IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ORNAMENTATION OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS AND COTS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Atkins, of the Firm of Robert Walter
Winfield and Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Merchants and Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ORNAMENTATION OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS AND
COTS."
Sealed the 30th July 1875, and dated the 23rd February 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Atkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd February 1875.
I, JAMES ATKINS, of the Firm of Robert Walter Winfield and
Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchants and
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ORNAMENTATION OF METALLIC BED-
STEADS AND COTS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to the head and foot ends of metallic
bedsteads and cots, and the parts of the bedsteads and cots with which the

page_text: head and foot ends are connected; and my said Invention consists of
the improvements herein-after described in constructing the said head and
foot ends and parts with which they are connected, which improvements
In the construction of the said parts facilitate the use of the improve-
ments in the ornamentation of the said parts which constitute part of
my Invention.
I will first describe my improvements in the construction and orna-
mentation of the head and foot ends of metallic bedsteads and cots, and
as the said head and foot ends are constructed and ornamented in the
same way I will for convenience of description describe only one of the
said ends.
I make the said end of a foundation of wood, by preference continuous
or unperforated. The said foundation is covered or partially covered with
cloth, silk, or other fabric or non-metallic material, and inserted and
fixed in or attached to a metallic frame, which frame constitutes the
skeleton end of the bedstead or cot. The covered foundation of the end
is ornamented by the fixing thereon of mouldings, designs, or devices,
made preferably of metal, and by stamping, pressing, piercing, or rolling.
They may however be made when of metal by any other process of
working in metal, such for example as casting, beating up, or wire
weaving.
The covered foundation thus ornamented and fixed in a metallic
frame is connected to the frame of the bedstead or cot in the following
manner :-I make the corner blocks of the bedstead or cot with only
one dovetail instead of two, as usual, and I make on the said corner
blocks two lugs or projections, one on the upper side and the other on
the under side of the corner block, the said lugs extending vertically
above and below the corner block. The metallic framing carrying the
ornamented end is rivetted to these lugs, and the vertical sides of the
said frame replace the pillars in bedsteads of the kinds called half tester
and French bedsteads, and also in cots. The castors are attached either
directly to the bottom of the vertical sides of the frame or to ornamental
pieces attached thereto. The ornamental terminations which usually
surmount the pillars may be fixed on the tops of the vertical sides of the
said frame.
The method of construction described whereby the vertical sides of
the metallic frame replace the ordinary pillars does not apply to bed-
steads of the kind called four-post bedsteads.

page_text: In applying head and foot ends constructed and ornamented according
to my Invention to four-post bedsteads I employ corner blocks and
pillars in the ordinary way, and attach the ends thereto by screwing or
otherwise.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said James Atkins in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ATKINS, of the Firm of Robert Walter Winfield and Company, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchant and Manufacturers,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and-seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said James Atkins, Her special
license that I, the said James Atkins, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Atkins, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND ORNAMENTATION OF METALLIC BED-
STEADS AND COTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Atkins, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 James Atkins, 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 :-

page_text: My Invention has reference to the head and foot ends of metallic
bedsteads and cots, and the parts of the bedsteads and cots with which
the head and foot ends are connected; and my said Invention consists
of the improvements herein-after described in constructing the said head
and foot ends and parts with which they are connected, which improve-
ments in the construction of the said parts facilitate the use of the
improvements in the ornamentation of the said parts which constitute
part of my Invention.
I will first describe my improvements in the construction and orna-
mentation of the head and foot ends of metallic bedsteads and cots, and
as the said head and foots ends are constructed and ornamented in the
same way I will for convenience of description describe only one of the
said ends.
I make the end of a foundation of wood, by preference continuous or
unperforated. The said foundation is covered or partially covered with
cloth, silk, or other fabric or non-metallic material, and inserted and
fixed or attached to a metallic frame, which frame constitutes the
skeleton end of the bedstead or cot. The covered foundation of the end
is ornamented by the fixing thereon of mouldings, designs, or devices
made preferably of metal and by stamping, pressing, piercing, or
rolling. They may however be made when of metal by any other
process of working in metal, such for example as casting, beating up, or
wire weaving.
The covered foundation thus ornamental and fixed in a metallic frame
is connected to the frame of the bedstead or cot in the following
manner: I make the corner blocks of the bedstead or cot with only
one dovetail instead of two, as usual; and I make on the said corner
blocks two lugs or projections, one on the upper side, and the other on
the under side of the corner block, the said lugs extending vertically
above and below the corner block. The metallic frame carrying the
ornamented end is rivetted to these lugs, and the vertical sides of
the said frame replace the pillars in bedsteads of the kind called half-
tester and French bedsteads, and also in cots. The castors are attached
either directly to the bottom of the vertical sides of the frame or to
ornamental pieces attached thereto. The ornamental terminations which
usually surmount the pillars may be fixed on the tops of the vertical
sides of the said frame.

