CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON ELASTIC BEDS, CUSHIONS, SEATS, PADS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF THAT KIND
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
PRATT, of New Bond Street, in the Parish of St George, Hanover Square, in
the County of Middlesex, Camp Equipage Maker, 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 Twenty-fifth day of June, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-eight, in the ninth year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Pratt, His especial
licence that I, the said Samuel Pratt, my exors, admors, and assigns, or
such other as I, the said Samuel Pratt, 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, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON ELASTIC BEDS,
CUSHIONS, SEATS, PADS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF THAT KIND;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Samuel Pratt, by
an instrument 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 inrolled in His 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
Samuel Pratt, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in the following description thereof (that is to say) :-
My Invention of improvements on elastic beds, cushions, seats, pads, and
other articles of that kind, consist in a new method of making or manufacturing
elastic beds, cushions, and other such articles constructed with wire springs, by
which I afford a greater degree of elasticity, and avoid the inconvenience which
has been hitherto experienced from the hard edges of wood framing, which I
now dispense with. In constructing those beds, cushions, pillows, or seats for
carriages, settees, couches, chairs, or any other article of domestic use,
requiring an elastic cushion, I first provide a sheet of canvas or sail cloth, or
any other flexible material suited to that purpose, as a basis on which the
springs are to be attached. This cloth I strengthen by placing ribs of whale-
bone and cane, or any other elastic material, round its edges, or round the form
of the intended bed or cushion, and also across it in different directions on both
sides of the canvas or sail cloth, and sew them together at the junctions, and
to the cloth. The breadth and length of the basis sheet must depend upon
the intended dimensions of the bed or cushion, whether for one or two persons
to lie upon, or merely as a seat cushion, or pillow, and the strength of the
springs must be varied accordingly as a greater or less degree of resistance
may be required. This foundation sheet may be made from various materials;
I sometimes use mill-board, but I prefer it to be perfectly flexible, and, there-
fore, in common, employ the sail cloth or canvas and whalebone or cane, as
above described. Stout leather would answer the purpose, or thin slips of
whalebone or cane woven into a lattice work. A variety of other articles will
also apply to this use, therefore I do not confine myself to any peculiar
material, but employ any flexible materials, that may be found most advan-
tageous and convenient of adaptation, to constitute the basis or foundation sheet
upon which the wire springs are to be fixed. Having prepared the stiff
foundation sheet as above described, and spread it out flat, I next take a
number of spiral springs made of iron or steel wire, twisted into circular coils
in the shape of an hour glass, as represented at Fig. 1 in the accompanying
Drawing; or what is still better, springs made of wire bent into angles instead
of circular coils, as exhibited in the Drawing at Fig. 2.
I have adopted a
triangular form, but square or any other angular figure would perhaps answer
nearly as well, provided the coils of the wire are so disposed that being
depressed, the coils will fall one within the other; the foundation sheet being

page_text: spread out flat as above-said, any number of these springs may be placed upon
it at short distances apart; the number of the springs employed in making one
bed or cushion, and also their necessary strength, must depend upon the size
and required elasticity, for which no decided rule can be given, but it may be
readily known by a very little experience). The lower coils of each spring are
to be fastened, by sewing or otherwise, to the foundation sheet and to the
whalebone bracing, and when they are all secured in this way, as shewn in the
horizontal representation, Fig. 3, they are further confined by pack-thread or
other small string tied to the top coils, and extended diagonally from one to
the other, bracing them all together. On the tops of the springs thus secured
to the foundation sheet, and braced together, I extend another sheet of canvas
like the former, strengthened with ribs of whalebone and cane, as described
above, and having sewed it to the upper coils of the springs in the same way
that the lower coils were secured to the foundation sheet, I then raise up the
flaps or overhanging edges of the canvas or sail cloth of the lower sheet, and
sew it all round to the top sheet, and then the flaps of the top sheet to the
edges of the bottom, enclosing the springs on all sides as a box, a longitudinal
section of which is shown at Fig. 4. The internal part of the bed or cushion
having been thus constructed, it is to be padded on the outside with wool, horse-
hair, or other elastic material as stuffed seats are usually made, and upon this
I put the canvas and ticking cloth, leather, silk, or any other material which
is to constitute the external covering of the bed, cushion, pillow, or seat. By
constructing beds, cushions, pillows, &c., in this way, they will present no hard
edges externally, and both sides will be alike equally elastic, they may there-
fore be turned over and used on either side, which is a very desirable quality,
and of great utility, particularly when employed as beds, seats, or couches for
sick persons. In making small cushions and pillows, I sometimes pass one
half of each coiled spring through the foundation sheet, and secure it by sewing
the sheet to the two central coils of wire, in the manner shewn at Fig. 5. The
outer coils of the springs, both above and below, are then tied together in the
way above explained, and a sheet of canvas covered over the whole, which is
sewed to the outer coils of the spring, and when the seams are sewed up to
enclose the whole, the necessary padding of horse-hair or wool is laid on, and the
cushion covered with canvas, ticking, or any other suitable material.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Pratt, have hereunto set my hand
& seal. this 94th day of December 1828.
SAM (L.s.) PRATT.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of Decem-
ber, in the ninth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Fourth,
the said Samuel Pratt came before our said Lord the King in Ilis Chancery,
and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-fourth day of December, One thousand eight hundred
and twenty-eight.