Improvements in Metallic Bedsteads, Oots, and Couches.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Sept., 1891
Complete Specification Left. 20th May. 1892-Accented. 25th June: 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Metallic Bedsteads, Oots, and Couches.
I EDWARD JAMES SMITH of the firm of Hoyland and Smith, of Soho Works
Heath Street South Spring Hill Birmingham in the County of Warwick Manu-
facturers do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention has for its object to simplify the means of attaching mattresses to
metallic bedsteads cots and couches and consists of the improvements hereinafter
described in constructing the frames of metallic bedsteads cots and couches and the
adjuncts by which the mattresses are attached to the said frames.
1 will describe my invention as applied to the connection of an elastic metallic
spring mattress to a metallic bedstead.
To each of the corner blocks of the bedstead which blocks are cast on the pillars I
fix a tube preferably of steel or wrought iron the said tube being somewhat more than
an inch in diameter and about seven inches in length. The said tubes are so fixed by
the casting process in the corner blocks that they are parallel with the pillars and
at a short distance therefrom. The tops of the said tubes are about four inches
above the corner blocks and their lower ends project about an inch below the corner
blocks.
I form, preferably of the iron commonly called malleable iron, headed bolts of a
length somewhat greater than the lengths of the tubes described and of such a
diameter that they will pass easily into and fill the said tubes. The lower ends of
these bolts terminate in flat buttons for the purpose hereinafter described. The
heads of the two bolts which are employed at the foot end of the bedstead have hook
like projections which projections are at right angles to the flat buttons at the bottom.
The heads of the two bolts employed at the head end of tho bedstead have similar
hook like projections but in addition they have at or near the top of the head a
horizontal projection or bracket about three inches in length. This projection or
bracket is situated at the side of the head opposite to that at which the hook like
projection is situated.
In addition to the parts described I employ two flat bars or strong strips of iron
for the purpose of connecting the head bolts with their opposed foot bolts. These
bars have near their ends slots in which the flat buttons on the lower ends of the
bolts engage.
The parts are put together and the mattress attached to the bedstead in the
following manner. The head and foot bolts are introduced into their respective
tubes and the flat buttons at their lower ends passed through the slots in the flat.
3 bars described. By turning the said bolts through a quadrant the flat buttons are
hooked to the bars and the hooks at their tops turned outwards. The angle bar
connected with the spring mattress as supplied to commerce is hooked to the bolts
at the foot end of the bedstead. An iron angle bar is hooked to the bolts at the head
end of the bedstead and the head end of the spring mattress is placed on the brackets
on the head end bolts. Headed screws are passed through holes in the angle bar at
the head end of the bedstead and are engaged in screw nuts on the underside of the
head end of the mattress. By screwing home more or less the said screws, the head
end of the mattress is drawn to the head end of the bedstead and the mattress
stretched to the required degree. By the use of the brackets described the weight
5 of the occupied bed is not thrown upon the screws and by the flat bars connecting
the lower ends of each pair of the bolts, the strain, put upon the upper ends of the
said bolts by the tension of the stretched spring mattress is counteracted.
Dated this 5th day of September 1891.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Metallic Bedsteads, Cots, and Couches.
1. EDWARD JAMES SMITH, of the firm of Hoyland and Smith, of Soho Works,
Heath Street South, Spring Hill, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturers, do hereby declare the nature of my invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My invention has for its object to simplify the means of attaching mattresses to
metallic bedsteads, cots and couches and consists of the improvements hereinafter
described in constructing the frames of metallic bedsteads, cots and couches and the
adjuncts by which the mattresses are attached to the said frames.
I will describe my invention as applied to the connection of an elastic metallic
spring mattress to a metallic bedstead.
