Improvements in Bedstead Bottoms, Woven Wire Fabrics and Mattresses.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd July, 1898-Accepted, 25th Mar., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bedstead Bottoms, Woven Wire Fabrics and
Mattresses.
I, THOMAS EDMUND WALE, of Dunstan House, Elmdon, near Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion 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 improvements in bedstead bottoms, woven
wire fabrics and mattresses by which I am enabled to transmit the tensile strain
of elastic wire fabric along the centre of the tubular metal side rails instead of
above them as heretofore also to increase the strength of the fabric without adding
to its bulk or weight and finally to tighten up and support whatever kind of wire
fabric may be employed in the construction of bedstead bottoms and wire mat-
tresses.
In order that my invention may be clearly understood and more easily carried
into practical effect I have appended hereto one sheet of drawings on which I have
fully illustrated my improvements.
Figure 1 is a view of a bedstead bottom or mattress showing my improved
means of connecting together the end and side rails.
Figure 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of Figure 1.
Figures 3 to 14 are enlarged sections shewing my improved form of wire for
the construction of woven wire fabrics, mattresses and bedstead bottoms.
Figures 15 and 16 are views of my improved nuts employed in distending
woven wire fabrics and also of the rods I inserted in the lugs of said nuts
employed in connecting them to such fabrics.
Figure 17 is a cross section of Figure 16 through the line K showing the rod I
threaded through the lug and through the interstices of the wire fabric h.
Figure 18 is a plan of the underside of a mattress or bedstead bottom showing
the application of the tension bolts A and A1 to the fabric by means of the
improved nuts D and D1 and connecting rods E and E 1.
Figure 19 is a plan of the under side of a mattress showing the supporting
coils FF and the connecting oval coils GG.
In carrying my invention into effect I first rivet a fabric of ordinary type or
preferably of one of my improved sections of wire between two pairs of metalic
end plates in the usual manner. I then insert the outer ends of each pair into
the horizontal slots provided for them in the extremities of the metalic side tubes
and securely rivet them in that position as shewn in Figures 1 and 2. Instead of
employing wire of a spherical cross section woven into double treble or quad-
ruple sets of helices I employ a single wire having its upper or both its upper
and lower surfaces drawn into a section resembling that of such compound helices
as in Figures 3 to 14. By this means I am enables to simplify the process of
weaving and to increase the strength of the fabric without adding to its bulk or
weight.
In order to tighten up and thereby support the central portions of such cheap

page_text: mattresses and bedstead bottoms as are not provided with the usual means of
adjustment I employ one or more tension bolts A or A1 (Figure 18) passing
through the end rail B or side rail C and engaging with the screwed nuts 1)
or Di the latter being connected to the fabric by the rods E which are passed
transversely (or when tightening from the side rail longitudinally) through the
fabric and through the holes in the lugs of the nuts 1 or 1) 1 such lugs being first
inserted in the fabric as shewn in Figure 17. I may employ this method of tight-
ening a woven wire fabric in either a transverse or longitudinal direction. In
bedstead bottoms and woven wire mattresses where it is not desirable to apply
such tension bolts I support the fabric by two or more compound helices F, F, as
shewn in Figure 19 having their ends attached to the end rails B, B. I then
connect them together down the centre of the mattress by enclosing them in a
flattened oval coil or coils GG. By drawing these coils away from one another
I am enabled to increase the tension upon the enclosed supporting coils. I may
employ any desired number of supporting coils in this manner and may also con-
struct them of a stronger wire or of a different pitch and diameter to the body
of the fabric.
!.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:
CLAIMS.
First In bedstead bottoms and mattresses having metalic end plates and
tubular side rails the improved connecting joint consisting of the slot in the side
rail into which the end rail is inserted and made secure substantally as herein set
forth and shewn in Figures 1 and 2.
:.Second: In bedstead bottoms woven wire fabrics and mattresses the improved
sections of wire resembling compound helices substantially as herein set forth and
shewn in Figures to 14.
Third: In bedstead bottoms and woven wire fabrics and mattresses the nuts ])
and 11 and connecting rods E and El in combination with the bolts A and A 1
substantially as herein set forth and shewn in Figures 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19.
Fourth In bedstead bottoms and wire mattresses the oval coil or coils GG
enclosing and adjusting the supporting coils F, F, substantially as herein set forth
and shewn in Figure 19.
Dated this 21st day of July 1808