Improvements in the Cables or Strengthening Stripes of Wire Fabrics and Open Wire-work Surfaces, and in Accessory Connections of them.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Nov., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Aug., 1894-Accepted, 29th Sept., 1894
PROVISIONAL DIECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Cables or Strengthening Stripes of Wire
Fabrics and Open Wire-work Surfaces, and in Accessory
Connections of them.
We, WILLIAM WATERHOUSE, and THOMAS WALLEY BLANTERN, trading as
The Birmingham Mattress Company, of Acock's Green, near the City of
Birmingham, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
--
Our invention relates in the one part to improvements in, and in the fabrication
of, the added or strengthening stripes (technically known as cables) used as the
edgings and in the body parts of wire fabrics and open wire-work surfaces employed
in connection with mattresses, sackings, bed-bottoms,, seatings and other articles
where auxiliary and supplementary strengthening stripes for edgings or bodies are
needed, and in the other part, to accessory connections of them.
In carrying out one form of our invention, we take a woven wire fabric, made
up of a series of intercoiled spirals, and forming an open work mesh, with the
topside distinguished from the underside by the one being formed in manner alike
unto a series of parallel and obliquely directed grating-like mounds at exactly
equal distances apart and separated by furrows, and with the longer directions of
the mounds being at right angles to the bars forming the grating-like structure,
whilst the other side has grooves corresponding to the mounds and with ridges
separated by the said grooves or channels corresponding to the positions of the
furrows.
Now these obliquely directed ridges are thrown up by the contiguous spirals
lying scale-like upon each other.
We will call the side of the fabric in which the mounds are, the topside, and
that having the ruts or valleys corresponding in directions to the directions of the
mounds, the underside.
Now a length of this said fabric is identical in its organization with that of an
ordinary quick-threaded screw which has been slit up in the direction of its length
and then opened out flat. By taking a piece of this fabric of a breadth and
length about equal to the length and diameter of a spiral cable to be produced
and then folding or turning the same up with the underside outwards, until the
opposite edges meet, a quick-pitched spiral cylinder is produced.
The said meeting edges are united by a single wire spiral woven into the said
opposed edges, hence the forming of the complete hollow spiral having deep
channels or valleys winding helically and uniformly around the outer circumference,
and within these channels, distensible and flexible cord-like spirals or coils are
laid, and are kept slightly distended in their valleyed seats by the introduction
into the axis of the skeleton cable of a core made preferably of a single coil of
wire, alike unto the cord-like spirals, although to this we do not limit ourselves,
but we wish it to be understood that the lain-in cord spirals lying within the valleys
are only properly kept in their assigned positions by applying centrifugal tension
by an introduced core.
We have thus produced a cable, strengthening stripe, length or the like having
quick-pitched spirally winding ridges disposed at uniform distances apart, and
with corresponding spiral channels, valleys or grooves coming between them,
within which, laid-in spirals of wire of any metal lie.
In another form of our invention, we turn the underside of the wire fabric
inwards, and with the mounds coming upon the outer circumference of the spiral

page_text: cable to be made, and within these interlocated channels or valleys running upon
the inner walls of the skeleton cable, spiral wires, as aforesaid, are laid-in and lie,
and are kept in their proper relative positions by an introduced and threaded-in
core, which not only expands the cable circumferentially but also forms an external
and flexible support to the cable.
The fabric referred to in the first part of the aforesaid description is made up
of a series of infibulated and intercoiled spirals, each of which, or each succeeding
spirals of which, picks up and embraces five (or other number above one)
preceding spirals, making a fabric dissimilar in contour upon its opposite sides.
Thus, assuming that we start at a succeeding spiral, then the same takes a
parallel direction to, and picks up five of, the preceding spirals, forming a
considerably raised ridge, with the metal of the adjacent spirals lying scale-like
one upon another.
By each spiral picking-up five or other number of adjacent and preceding
spirals, a fabric as previously described is produced.
In constructing a further cable, I take three or other number of elastic and
flexible cord spirals, and plait them together and circumferentially and bodily
enclose them within a larger single or compound formed spiral, or instead of the
plaited core as it were being encompassed, a union spiral for uniting the cable
edge to the body of the mattress may be intercoiled with the plaited spirals.
