Articles adapted to Support the Human Body.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Oct., 1886.
Complete Left, 6th July, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 9th Aug., 1887.
RESERV
Articles adapted to Support the Human Body.
We ISAAO CHORLTON of Blackfriars Street Manchester in the County of Lancaster,
Spring Mattress Manufacturer and GEORGE LAMB SCOTT also of Manchester aforesaid,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the bottoms of bedsteads, ships berths, invalid and other
couches, chairs and other similar articles and to the yielding surfaces of so termed
spring mattresses, that is to say to such parts of the said articles as are designed to
support mattresses, bedding, cushions or similar appliances or to directly support the
human body. The object of our invention is to obtain a simple and inexpensive surface
which will yield in a suitable manner to the pressure of the body and will be free from
some of the objectionable qualities of the reticulated wires and chains or of the woven
wire which is used to a great extent for the indicated purposes. For the purposes of
our invention we use ribands or tapes made of steel, capable of being hardened and
tempered or of steel or brass or other metal or alloy which in the operation of rolling
the ribands or tapes acquires a suitable degree of resiliency. Taking for example the
case of an iron bedstead we apply our improved bottom in place of the ordinary hoop
iron laths. We connect ribands-say for example of steel-with the head and foot
rails of the bedstead by means of spiral springs and we cross these ribands by means
of other ribands or of tapes which may be of the same width as the longitudinal
ribands or be narrower. The two sets of ribands are rivetted clamped or fastened
together at their intersections or at some of them so as to form a reticulated surface
which has much more resiliency than the ordinary iron lathed bottom. By varying
the strengths of the ribands and of the springs any suitable amount of yielding may
be obtained so that if desired the surface may yield to the body in a similar manner
to a hammock there being no necessity for the application of a mattress to a bedstead
having a bottom constructed in accordance with our invention. When applied to the
frames of other articles such as mattresses, couches, chairs, garden seats, railway
carriage seats or other articles of the nature hereinbefore indicated, the ribands in one

page_text: set are connected with the frame by means of springs, the ribands in the other set not
being so connected or if considered to be advisable for some purposes the ribands in
both sets may be so connected. For some purposes and when a superior result is required
we should use ribands or tapes which have been hardened and tempered for both sets
or only for one set as for example for the shorter cross tapes. In some cases we
divide the width of the surface into two or more sections by using shorter cross tapes
which do not extend entirely across the whole of the longitudinal ribands or tapes.
In the cases of beds or mattresses adapted for more than one sleeper this indicated
construction promotes isolation of the sleepers.
Dated this 5th day of October 1886.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.

page_text: improvements in Deusteaus, mattresses, ships Dertus, and other
Articles adapted to Support the Human Body.
We ISAAC CHORLTON of Blackfriars Street Manchester in the County of Lancaster
Spring Mattress Manufacturer and GEORGE LAMB SCOTT also of Manchester aforesaid
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying drawings
Our Invention relates to the bottoms of bedsteads, ships berths, invalid and other
couches, chairs and other similar articles and to the yielding surfaces of so termed
spring mattresses, that is to say to such parts of the said articles as are designed
to support mattresses, bedding, cushions or similar appliances or to directly support
the human body. The object of our invention is to obtain a simple and inexpensive
surface which will yield in a suitable manner to the pressure of the body and will be
free from some of the objectionable qualities of the reticulated wires and chains or of
the woven wire which is used to a great extent for the indicated purposes. For the
purposes of our invention we use ribands or tapes made of steel, capable of being
hardened and tempered or of steel or brass or other metal or alloy which in the
operation of rolling the ribands or tapes acquires a suitable degree of resiliency.
Taking for example the case of an iron bedstead we apply our improved bottom in
place of the ordinary hoop iron laths. We connect ribands say for example of steel
with the head and foot rails of the bedstead by means of spiral springs and we cross
these ribands by means of other ribands or of tapes which may be of the same width as
the longitudinal ribands or be narrower. The two sets of ribands are riveted clamped
or fastened together at their intersections or at some of them so as to form a reticulated
surface which has much more resiliency than the ordinary iron lathed bottom.
The drawings accompanying this Specification are illustrative of the manner in
which we carry our invention into effect, Fig. 1 being a Side View and Fig. 2 a Plan
of a mattress of the improved formation. In the said Figs. a a are the two end cross
rails of the mattress frame bb are the side rails and c c are rolled steel ribands which
are connected together and to the end rails to form the complete mattress. The
drawings also illustrate the application of our invention to an ordinary bedstead it
being only necessary to suppose that the parts a a are the head and foot cross rails of
a bedstead. It will be seen that the longitudinal ribands c are crossed at intervals by
shorter transverse ribands c¹ and that the two sets of ribands are riveted together at the
points of intersection. The ends of the ribands c are connected to the end rails a a by
means of spiral steel springs dd. In the example the ribands are divided into two
sets by reason of the cross ribands not extending in an unbroken line across the
mattress or bed bottom. This construction is well adapted for use in the cases wherein
the bed is required for two sleepers but of course the bed bottom will not be so
divided in all cases. Figs. 3 and 4 represents a narrower or single bed having the

page_text: ribands c¹ extending in an unbroken line across the bed bottom. In this example the
springs d are dispensed with. By varying the strengths of the ribands and of
the springs any suitable amount of yielding may be obtained so that if desired the
surface may yield to the body in a similar manner to a hammock there being no
necessity for the application of a separate mattress to a bedstead having a bottom
constructed in accordance with our invention. When applied to the frames of other
articles such as couches, chairs, garden seats, railway carriage seats or other articles
of the nature hereinbefore indicated the ribands in one set are connected with the
frame by means of springs, the ribands in the other set not being so connected or if
considered to be advisable for some purposes the ribands in both sets may be so
connected. For some purposes and when a superior result is required we should use
ribands or tapes which have been hardened and tempered for both sets or only for one
set as for example for the shorter cross' tapes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we claim is :-
(1) The yielding reticulated arrangement of metal ribands of the nature and
construction and for the purposes substantially as set forth and indicated hereinbefore
and by the accompanying drawings.
(2) The mattress or bed bottom composed of rolled steel longitudinal and cross ribands
riveted or connected together at the points of intersection substantially as set forth
and indicated.
(3) The reticulated surface for the sustainment of the human body composed of
rolled spring steel ribands connected together substantially as set forth and indicated.
Dated this 5th day of July 1887.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.