To each of the corner blocks of the bedstead which blocks are cast on the
pillars, I fix a tube preferably of steel or wrought iron, the said tube being
somewhat more than an inch in diameter and about seven inches in length. The
said tubes are so fixed by the casting process in the corner blocks that they are
parallel with the pillars and at a short distance therefrom. The tops of the said
tubes are about four inches above the corner blocks and their lower ends project
about an inch below the corner block. I form preferably of the iron commonly
called malleable iron, headed bolts of a length somewhat greater than the lengths
of the tubes described and of such a diameter that they will pass easily into and fill
the said tubes. The lower ends of these bolts terminate in flat buttons for the
purpose hereinafter described. The heads of the two bolts which are employed at
the foot end of the bedstead have hook like projections which projections are at
right angles to the flat buttons at the bottom. The heads of the two bolts
employed at the head end of the bedstead have similar hook like projections but
in addition they have at or near the top of the head a nearly horizontal projection
or bracket about six inches in length. This projection or bracket is situated
at the side of the head opposite to that at which the hook like projection
is situated.
In addition to the parts described I employ two flat bars or strong strips of iron
for the purpose of connecting the head bolts with their opposed foot bolts. These
bars have near their ends slots in which the flat buttons on the lower ends of the
bolts engage.
The parts are put together and the mattress attached to the bedstead in the
following manner. The head and foot bolts are introduced into their respective
tubes and the flat buttons at their lower ends passed through the slots in the flat
bars described. By turning the said bolts through a quadrant the flat buttons are
hooked to the bars and the hooks at, their tops turned outwards. The angle bar
connected with the spring mattress as supplied to commerce is hooked to the bolts
at the foot end of the bedstead. An iron angle bar is hooked to the bolts at the
head end of the bedstead and the head end of the spring mattress is placed on the
brackets on the head end bolts. Headed screws are passed through holes in
the angle bar at the head end of the bedstead and are engaged in screw nuts on the
head end of the mattress. By screwing home more or less the said screws, the
head end of the mattress is drawn to the head end of the bedstead and the mattress
stretched to the required degree. By the use of the brackets described the weight
of the occupied bed is not thrown upon the screws and by the flat bars connecting
the lower ends of each pair of the bolts the strain put upon the upper ends of the
said bolts by the tension of the stretched spring mattress is counteracted or
counterbalanced.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings the
manner in which my invention is to be performed.

page_text: Figure 1 represents in perspective a metallic bedstead the frame of which is
constructed and an elastic metallic spring mattress attached to it according to my
invention and
Figure 2 represents the mattress and adjuncts of the said mattress detached from
the bedstead frame.
Figure 3 represents partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section, a
portion of the bedstead frame and spring mattress attached thereto drawn to a
larger scale and
Figure 4 represents a plan of Figure 3 without the mattress.
Figure 5 represents one of the head bolts and a portion of one of the connecting
bars or strips before the head bolt is fastened to it.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of
the drawings.
a, a, a, a, are the corner blocks of the bedstead frame, each corner block having
cast in it a tube of wrought iron or steel parallel with and at a short distance from
the pillar. The tubes in the corner blocks a at the foot end of the bedstead frame
are marked b, b and those at the head end are marked o, c. The said tubes. b, b
and c, e project from the upper and lower faces of the corner blocks to the extent
best seen in Figure 3 of the drawings; d, d are the headed bolts fitted in the foot
tubes b, b and e, e are the bolts fitted in the head tubes c, c. The said bolis. are
made by preference of malleable iron and each bolt has a head by which it is
supported on the top of the tube in which it is fitted. On the head of each bolt
and at the outer side thereof is a hook like projection. The bottom of each bolt
terminates in a flat button g which buttons engage with the ends of the flat bars
or strips h, has hereinafter described, for connecting the head bolts e, e with the
opposed foot bolts d, d. The buttons g, g of the bolts have such a shape that they
can pass through the elliptical slots, in the ends of the connecting flat bars or
strips h, as seen in Figure 5. By then turning the said bolts through a quadrant
the buttons engage on the underside of the bars and lock the bolts to the said
bars, as seen at the left hand end of Figure 3. Each of the head bolts e has
besides the hook like projection f, a nearly horizontal projection or bracket k
projecting inwards or towards the foot end of the bedstead frame. To the headed
bolts d, d at the foot end of the bedstead frame, the angle bar to which one end
of the spring mattress m is secured, is hooked by the engaging of the projections f
on the heads of the bolts with holes in the said angle bar . A similar angle bar n
is hooked to the bolts e, e at the head end of the bedstead for carrying the headed
screws 9, 9 by which the required tension is put on the spring mattress; p is the
head or adjustable end of the spring mattress supported on the brackets k, k on
the head bolts e, e and connected to the head angle bar n by the screws q, q. The
heads of the screws 7, 9 take a bearing against the vertical web of the angle bar n
and the said screws are engaged in screw nuts at p³ on the head end P of the
spring mattress as best seen in Figure 3. By screwing home more or less the said
screws 9,9
the head end of the spring mattress m is drawn to the head end of the
bedstead frame and the mattress stretched to the required degree.