As a further form, I take three or other desired number of the said flexible
and elastic cord spirals and treat the same as if they were strands, and form hereby
a twisted cable alike in constitution to an ordinary cable or rope, and in order to
hold and properly encompass the said cable, which is both flexible and distensible,
we cover or cage the same in or by a covering or casing coil.
Or instead of employing a covering or casing coil, we employ a coil interwoven
with the strands, which applies to both formns described.
We may if necessary employ in conjunction with these two last named forms, a
central distensible core.
In a further form of cable, we take a series of helixes or coils, and screw them
or intertwine them one with another to form a skeleton rope, which is like unto a
tube whose walls are made up of helixes or coils of wire, screwed and intercoiled
adjacently or contiguously, and within the hollow or up the axis of this said closely
intercoiled skeleton cable, a flexible and distensible cord cable is introduced as
the core.
The cables are attached to the edgings to form the borders of the wire body
fabrics, or the borders to the zig-zag or diamond-shaped open wire-work surfaces,
or to chain or other surfaces to form a bed bottom or other medium, by inter-
weaving wires from cable to edge of wire fabric or other surface.
In a further form of connecting the cable borders or edgings to the body fabric
or mesh as aforesaid, we thread upon the cable, rings or loops, and unite the
fabric of the body of the meshes or edge by weaving the one part to the other by
a helix passed through the boundary edging of the mesh and the threaded rings
respectively.
Or in the case of diamond meshed' surfaces, the rings are infibulated at the
edges of the meshed medium in a direction at right angles to the border to which
the mattress is required to be tied, and then threading or interweaving with the
rings and the border edge respectively, helixes or coils.
When the cables or stripes require to be added to the body fabric or mesh, we
may employ the same means as hereinbefore referred to with respect to borders or
edgings.
Dated this 2nd day of November 1893.
WILLIAM WATERHOUSE,
THOMAS WALLEY BLANTERN,
By Henry Skerrett,
Agent for Applicants.

page_text: Improvements in the Cables or Strengthening Stripes of Wire
Fabrics and Open Wire-work Surfaces, and in Accessory
Connections of them.
We, WILLIAM WATERHOUSE and THOMAS WALLEY BLANTERN, trading as
The Birmingham Mattress Company of Acock's Green, near the City of Birmingham,
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
Our invention relates, in the one part, to improvements in, and in the fabrication
of, the added or strengthening stripes (technically known as cables) used at the
edgings and in the body parts of wire fabrics and open wire-work surfaces employed
in connection with mattresses, sackings, bed-bottoms, seatings and other articles
where auxiliary and supplementary strengthening or stiffening stripes for edgings or
bodies are needed, and in the other part, to accessory connections of them, which
said invention is an improvement upon former Letters Patent granted to us and
bearing date the 21st day of March 1891 No. 5076.
In carrying out one form of our invention, we take a woven wire fabric, made up
of a series of intercoiled spirals, and forming an open work mesh, with the topside
distinguished from the underside by the one being formed in manner alike unto a
series of parallel and obliquely directed grating-like mounds at exactly equal
distances apart, and separated by furrows, and with the longer directions of the
mounds being at right angles to the bars forming the grating-like structure, whilst
the other side has grooves corresponding to the mounds and with ridges, separated
by the said grooves or channels, corresponding to the positions of the furrows.
These obliquely-directed ridges are thrown up by the contiguous spirals lying
scale-like upon each other.
We will call the side of the fabric in which the mounds are, the topside, and that
having the ruts or valleys corresponding in directions to the directions of the
mounds, the underside.
Now a length of this said fabric is identical in its organization with that of an
ordinary quick-threaded screw which has been slit up in the direction of its length
and then opened out flat. By taking a piece of this fabric, of a breadth and length
about equal to the length and diameter of a spiral cable to be produced, and then
folding or turning the same up, with the underside outwards, until the opposite
edges meet, a quick-pitched spiral cylinder is produced.
