A NEW OR IMPROVED METALLIC BEDSTEAD
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred John Hobson, of Walsall, in the
County of Stafford, Writing Clerk, for the Invention of "A
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred John
Hobson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 23rd December 1852.
I, ALFRED JOHN HOBSON, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED METALLIC BEDSTEAD" to be as
follows: -
In our improved bedstead the legs are affixed to the head and
foot rails; that is to say, two of the said legs are affixed to the head
and two to the foot rail; the side rails are furnished with ends, which
fit in holes of a corresponding shape in the blocks or corner pieces
fixed on the legs; and the said side and head and foot rails are held
together by the laths, which in part constitute the sacking; that is
to say, the laths, which are parallel to the sides of the bed, are fixed

page_text: at one end, and in any convenient manner to the foot rail; the said
laths are not sufficiently long to fasten at their other ends to the
head rail, but are fastened in any convenient manner to a bar of
metal running parallel with the head rail; and at a short distance
from it, pins or rods, with screwed ends fixed on the head rail in the
direction of the laths, pass through the said bar of metal, to
which the laths are fastened and screwed, nuts being placed upon
the screwed ends of the said pins or rods, and made to advance
thereon by. being turned in the proper direction. The laths are made
to pull the head and foot rails together tightly, and thus to secure
the parts of the bed together, and tighten the sacking at the same
time.
By this method of construction, great facility in putting up and
taking down metallic bedsteads is attained, as well as simplicity and
economy in construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Alfred John Hobson in the Great-Seal
Patent Office on the 22nd June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ALFRED JOHN HOBSON, of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Writing
Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of Decem-
ber, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-two, in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred John
Hobson, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred John Hobson,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred John Hobson, 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

page_text: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED METALLIC
BEDSTEAD," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred John Hobson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the saine 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 Alfred John Hobson, 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
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):
Figure 1, represents in plan a portion of a bedstead constructed
according to my Invention, and Figure 2, represents a vertical
section of the same, the said section, Figure 2, being taken through
the line a, Figure 1; Figure 3, represents a vertical section of the
corner pieces b, Figure 1, the said section being taken through the
line c, Figure 1; Figure 4, represents a section of the said corner
pieces b, Figure 1, the said section, Figure 4, being taken through
the line d, Figure 1; Figure 5, represents the corner piece b, Figure
1, in plan. My Invention consists of a new or improved metallic
bedstead, in which the several parts of the same are put together,
and secured in their places in the following manner; that is to say,
on my improved bedstead the legs are affixed to the head and foot
rails, one of the said legs being connected to each end of the said
head and foot rail, by being screwed on or otherwise connected with
the corner pieces or blocks b, Figure 1, and Figures 3, 4, and 5..
The side rails e, f, are connected with the head rail g, and also with
the foot rail (which, having nothing peculiar in its construction, I
have not represented), by being furnished with ends h, Figure 3,
which fit in holes of a corresponding shape and size in the corner

page_text: 9, as
pieces or blocks b, as shown in the section, Figure 3; and the said
ends h, are held firmly in the holes on the blocks b, and the parts
of the bedstead held together by the laths, which in part constitute
the sacking, that is to say, by the laths which are parallel to the
sides of the bed. The said laths (marked i, in Figure 1) are
fastened in any convenient manner to the foot rail, but are not suf-
ficiently long to reach to the head rail g; k, is a bar of metal, to which
the laths i, are connected in any convenient manner. The said bár k,
is parallel to the head rail g, and situated at a short distance from
it, and is connected therewith in the following manner: 1, 1, arc pins
with screwed ends; the said pins are fixed on the head rail
represented, and their screwed ends pass through holes in the rail k,
with which the laths i, are connected; screwed nuts m, working on
the screwed ends of the rods l, bear against the rail k, and press it
towards the head rail g; the said head rail and the foot rail, to
which the ends of the laths i, are fastened, are thus pulled tightly
together, and the ends of the side rails e, f, held firmly in their
places in the blocks b, b, as well as in the blocks at the foot rail, and
the sacking tightened at the same time. By this method of con-
struction great facility is attained in putting up and taking down
metallic bedsteads, as well as simplicity and economy in construction
effected.
The rail k, is kept parallel to the pins 7, in its motion thereon, by
the guides n, (see Figure 2,) through which the said pins pass. The
head and foot rails are rivetted to the blocks b, at o (Figure 4), or
the junction may be effected by the ordinary dove-tail joint; and
the side rails are rivetted to the end pieces h, at p, see Figure 3.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not limit myself to the precise manner of carrying
my Invention into effect herein described and represented in the
accompaning Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing
from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim, as my Invention,
the construction of a metallic bedstead in which the head, foot, and

page_text: side rails are held together by the force or pressure which effects
the tightening of the sacking.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred John Hobson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
ALFRED JOHN HOBSON. (L.S.)