IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE BEDSTEADS & SPRING MAT- TRESSES
Year: 1859

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Cautley Newby and
Jules Adolphe Rainé at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 31st October 1859.
We, THOMAS CAUTLEY NEWBY, of Welbeck Street, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Publisher, & JULES ADOLPHE RAINE, of Wells Street, Gray's Inn Road,
in the County Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PORTABLE BEDSTEADS & SPRING MAT-
TRESSES," to be as follows:-
According to our Invention we construct portable bedsteads having a hinge
joint in the middle of the length of the bedstead, so that the centre part folds
and rises upwards midway between the posts or uprights, which are made of
the height above the bottom or support of the bedding usual in what are termed
French bedsteads.
We form the frame of the bottom of two parts, that is to say, two rectan-
gular frames, the one jointed to the other midway of the length of the bed-
stead, as before mentioned; the joints are carried some little distance below the
frame, so that the joint will support the frame in the manner of a rule joint
when extended; a leg or support may be introduced at this point if desired.
We prefer to form the whole of iron, as being better adapted for collapsing,
and stronger than other material. On the pillars of the tube or rod iron we
fix arms, which project some distance towards the opposite end of the bed-
stead, between two of which arms (one at each side) at each end the bottom
frames are received, being jointed at the extreme ends of such arms; these

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joints are therefore at some little distance from the ends of the bottom frames
suitable stretches connect each pair of end posts together, one of which serves
as a stop for the bedstead frame or bottom when extended. By thus jointing
and mounting the parts of the bedstead when collapsed, the parts of the bottom
or frames beyond the joints supported on the arms before mentioned descend
to the level or nearly so of the feet of the posts, while the middle part and
joint rises up to about the top of the posts, and is thus in a compact form for
portability or stowing. With the bottom frames jointed to arms on the posts,
they will be when collapsed at some little distance from the posts, which space
we utilize by fitting and fixing to the bottom frames a spring mattress, which
will occupy the space mentioned when collapsed; we form the mattress in two
parts, one being on each of the frames, which together constitute the bottom,
laths being stretched thereon as usual, on which we fix the springs of the
mattress.
We bore small holes all round the angle bars of the frames, and sew thereto
the canvas or other material covering and enclosing the springs; they may be
further enclosed below the canvas if desirable; straps or webbing may be also
used to cross over the springs if necessary. We place no springs imme-
diately adjoining the ends next the posts to avoid interference with the col-
lapsing. To stretch out and distend these parts of the mattress we attach
straps or hooks, and so fasten them to stretches between the posts; thus the
mattress is fixed to the bedstead in two parts, and folds or collapses therewith
with facility, without disconnecting or detaching anything beyond the hooks or
straps last herein-before mentioned. In order to fix the bedstead in its dis-
tended position, a movable stop piece is attached to the stretcher, which forms
the stop of the horizontal frame or bottom before mentioned, by turning which
movable stop under the bottom frame, it is rigidly fixed in the extended posi-
tion, and at same time fixing the posts in the upright position required. A
bolt or other fastening may be adopted for this purpose. The collapsable
bedstead may be made either with or without the mattress before described,
and adapted to receive a spring or other loose mattress, as will be readily
understood. A bedstead or mattress so combined and constructed can be
readily extended or collapsed without detaching a single piece, and by simply
moving the stop so as to release or fix it in either of the positions in which
it may be required.