The said meeting edges are united by a single or compound spiral, woven into
the said opposed edges, hence the forming of the complete hollow spiral, having
deep channels or valleys winding helically and uniformly around the outer circum-
ference, and within these channels, distensible and flexible cord-like spirals or coils
are laid, and are kept slightly distended in their valleyed seats by the introduction
into the axis of the skeleton cable, of a core, made preferably of a single coil of
wire, alike unto the cord-like spirals, although to this we do not limit ourselves, but
we wish it to be understood that the lain-in cord spirals lying within the valleys are
only properly kept in their assigned positions by applying centrifugal tension by an
introduced core.
We have thus produced a cable, strengthening or stiffening stripe, length or the
like, having quick-pitched spirally-winding ridges, disposed at uniform distances
apart, and with corresponding spiral channels, valleys or grooves coming between
them, within which, laid-in spirals of wire of any metal lie.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing represents in elevation a cable or
strengthening or stiffening stripe, constructed according to, or having improvements
in accordance with, the previously described form of our invention.

page_text: Figure 2 represents a transverse vertical section of the same, upon the dotted
lines Figure 1, showing the closely-wound flexible spirals lying within the
grooves disposed between the spiral ridges.
Figure 3 represents an underside view of a strip of wire fabric, laid out flat, and
from which the cable, Figure 1, is made.
Figure 4 represents a section of the said strip upon the dotted lines A,
Figure 3.
In the strip of multiple-wove wire fabric, Figures 3 and 4, a are the mounds
coming upon the topside, and a are the corresponding grooves or channels coming
upon the converse side of the fabric. a² are ridges, dividing the grooves or channels
upon the said underside, a³ are the furrows separating the mounds upon the topside,
whilst at are the grating-like bars of the valleys and mounds, coming between the
ridges and furrows.
Thus a strip of the fabric, Figure 3, is turned up into a hollow cable, and the
boundary edges thereof united, preferably by five picking-up or union spirals,
corresponding to the wove fabric, that is, in the illustration five spirals are inter-
coiled with five adjacent ones, so that a union or locking spiral, composed of five
wires, unites the said edges, and forms a complete hollow spiral.
Closely-wound and flexible cord-like spirals b, to the number of five, are then
laid within the spiral grooved channels or valleys a', of the hollow cable, which
said five spirals are made to wind helically and uniformly around the outer
circumferences, and, at the same time, to lie within the channels.
By now introducing a core spiral c, up the middle or axis of the hollow spiral,
the walls thereof are distended, and the added and laid-in spirals are expanded and
pulled up taut within their valleys.
The fabric is, as aforesaid, made up of a series of infibulated and intercoiled
spirals, each of which, or each succeeding spiral of which, picks up and embraces
five (or other number above one) preceding spirals, making a fabric dissimilar in
contour upon its opposite sides.
Thus, assuming that we start at a succeeding spiral, then the same takes a
parallel direction to, and picks up five of, [the preceding spirals, forming a
considerably raised ridge, with the metal of the adjacent spirals lying scale-like one
upon another.
By each spiral picking-up five or other number of adjacent and preceding spirals,
a fabric of the character represented is made.
We wish it to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to the size of the
internal support or core coil c, as this may be varied and formed of any suitable
material, nor do we limit ourselves to the exact figure or construction of the laid-in
cord-like spirals, or their equivalents b, neither do we confine ourselves to character
of the laid-in spirals, as the same may be open wound instead of close wound, or
the said coils may be made from a series of interwormed spirals, instead of from a
single coiled length of wire.
In another form of our invention, we turn the underside of the wire fabric
inwards, with the mounds coming upon the outer circumference of the spiral cable
to be made, and within these interlocated channels or valleys, running upon the
inner walls of the skeleton cable, spiral wires, as aforesaid, are laid-in and lie, and
are kept in their proper relative positions by an introduced and threaded-in core,
which not only expands the cable circumferentially, but also forms an internal and
flexible support to the same.
Figure 5 represents such a cable as last described, and Figure 6 is a cross section
of the same upon the dotted lines B.
cable, and a¹ are the corre-
are closely-wound or other
which now, when brought
a are the mounds, coming upon the outside of the
sponding grooves or valleys lying on the inside, and
cord-like spirals, running within the interior valleys,
together, form helical sheds. c is a core coil or internal support separating the
said cord-like spirals, and expanding them.
