IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BEDSTEADS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE PARTICULARLY APPLICABLE TO THE USE OF INVALIDS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WILLIAM THOMPSON, of Turnstile Alley, Long Acre, in the City of West-
minster, Upholsterer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixteenth day of December, in the third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James William Thompson, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said James William Thomson, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said James William Thompson,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BEDSTEADS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE PARTICULARLY
APPLICABLE TO THE USE OF INVALIDS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso, obliging me, the said James William Thompson, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the Sand
James William Thompson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
These improvements in the construction of bedsteads, particularly applicable
for invalids, consist in certain arrangements of jointed rods, which may be
separately or collectively raised or depressed by means of toothed racks and
pinions or other suitable mechanism, whereby the body of the patient may be
placed or brought into any position that may be required in an easy and
convenient manner, and without any exertion or perceptible motion to the
patient himself.
But in order that my Invention may be more perfectly understood, I have
represented in the accompanying Drawings several views of my improved
bedstead, and the positions the patient would assume upon certain movements
of the apparatus, such as when one part only of the apparatus is put in
motion by the mechanisin, and by means of which certain parts of the jointed
framing are raised, the other part being out of gear, and consequently
remaining motionless. I have also shewn the position the patient would
assume upon actuating the mechanism when all the parts are in
gear.
Fig. 1 is a plan view of the bedstead complete, all the parts of the appa-
ratus being in their ordinary positions and situations; Fig. 2 is a sectional
plan view of the bedstead with the upper jointed framing, with sacking and
palliasse removed in order to shew the working parts and mechanical con-
trivances for raising parts or the whole of the jointed framing, as will be
hereafter described. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, and Fig. 4 a longitudinal
section; Fig. 5 is an end clevation, and Fig. 6 a transverse section taken
through the middle of the bedstead; Fig. 7 is a side elevation, showing the
manner of raising the upper part of the body of the patient; and Fig. 8
shews the two top and bottom joints bent up, so as to form the bed into the
shape of a hammock to prevent the person from falling out; Fig. 9 repre-
sents the jointed rods and framing raised by means of the racks and pinions
some distance above the level of the palliasse, as would be the case when the
bed is required to be made; Fig. 10 is an end view of the bedstead in the
same position as Fig. 9. In all these Figures the same letters of reference
herein-after mentioned refer to corresponding parts. The framework is shewn
at a, a, a, a, and the jointed rods. at b, b, b, b. These rods are held or retained
in their straight form, and prevented from bending (when not intended to do

page_text: manner.
so) by sliding tubes c, c, c, c, c, c. Other jointed rods d, d, d, d, having joints.
corresponding to the rods b, b, b, b, are attached to the latter, and move or
bend with them when required. To these rods d, d, the sacking, thin mat-
tress, or supporting sheet e, e, is attached by ropes or cords in the ordinary
The rods d, d, are connected to the joint rods b, b, by the metal
blocks or connecting pieces f, f. The jointed rods are attached to four upright
racks g, g, g, g, by revolving or universal joints h, h, h, h, shewn detached
in Figures 13 and 14. These racks are situated at the four corners of the
bedstead, and are inclosed by tubes i, i, see Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6. The
racks are moved up and down by means of pinions j, j, j, j, mounted on the
shafts k, k. On the centre of these shafts h, k, are fixed worm wheels or
pinions 1, 1, and these wheels are actuated or caused to revolve by the right
and left handed screws m, m, mounted on the shaft n. This shaft, which
extends from the head to the foot of the bed, is caused to rotate by turning
the winch handle. The pinions jjj, j, are mounted loosely on the shafts
k, k, so that they may be slidden along the said shafts for purposes hereafter
mentioned. A feather or raised part o (see Figures 11 and 12) is formed
on the end of the shaft, and takes into a corresponding groove formed in the
pinion, therefore as the shaft revolves this feather or raised part upon which
the pinion is mounted causes the said pinion to revolve with the shaft, as will
be well understood. The pinions are moved in or out of gear by pulling out or
pushing in the handles p, p, p, p, which are connected to the pinion by short
arins. When it is desired to raise any particular part of the jointed framing it
is necessary to pull out the handle attached to the pinion which actuates that
particular part, in order to bring the pinion into gear with the upright rack;
if, on the contrary, any part is required to remain stationary, the handle is
pushed in, and the pinion will thereby be thrown out of gear, and when the
shaft n is turned, the said pinion will revolve with its shaft, without having
any effect upon the upright rack. This part of the Invention will be better
understood by referring to Figures 11 and 12, which represent detached views
of the rack-and-pinion motion, Fig. 11 representing a front view, with the
pinion out of gear, and, consequently, the rack stationary, Fig. 12 being a
plan view of the same. In the sectional plan view, Fig. 2, the pinion is
represented as being in gear, and ready to raise the rack whenever the
shaft n is put in motion. The situation of the pinion when out of gear is
indicated by the red lines. From the foregoing description it will be evident
that any one part of the jointed framing may be raised, while the other parts
remain stationary, by putting in or out of gear, as may be required, the
pinions which correspond to such parts. For instance, in order to raise the

