IMPROVEMENTS IN ELASTIC MATTRESSES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Mangnall, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Commercial Traveller, for the Invention of
fi Town Man"
CUTTA
A
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Mangnall at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st August 1867.
I, JOHN MANGNALL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Commercial Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ELASTIC MATTRESSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the constructing of elastic mattresses in an
improved and simplified manner and at a reduced cost. The feature of
novelty is the using of vulcanised rubber in combination with wooden or other
laths or bearing pieces, the elasticity of the rubber being called into play by
extension and not compression. When the laths are made of wood they are
by preference shaped with their top and bottom or broader surfaces slightly
rounded, and they are suspended at their ends by strips of vulcanised rubber
attached to the bed framing. When metal laths are used they are by
preference stiffened by means of wood or by being rolled of a flanged cross
section.
In one modification of the improved mattresses the part of the framing to
which the straps are attached is a horizontal bar of wood or metal at right
angles to the laths, and the straps consist of separate rubber rings, each

page_text: ring being laid across the frame bar, and turned down at each side thereof
to form two loops below the bar, into which loops the end of a lath is
entered.
In another modification holes are made at regular intervals in the sup-
porting frame bar, and a long strip of vulcanised rubber is threaded through!
the holes alternately upwards and downwards. Loops of the rubber are
thus formed along the bar, and into those on the under. side are entered the
ends of the laths. Or the strip of rubber may be passed over pulleys carried
by the bed frame either in mortices or on the inner side of the frame. Or a
strip or strips of rings of rubber may be fixed at intervals to the bed frame
in any convenient way so as to form loops in which to suspend the ends of
the laths.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Mangnall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MANGNALL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Commercial
Traveller, send greeting.
•
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight. hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Mangnall, Her special licence that I; the said John
Mangnall, my executors, administrators; and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Mangnall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time 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, án Invention for "IMPROVE
MENTS IN ELASTIC MATTRESSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Mangnall, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Mangnall, do hereby declare the
ature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
o be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
n writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, that is
o say:
My said Invention relates to the constructing of elastic mattresses in an
And my said
mproved and simplified manner and at a reduced cost.
Invention consists in using vulcanised rubber in combination with wooden or
other laths or bearing pieces, the elasticity of the rubber being called into
play by extension and not compression. When the laths are made of wood
they are shaped with their top and bottom or broader surfaces slightly
rounded, and they are suspended at their ends by straps of vulcanised
rubber attached to the mattress framing. When metal laths are used they
are by preference stiffened by means of wood or by being rolled of a flanged
cross section.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood, I baye hereunto appended a Sheet
of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing by
way of example a mattress for a single adult as constructed according to one
modification of my improved arrangements. The same reference numerals
are used to mark the same or like parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 is plan of the mattress as unupholstered; Figure 2 is a longitudinal
vertical section, and Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section; Figures 4; 5,
and 6 are full-sized plan and sections, showing the manner of applying the
vulcanised rubber.
The framing of the mattress consists of transverse bottom frame bars 1, 2,
A number of
at the ends, and connected by longitudinal tie pieces 3, 4.
short standards 5 are fixed upon the end bars 1, 2, and on these are fixed
upper transverse frame bars 6, 7, and it is from these latter that the laths 8
constituting the elastic surface of the mattress are suspended. I prefer to
employ the vulcanised rubber in the form of rings or endless bands 9. Each
ring 9 is laid across its frame bar 6 or 7, and is turned down at each side
thereof to form two loops 10, 10, below the bar, and through these two loops
the end of the lath 8 is entered. I use rings or bands 9 of such a size that
5 they require to be slightly stretched for the laths 8 to pass through them, and
they are in a state of slight tension even when the laths 8 are close up against
the under sides, of the frame bars 6, 7. Tapes or straps 11
the laths 8 in the positions shown to
assist each other in bearing the strain put upon them.
are
laced through
connect them and
enable them to
The making of

page_text: the laths 8 with rounded surfaces, as shown in Figure 6, is an important
improvement apart from the mode of supporting the laths, as the absence of
sharp corners permits of the use of a smaller thickness of hair or other
stuffing or upholstering.
There are obviously other ways in which vulcanised rubber may be. com-
bined with the laths so as to obtain substantially the same result as the
modification herein-before described and shown in the accompanying Drawing.
Thus in one other modification holes are made at regular intervals in the
supporting frame bars 6; 7, and long strips of vulcanised rubber are threaded
through the holes alternately upwards and downwards. Loops of the rubber
are thus formed along the under sides of the bars, and the ends of the laths 8.
are entered into them; or the strips of rubber may be passed over pulleys or
studs carried by the bed frame either in mortices or on the inner side of the
frame; or a strip or strips or rings of rubber may be fixed at intervals to the
bed frame in any convenient way so as to form loops in which to suspend the
ends of the laths.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated; but that what I
believe to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the combining of vulcanised.
rubber and wooden or other laths in the construction of elastic mattresses, the
rubber being always in a state of tension, substantially as herein-before
described; and the making of the laths with rounded edges, substantially as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Mangnall, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
JOHN MANGNALL. (L.S.)