In constructing a further cable, I take three or other number of elastic and

page_text: flexible cord-like spirals, and plait them together, and circumferentially and bodily
enclose them within a larger single or compound formed spiral, or instead of the
plaited core, as it were, being encompassed, a union spiral for uniting the cable
edge to the body of the mattress may be intercoiled with the plaited spirals.
Figure 7 represents such a plaited cable, composed of three elastic and flexible
cord-like spirals b, b, b, encompassed or circumferentially embraced by a large
spiral d. Although the convolutions of the embracing spirals are shown separated
to a considerable distance apart, the same may come closer together, and instead of
a single spiral, the same may be compound, or be composed of two, three or other
number of spirals, wound one within the other.
Figure 8 represents an edging inade from plaited close wound spirals b, and being
united to the body fabric e, by a union spiral d'.
As a further form, I take three or other desired number of the said flexible and
elastic cord-like spirals, and treat the same as if they were strands, and form thereby
a twisted cable, alike in constitution to an ordinary cable or rope, and in order to
hold and properly encompass the said cable, which is both flexible and distensible,
we cover or encompass the same by a caging coil.
Figure 9 represents such a cable or edging as last described, in which b, are the
twisted or strand cord-like spirals, and d the caging coil.
Or instead of employing a covering or casing coil, we employ a coil interwoven
with the strands, which applies to both forms described.
We may, if necessary, employ in conjunction with these two last named forms, a
central distensible, core.
In a further form of cable, we take a series of helixes or coils, and screw them
or intertwine them one with another to form a skeleton rope, which is like unto a
tube whose walls are made up of helixes or coils of wire, screwed and intercoiled
adjacently or contiguously, and within the hollow or up the axis of this said closely
intercoiled skeleton cable, a flexible and distensible cord-like cable is introduced as
the core.
Figure 10 represents such an edging, or strengthening or stiffening stripe, in
which are inside and plaited cord core coils, encompassed by compound
spirals d, whose respective coils or convolutions are wormed or screwed one within
another.
The cables are attached to the edgings to form the borders of the wire body
fabrics, or the borders to the zig-zag or diamond-shaped open wire-work surfaces,
or to chain or other surfaces to form a bed bottom or other medium, by inter-
weaving wires from the cable to the edge of the wire fabric or other surface, such
as represented in Figure 8.
In a further form of connecting the cable borders or edgings to the body fabric
or mesh as aforesaid, we thread upon the cable, rings or loops, and unite the
fabric of the body of the meshes or edge by weaving the one part to the other by
a helix passed through the boundary edging of the mesh and the threaded rings
respectively.
Or in the case of diamond meshed surfaces, the rings are infibulated at the edges
of the meshed medium in a direction at right angles to the border to which the
mattress is required to be tied, and then threading or interweaving with the rings
and the border edge respectively, helixes or coils.
When the cables or stripes require to be added to the body fabric or mesh, we
may employ the same means as hereinbefore referred to with respect to borders or
edgings.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
―
First. A cable or stiffening or strengthening stripe for woven wire fabrics and
open wire-work surfaces for various purposes, having a series of channels or valleys
winding helically around its outer circumference, and with one, or a series of,

page_text: flexible and distensible cord-like spirals, coils or their equivalents lying within
the said helical channels or valleys, substantially as described and set forth in
Figures 1 to 4.
Secondly. A cable or stiffening or strengthening stripe for woven wire fabrics
and open wire-work surfaces for various purposes, having a series of channels or
valleys winding helically around its outer circumference, and with one, or a series
of, flexible and distensible cord-like spirals, coils or their equivalents lying within
the said channels or valleys, and being retained in position and taut, by an intro-
duced axial core coil, substantially as described and set forth in Figures 1 to 4.
Thirdly. A hollow cable or stiffening or strengthening stripe for wire fabrics,
having a series of inside helical channels or sheds, wherein one, or a series of,
flexible and distensible cord-like spirals or equivalents lie, and are preferably kept
taut and in position by an introduced axial core coil, substantially as described and
set forth in Figures 5 and 6.
Fourthly. A cable or strengthening or stiffening stripe, consisting of a series of
plaited or twisted flexible and distensible cord-like spirals, either with or without
an encompassing cage single or compound spiral or spirals substantially as described
and set forth in Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10.
D
WILLIAM WATERHOUSE,
THOMAS WALLEY BLANTERN,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicants.