleeping on; and, secondly,
to improvements in the construction of dining and billiard tables. And in
order that the Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect, I will describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a front view of an ottoman. Figure 2 is a longitudinal
section when open and converted into a bedstead. Figure 3 shews a plan,
with the cover raised or opened. Figure 4 shews a transverse section of the
ottoman, shewing it converted into a bedstead; and Figure 5 shews the manner
of constructing the axes of the head-board and foot-board of the parts con-
stituting the bedstead. a, a, is a quadrangular box or frame, which being
covered at top by the cover b, and the parts stuffed as shewn, makes an
ottoman, the ottoman being stuffed suitable for having its back against a wall,
c, c, being pillows. The cover bis hinged at d, d, to the lower frame a, a.
The head and foot boards c, e, may be varied in their form, according to taste;
they move on axes or necks f. f, fixed, as is clearly shown at Figure 5 on a
full-sized scale. The head-board and foot-boards e, e, may be said to form two
cranked levers, and it is this peculiarity which constitutes the novel feature of
this part of the Invention. The two side plates e, e, of the head-board, and
also of the foot-board, are framed together by the woodwork e', and the side
plates e project beyond their axes, as is shewn at e, e², the projections being
combined together by the bar g, which is turned at right angles at both ends,
and fixed by screws to the cranked parts of the head and foot-boards, as shewn,
and it is this bar which supports the mattrasses when the apparatus is in use
as a bedstead. The lower mattrass h, shewn simply in red outline, is formed
on a quadrangular frame, to which webbing or wire gauze is applied, and the
mattrass is formed thereon, and at the two ends at h¹, h', are affixed boards
where the mattrass rests on the bars g, g. The upper mattrass, or when
desired, a bed i, rests on the lower mattrass, as shewn, and j is a pillow. The
dotted lines in Figure 2 shew the positions of the head-board and foot-board
when the same are closed down within the ottoman; k is a bar fixed across

page_text: the lower part of the frame or box a, a, of the ottoman; on this bar and the
On the back side
bars g the lower inattrass rests when the ottoman is closed.
-plates e of the head and foot boards are hinged the blocks of wood 1, so that
when the side plates e, e, are raised to the highest positions these blocks are
opened so as to rest on the back top rail of the frame a, a, and thus will that
part be supported; and the front side plates e, e, of the head and foot boards are
supported by means of the blocks m, m, which are hinged to recesses on the
interior of the box or frame a, a, and such blocks, when they are brought
outwards, come under the cranked parts of the side plates e, and thus form
; brackets to support them. By these means full support will be given to the
mattrasses, as well as the person or persons thereon. Or other means may be
resorted to for supporting the bead and foot boards when the same are raised,
and by being raised bring up and uphold the mattrasses, &c. therein; and when
it is desired to shut down the foot and head boards the supports l, m, are to be
moved out of the way and that end lowered, then the supports l, m, at the
other end are to be moved out of the way and that end closed, by which the
mattrasses and bedclothes will descend into the box or frame a, a, when the
It will therefore be seen that the
cover of the ottoman may be closed.
apparatus, according to this Invention, requires that there should be a rect-
angular frame a, which may be formed when closed into an ottoman, as above
cexplained. Figure 6 shews a sofa, there being a quadrangular frame a, such
as is herein described, which draws out at back from under the sofa, thus
making a sofa and a bedstead in the space of one piece of furniture. In some
cases I make the quadrangular box or frame a, a, suitable for running under
5 another bedstead, so as to be out of the way when not required for use, in
which case there would not require to be any cover b. This will be understood
by examining Figure 7, and in some cases I cause the quadrangular frame or
: box a to enter the lower part of a wardrobe as a bottom drawer, and apply
the apparatus as above described within such box or frame a, so that when it
0-is drawn out the same may be converted into a bedstead, as will be understood
.by examining Figure 8; in all cases the apparatus constituting the bedstead
-contained in the quadrangular frame is the same. z, in Figures 6, 7, and 8, is
a side flap, which is at both sides of the quadrangular frame, and they turn up
to hide the mattrass when the head and foot boards are raised, y, y, being
5 sliding bolts.
Another part of the Invention consists of improvements in billiard tables,
and consists of so constructing them that they may be raised and lowered, at
one time to be used as a billiard table, and at other times to be used as a dining
table. Figure 9 is a plan of the framing of a billiard and dining table made

page_text: according to this part of the Invention, and Figure 10 shews a longitudina
section thereof. i, i, are the legs thereof, combined together by the frame j, j
and these legs allow of the racks k, k, moving up and down, such racks carry-
ing the framing of the billiard table, as is shewn by the Drawing, the object
being, that as a dining table is too low for a billiard table, that the upper
surface may be made to rise to the proper height for a billiard table. The
racks are raised and lowered by means of the pinions 7, 1, on the axes m, and
these axes receive motion from the axis n by means of the screws o taking
into screw wheels p on the axes m, all which will readily be understood on
examining the Drawing. 7, 7, are supports for the billiard table when raised;
they move on axes and fold into the recesses of the side rails when the billiard
table is lowered. 1, r, are small flaps which are raised when the billiard
table is lowered, and retained up by small slide bolts. The table when lowered
to form a dining table is to be covered over with leaves, such as are usually
employed in producing the upper part of a dining table.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that what
I claim is
First, the mode of constructing sofas, wardrobes, ottomans, bedsteads, and
other apparatus for reclining or sleeping on; and,
Secondly, I claim the mode of constructing dining and billiard tables, as
herein described."
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexandre Ramuz, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.