AN IMPROVED BED OR COUCH FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF INFIRM, SICK, OR WOUNDED PERSONS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED BED OR COUCH FOR THE TRANSPORTATION
OF INFIRM, SICK, OR WOUNDED PERSONS-A communication from abroad
by Joseph Denéef and Felix Wilkin, both of Liège, Belgium.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th March 1875.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED BED OR COUCH FOR THE
TRANSPORTATION OF INFIRM, SICK, OR WOUNDED PERSONS," a communication, to
be as follows :-
:-
The nature of this Invention consists in the construction of a bed or
O couch which permits any one, even a child, to place thereon aged, infirm,
sick, or wounded persons without the least exertion or movement on

page_text: their part, and without shaking or otherwise distressing them, and to lay
them on the back or on one side at will so gently that the patient will
submit to such movements without fear; morcover, this Invention will
permit the person occupying the bed or couch to make these movements
without any assistance whatever.
The said Invention is equally applicable for use on sea or onl
land, and may be readily adapted for ships, carriages, and wagons, and
to the beds of railway sleeping carriages.
It is equally applicable to arm chairs and other chairs, and may be
advantageously applied to the construction of small couches to be used
as substitutes for the ordinary cradles, which are liable to shakings and
concussions very injurious to children.
This
This bed or couch is composed of a fixed frame and of a movable part,
which is the bed. The rotating motion of this couch is made around an
axle which moves itself on cushions adapted to the fixed frame. A 1
handle commanding the movable couch in its rotatory motion is fixed at
the right or left hand of this, or at the licad or foot of the same.
handle is removable on the axle of an endless screw, which communicates
the motion to a shaft bearing at its extremity a steadied cog wheel fixed
to the bottom of the fixed frame. This wheel by its motion carries away :
the movable couch to which it is fixed into the axletree. The removal
of the handle will cause the immobility of the couch like the common
beds.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 30
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM

page_text: ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
licence that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Robert
Lake, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any timo
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
" AN
IMPROVED BED OR COUCH FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF INFIRM, SICK, OR WOUNDED
PERSONS," a communication to me from abroad by Joseph Denéef and
Felix Wilken, both of Liège, Belgium, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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 William Robert Lake, 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 Drawing forming a part of this Specification :-
The nature of this Invention consists in the peculiar construction as
herein-after described of a bed or couch which permits any one, even a
child, to move thereon aged, infirm, sick, or wounded persons without
the least exertion or movement on their part, and without shaking or
otherwise distressing them, and to lay them on the back or on one side
at will so gently that the patient will submit to such movements without
fcar; moreover, this Invention will permit the person occupying the
bed or couch to make these movements. without any assistance
whatever.

page_text: Figure 1 is a side elevation of the said improved bed or couch; ;
Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the same.
Figures 3, 4, and 5 are transverse sections shewing various positions
in which the occupant of the bed may adjust himself.
C,
A. is the movable part rotating alternately around the axes B,
Figures 1 and 2; B and C are axles of the movable part turning in
their bearings on the fixed frame D; E is the handle which controls the
movable part A; F is the worm screw operating the driving shaft G,
Figure 2, through the medium of the wheel H. This wheel H, as
shown in Figures 2 and 3, is supported on the shaft G, and gears with
the toothed segment I attached to the bottom of the fixed frame D. The a

page_text: wheel H being moved adjusts the movable part A to which this wheel is
fixed on the pivots of its shaft at J and K, Figure 2.
The endless screw with its transmission ensures the following results,
namely: First, casy transmission of motion; second, invariable stopping
of the bed at any degree of inclination or amplitude desired. The screw
serves at the same time for the transmission of motion and as a brake.
The handle E is removable on the axlo of the worm screw. - By the
removal of this handlo the bed is rendered motionless. like other common
beds.
.
:
L; L', are free spaces between the bottom of the fixed frame and the
movable part of the bed. The first space L contains and conceals the
organs of motion. The second space L' contains and conceals
the balance-weight, completing the exact balance of the movable
apparatus; M. is an angle block fixed under the movable 'case, and.
limiting its inclination by its contact with the parts N, O.
O, P, N, Q, Figure 3, are sleepers of the fixed frame showing in the
interior the cylindrical outline of the movable apparatus throughout its
whole length.
In witness whereof, I, tho said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Second day of September, in
. the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
fivc.
Witness,
JA³. EDWARDS,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
Wª. ROB³. LAKE. (L.S.)