page_text: The method of construction described whereby the vertical sides of
the metallic frame replace the ordinary pillars does not apply to bed-
steads of the kind called four-post bedsteads.
In applying head and foot ends constructed and ornamented according
to my Invention to four-post bedsteads I employ corner blocks and pillars
in the ordinary way, and attach the ends thereto by screwing or
otherwise.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front elevation the end of a half-tester or
French bedstead constructed and ornamented according to my Invention,
and Figure 2 is a plan (partly in horizontal section) of the same.
Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, represent portions of the same drawn double
the scale of Figures 1 and 2.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in Figures 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, and 6.
a is the wooden foundation of the bedstead end made of a continuous
or unperforated wooden panel. The said wooden foundation a is by
preference partly covered with cloth, silk, or other fabric or non-metallic
material, the covered parts of the wooden foundation a being represented
by the cross lines or shaded parts in Figure 1. Upon the partly covered
wooden foundation a, metallic mouldings, beadings, and designs composed
of ornamental pieces of metal wrought in the manner herein-before
described, are arranged as illustrated in the Drawing. The metallic
parts for ornamenting the surface of the foundation a are marked
b, b, and are fixed to the said foundation by screws or otherwise.
Although generally I prefer to use metallic ornamental strips or
pieces, yet ceramic ornaments may be used alone or in combination
with metallic ornamental parts for ornamenting the surface of the wooden
foundation a. For example, the central parts may be made of ceramic
materials, and the marginal parts of the design may be made of metallic
beadings, mouldings, or strips, and filling in ornamental parts. Designs
of various kinds may be arranged on the wooden foundation a by the
use of separate ornamental metallic parts, or by a combination of metallic
and ceramic parts.

page_text: The ornamented end a, b, is fixed to the metallic frame c made of
angle bars by means of screws passing through the holes k³, Figure 3,
the said frame c constituting the skeleton end of the bedstead. The
frame c is finished by the addition of the ornamental corner plates and
parts d, d, and by the terminal ornaments e, e, and the frame of angle !
bars c is covered with brass when more complete ornamental effect is
required.
;
I fix the ornamented end a, b, to the horizontal framing of the
bedstead in the manner best seen in Figure 2, and the separate parts,
Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, Figure 3, representing a back elevation of one
corner of the metallic frame c, Figures 4 and 5 representing in plan and
side elevation (partly in section) one of the corner blocks used with
this part of my Invention, and Figure 6 representing a front elevation
of the said corner block, and exhibits the manner in which the metallic
framc o is connected to the said block. The corner blocks are marked f,
the said blocks being furnished with one dovetail 9 instead of two as
usual. At the back of the corner block f are two vertical lugs or
projections h, i, the lug / being situated on the upper side of the block f,
and the lug i on the under side of the said block (see Figures 5 and 6).
The metallic frame c of the ornamented end is rivetted to the vertical
lugs h, i, by the rivets k, k, in the manner represented in Figures 4
and 6.
In Figure 4 is shown the manner in which the angle bars of the
frame c clip or embrace the lugs, and in Figure 6 is shown the way in
which the rivets k, k, are passed through both the lugs h, i, and through
the angle bars of the frame c. The corners of the angle bars of the
frame c are connected together and strengthened by an inner angle.
piece 7, as seen in the back elevation, Figure 3, the said angle piece
being rivetted in its place in the manner represented. The castors m, m,
of the bedstead end are carried by the blocks n (see Figure 3), screwed
or rivetted to the frame c, the opening p in the said block n receiving
the spindle of the castor. The blocks n are covered by the covering
plates q, seen in Figure 1, and indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3.
By an examination of Figure 1 of the Drawing it will be seen that
the vertical sides of the metallic frame c replace the pillars of the
ordinary half-tester or French bedstead.
In connecting the bedstead end, constructed and ornamented as
described to the horizontal framing, the she dovetails of the blocks f, Fr

page_text: are connected with the he dovetails on the horizontal framing of the
bedstead in a manner similar to that in which ordinary French ends are
connected to their framing..
Figure 7 represents in side elevation and horizontal section another
bedstead end constructed and ornamented according to my Invention.
This end is made and ornamented in the way described with respect
to the end, Figures 1 and 2, excepting that ornamental pillars or
pilasters r,r, are fixed in front of or attached to the vertical sides of the
metallic frame c to which the ornamented foundation a, b, is attached.
The parts in Figure 7 are marked with the same letters of reference as
corresponding parts in Figures 1 and 2.
-
Figure 8 represents in front elevation, and Figure 9 in horizontal
section, the end of a four-post bedstead constructed and ornamented
according to my Invention. In this arrangement the ornamented
wooden foundation a, b, and the metallic frame c, are used in com-
bination with the ordinary pillars 8, 8, and end framing t, the corner
blocks at u of the pillars 8, 8, being of the ordinary kind.. The inner
metal frame c carrying the ornamented end a, b, is connected to the
outer frame t attached to the pillars 8, 8, by screwing or rivetting at the
parts c³, c²; or an ornamental boss or enlargement may be made at
the angles of the outer frame t, to which the angles of the inner frame o
carrying the ornamented end may be connected; but I do not limit
myself to any particular arrangement for connecting the ornamented end
to the ordinary pillars of bedsteads and cots.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion, but I claim as my Invention the improvementsin the construction
and ornamentation of metallic bedsteads and cots, herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, con-
structing the head and foot ends of the said bedsteads and cots of a
metallic skeleton frame, the vertical sides of which frame replace the.
pillars in half-tester and French bedsteads, and also in cots, and inserting
in or fixing or attaching to the said metallic frame a foundation of
wood, covered or not with fabric or other non-metallic material, and
ornamented on its surface by fixing thereon metallic or ceramic
ornamental mouldings, designs, or devices, or combinations thereof, the

page_text: said frame carrying the ornamented end being constructed and connected
to the horizontal framing of the bedstead or cot, substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Also
the application of the said ornamented head and foot ends to four-post
bedsteads and to cots, substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated in Figures 8 and 9.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Atkins, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
WILLIAM HENRY TAYLOR,
Hastings.
JAMES ATKINS. (L.S.)
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