By the use of the brackets k, k the weight of the occupied bed is not thrown
upon the tensioning screws q, q of the mattress and by the flat bars h, h connecting
together the lower ends of the pairs of bolts d, d and e, e the strain put upon the
upper ends of the said bolts by the tension of the stretched spring mattress is
counteracted or counterbalanced as will be understood by an examination of
Figure 3.
will now describe the manner in which the parts for supporting th espring
mattress are put together and the mattress attached to the bedstead.
The head and foot bolts e, e and d, d are first introduced into their respective
tubes b, b and c, c on the bedstead frame and the flat buttons at their lower ends
passed through the slots i, i in the bars hh and by a motion through a quadrant
the said buttons are hooked to or engaged with the said bars h, the engaging of
the bolts with the bars h, h causing the hook like projections ff on their upper

page_text: ends to be turned outwards as represented in the drawing. The angle bar n
carrying the sacking or mattress tensioning screws 4, q is then hooked to the head
bolts e, and the foot angle bar of the mattress similarly hooked to the foot
bolts d, d. The head end p of the mattress being placed on and supported by the
brackets k, k of the head bolts, the tensioning screws 9, 9 are engaged with the
screw boxes of the said head end p of the mattress and the latter tightened as
hereinbefore described.
In order to detach the mattress from the bedstead frame, it is first necessary to
remove the tensioning screws 9, 9 when the mattress may be detached as well as
the angle har n. The connecting bars h h are detached from the bolts d,d and e, e
by turning the said bolts through a quadrant so as to disengage their buttons from
the slots in the bars, and the bolts then lifted from the tubes bb and o, o as
represented in Figure 2.
The parts for supporting and tensioning the mattress are in this way connected
to and disconnected from the bedstead frame with great facility.
I apply my invention to metallic cots and couches substantially in the manner
hereinbefore described and illustrated with respect to a metallic bedstead.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that I claim as
my invention of improvements in the frames of metallic bedsteads cots and couches
and the adjuncts by which elastic metallic spring mattresses are attached to the
said frames:-
First:-Fixing in the corner blocks of the frame of the bedstead, cot or couch
by the casting process, vertical tubes parallel with and at a short distance from
the pillars, the said tubes being open at top and bottom and projecting a short
distance above and below the said corner blocks, and the combination with the said
tubes of headed bolts having adjuncts of the kinds described and illustrated for
connecting the mattress frame to the bedstead, cot or couch and for putting the
required tension on the mattress, the several parts being constructed, combined and
applied substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
Secondly-The combination with the headed bolts referred to in the prior
claim of bars for connecting together the lower ends of the bolts at the head and
foot of the bedstead, cot or couch frame for counteracting or counterbalancing the
tension put upon the upper ends of the said bolts by the stretched mattress, the
headed bolts being connected to the said bars substantially as hereinbefore
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated the Fourteenth day of May 1892.