AN IMPROVED BUOYANT BED OR MATTRESS
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DICKINSON of Bridge Street; Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Tin-plate
Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by: His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of. Great Britain; bearing-date at
Westminster, the Thirteenth day of August, in the eighth year of His reign,
did for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Dickinson, His especial licence that I, the said William Dickinson,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others; as I, the said William
Dickinson; my exors, admors, 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, and also, in
all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations' abroad; my Invention of
"AN IMPROVED BUOYANT BED OR MATTRESS;" in which said.Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Dickinson, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said 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
William Dickinson, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to
consist in a combination of cork, with other things, for the stuffing in mattresses
or beds, whereby they are rendered buoyant and elastic. And in further com-
pliance with the said proviso I, the said William Dickinson, do hereby describe
the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed, by the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
In order to make a seaman's bed or mattress for one person, for which
my said Invention is more particularly applicable, I take about seven
pounds' weight of horsehair, and spread one half of that quantity equally over
a piece of ticking or covering of the size which it is intended the bed should
be. I then take about five pounds' weight of cork cut into thin slices or pieces
of any convenient shape or size, and about one eighth of an inch or less thick,
and lay them on the horsehair so as to cover the whole surface. I then lay the
remaining half of the horsehair equally over the slices or pieces of cork, and
having put over it a second piece of ticking or covering I sew the whole
together by tufting it through in the ordinary manner, when the bed or
mattress may be completed at the sides and ends in the way usually adopted in
making such beds or mattresses. Beds and mattresses for all other purposes
are made in the same manner, but the quantity of cork must be increased in
the same proportion if the beds for mattresses are made of larger dimensions.
Now whereas the beds or mattresses made in the manner herein-before
described may be of any required size or shape; and whereas wool, flock, or
any of the substances usually used in the manufacture of beds or mattresses
may be substituted for the horsehair herein-before described; and whereas
the slices or pieces of cork need not of necessity be limited to the thickness
herein-before mentioned; but whereas I claim as my said Invention the
introduction of a layer of slices or pieces of cork in and as forming part of the
stuffing, be it of what material it may, which is used to form a bed or mattress,
making the combination before described, whereby the said bed or mattress is
made buoyant and elastic, and may, in the case of seamen's beds or mattresses,
be adjusted by straps and buckles to fasten round the body of any person;
and such my said Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of His said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His said
Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in any of His
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this
to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my
said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve or

page_text: disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dickinson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.