IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BEDS OR SURFACES TO RECLINE OR LIE ON
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Barnabas Daft, of the Isle of Man, Esquire,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BEDS OR
SURFACES TO RECLINE OR LIE ON."
Sealed the 4th May 1855, and dated the 5th February 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Barnabas Daft at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th February 1855.
I, THOMAS BARNABAS DAFT, of the Isle of Man, Esquire, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BEDS
OE SURFACES TO RECLINE OR LIE ON " to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of combining a series of tubes or hollow cells of
india-rubber or gutta percha, or compounds of these substances, so as to
produce the extent of surface desired. It is preferred to employ those descrip-
tions of india-rubber which are rendered permanently elastic. In making up
a bed or surface according to my Invention, the tubular arrangement is in
some cases vertical and in others horizontal. For this purpose, when using the
tubular cells vertically, the extent of surface desired is obtained by cementing
short elastic flexible tubes side by side together in vertical positions, so that
when in use the walls or sides of the cells will offer the desired elasticity, and

page_text: where one part of the surface is desired to be higher than another part, such
higher parts are obtained by means of longer tubes or cells; and when using
such flexible elastic tubes or cells horizontally, they are cemented together
side by side, and where greater height is desired in any part, then larger
diameters of tubes or hollow cells are used at those parts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Barnabas Daft in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BARNABAS DAFT, of the Isle of Man, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Barnabas Daft, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Barnabas Daft, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Thomas Barnabas Daft, 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, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BEDS OR SURFACES TO RECLINE OR LIE ON,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Barnabas Daft,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Barnabas Daft, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
This Invention consists of combining a series of tubes or hollow cells of
india-rubber or gutta percha, or compounds of these substances, so as to
produce the extent of surface desired. It is preferred to employ those descrip-

page_text: tions of india-rubber which are rendered permanently elastic. In making up
a bed or surface according to my Invention, the tubular arrangement is in
some cases vertical and in others horizontal. For this purpose, when using
the tubular cells vertically, the extent of surface desired is obtained by cement-
ing short elastic flexible tubes side by side together in vertical positions, so
that when in use the walls or sides of the cells will offer the desired elasticity,
and where one part of the surface is desired to be higher than another part,
such higher parts are obtained by means of longer tubes or cells; and when
using such flexible elastic tubes or cells horizontally, they are cemented
together side by side, and where greater height is desired in any part, then
larger diameters of tubes or hollow cells are used at those parts.
It is well known that by combining sulphur, or matters containing sulphur
with caoutchouc, and then subjecting such compound to high temperatures, the
compound is a material of greater elasticity and durability than before, and as
the process is so simple, and well understood by those acquainted with india-
rubber manfacturing, that 1 need not here further set it forth; but I will
describe the way I proceed to make from sheets of india-rubber so prepared, but
previous to applying heat, the article I require. The sheets of the compound
being from th to th of an inch thick, I cut it into strips of a convenient
width to form the depth of my bed, or other article for sitting or reclining
upon; and I work up these strips upon tin pipes, sometimes round, some-
times sexagonal, of suitable lengths, say, from two to four inches; these, being
coated with india-rubber, are placed vertically on a flat metal plate, and forced
into contact with each other, and then submitted to the proper heat to produce
the "change," and the whole will be found to adhere firmly together; the
metal pipes are then removed, leaving a cellular or honey-comb fabric, of an
exceedingly light, elastic, portable, and durable description; eminently suitable
when covered or not with fabrics for a bed, mattress, cushion, or such like
article, for sitting or reclining upon. I would here observe that I prefer to
have the pipes or cylinders about half an inch longer than the depth of the
rubber coatings, which are to form a series of rubber cylinders when united
by the process of "converting or curing," for the convenience of handling
during the process of covering and placing in position, and also to allow of
their easier removal after converting, or the " change" has been obtained_
The bare parts of the tin pipes or cylinders should be at the top, the bottoms
should be even with the coating, so that when placed in order upon a flat
metal plate the whole bottom surface of the fabric will be uniformly level; the
top surface will depend upon the correctness of the workmanship, and par-
ticularly as to the uniformity in width of the strips of the compound of india-

page_text: rubber which are employed to coat the cylinders; any slight irregularity,
however, would not affect the utility of the article, as one even surface may be
I may
depended upon, and that may be the top of the article, when in use.
here remark that I prefer the metal plates, upon which the articles are to be
converted, to be "tinned" or coated with tin, and the cylinders may be made
of the same material, namely, tinned iron, for I find that the sulphurized or
prepared india-rubber is removed after converting with greater ease from a
surface of tin than many other metals. When I require a great number of
articles to be converted at one process, I place a layer of the cylinders on a
tinned plate, and then another plate, and then another layer of cylinders of the
india-rubber compound, and so on, to any convenient height, thus economizing
the room in the converting or heating chamber. When I wish to make a bed
and pillow all in one piece, I place cylinders, coated as before, say, two inches
deep, the cylinders being two and a half inches deep and one in diameter, side
byside, until I arrive at the dimensions required for a bed, less the pillow, say,
five feet by three feet, and then I employ cylinders of a greater depth, according
to the height I require the pillows to be above the bed, say, three inches;
therefore I employ cylinders of five and a half inches deep, and coat them to
within half an inch of the top edges, and place them in rows in contact with
the shorter ones, so as to make the length six feet by three feet, and then,
when converted and the tinned cylinders removed, there will remain (the
stuffing of) a bed and pillow in one piece. It will be evident that if the tin
or tinned cylinders are taken all at five or six inches deep, that by coating
them to various heights the centre of the bed may be made the highest or
lowest, or the entire surface may be equally high, or have a regular slope from
the head to the foot; at the same time, the tin cylinders being all of one length,
the plates may be piled one upon the other, as when all the coatings are of the
same height.
What I have hitherto described is all of an open or pierced character, that
is, the cylinders of india-rubber are open at both ends, but I place a sheet of
prepared india-rubber of fully the size I intend the bed to be upon the metal
plate before placing the coating cylinders thereupon, and thus I cause the
whole of the under side of the fabric to be coated with a sheet of converted
india-rubber as permanently elastic as the cellular fabric, and as durable. In
case of damp ground, and no bedstead nor means of raising the bed from it,
the value of the perfectly impermeable sheet will be evident. Sometimes I
obtain greater rigidity than at others by placing the cylinders as close together
as they can be packed, and at others I lessen this rigidity by placing the
cylinders in lateral order, i. e., the rows running parallel with the sides of the

page_text: bed. If I want to prepare the beds for attachment to bedsteads, I prepare
cylinders of brass, in lieu of tin, and I clean the surfaces of them by an acid,
or by any of the usual processes, and coat them with india-rubber, as if they
were tin; but I place these on the outside edge of the bed all round, so that a
bedstead, having cylinders to correspond with these, would receive them, and
when converted, the brass cylinders will be found to be firmly attached to the
rubber. It will be evident that all the foregoing will apply to beds, cushions,
pillows, seats, sofas, settees, and the like articles.
When I require a surface with the cells running horizontally, I place the
pipes, coated as before, in that direction, and force the india-rubber surfaces
into contact with each other, and proceed as before to cure them; and I
sometimes employ gutta percha in place of india-rubber when I desire to have
the cells running horizontally.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Barnabas Daft, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
THOMAS B. DAFT. (L.S.)