page_text: upper part of the body of the patient, it will be necessary to observe
the following directions, which will be better understood by referring to
Fig. 7 in the Drawing. The sliding tubes c on the longitudinal or side
jointed rods are to be removed from the joints, as seen in the Figure, but
the sliding tubes belonging to the top and bottom rods are to be slidden over
the joints of these rods, as seen in Fig. 1. The handles at the lower end of
the bedstead, and marked in Fig. 7, are to be pushed in, in the manner
shown in Figures 11 and 12, and in red lines in Fig. 2, so as to throw the
pinions belonging to the racks out of gear, but the handles at the upper end
or head of tho bedstead are to be pulled out in order to put the pinions in
gear with the racks. The hooks or catches q, q, see Figures 2, 3, and 7, are
for the purpose of preventing the pinions from being thrown out of gear by
the handles being accidentally pushed in. Upon motion being communicated
to the shaft n by the winch handle, the right and left-handed screws on the
said shaft will cause the large pinions or worm wheels 7, 1, and the shafts k, k,
with the four small pinions j, j, j, j, to revolve, and as only two out of the
four of these pinions are in gear with the racks, it follows that those two
racks only will be raised, the other two remaining stationary, and as the
jointed rods are left free to bend they will assume the position shewn in the
Figure. Again, if it be required to raise the patient entirely off from
the palliasse, for the purpose of making the bed, all the joints of the rods
must be covered with the sliding tubes c, c, as seen in Figure 1, and all the
pinions must be thrown into gear by pulling out the handles, as in Figure 2;
then, upon causing the under shaft n to revolve, the pinions will gradually
raise all the racks until the jointed framing assumes the position shewn in
Figures 9 and 10.
In the Drawings I have shewn only four different positions in which the
patient may be placed, but there are many others which may be obtained by
raising one or two racks, and allowing the others to remain stationary, and
also by removing the sliding tubes from certain joints, and covering other
joints with the tubes, so as to make them rigid, and prevent them from
bending. As any person from the foregoing description will be able to arrange
the apparatus in such a manner as to cause the body to assume any posture
that may be required, I do not consider it necessary to give any further
description of the method of carrying the Invention into effect. In Figure 1
I have represented the supporting sheet, which is, in fact, a very thin mattrass,
as attached to the rods d, d, by means of ropes or cords, in the same manner
as sacking is attached to an ordinary bedstead; but sometimes I fasten the
supporting sheet or thin mattrass to the rods d, d, by means of straps attached

page_text: to the under part of the said mattrass. Figure 15 is a section of the framing,
shewing the thin mattrass attached in the manner just described. A feather
bed may or may not be used in conjunction with the thin mattrass, as may
be required. The patient may be raised to any altitude from the bed and
mattrass that the toothed racks will admit of; and if it should be considered
necessary, the racks may have an extra length affixed to their ends by joints,
in the manner shown in Figure 16.
In order to avoid confusion in the Drawing, I have shown my improvements
as applied to a common iron bedstead, but with very slight alterations they
may be adapted to any description of bedstead, and in such a manner that no
part of the mechanism is apparent, the bedstead, in fact, having the appearance
of one of the ordinary construction. The apparatus or mechanism may also
at any time be adapted to or detached from a bedstead of the ordinary con-
struction, without the necessity and inconvenience of pulling the said bedstead
all to pieces. In Figures 16 and 17 I have shewn the method I employ for
adapting my improvements to a four-post bedstead. Figure 16 is a side
view or elevation, and Figure 17, a plan view. a is the post of the ordinary
bedstead, and i is the hollow tube containing the toothed rack before described.
The hollow tube is fastened by screws or otherwise to the wooden post by
iron braces r, r. The horizontal shafts k, k, (see former Figures,) are mounted
in bearings fixed to the wooden side rails of the bedstead, and the longitudinal
or endless screw shaft is mounted in similar bearings formed on the under
side of the head and foot rails. In Figure 16 it will be seen that I have
made the upper or revolving joint of the toothed racks considerably longer
than in the other Figures, and I have also added an extra length to the lower
end, which length is attached to the rack by a joint, a portion of the lower
end of the tube being cut away in order to allow the extra joint to come out
into the position shewn in the Figure. The effect of this would be, that when
the apparatus is wound up, in the manner shown in Figure 7, the patient
would be brought much more into a sitting posture.
In conclusion, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend to confine
myself to the precise arrangement of mechanism herein shown, nor to the
number of joints to be made in the jointed rods b, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my improvements; but what I claim as
my Invention is, constructing bedsteads particularly applicable to invalids, in
which the patient may be brought into any position that may be required, by
means of racks and pinions in conjunction with jointed rods, which may, when
necessary, be made stiff and rigid, and prevented from bending, any one, two,

page_text: or more of such pinions being thrown in or out of gear, and any one, two, or
more of such jointed rods being rendered stiff and rigid, or jointed, as may
be required.
In witness whereof, I, the said James William Thompson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.