A SOFA OR MACHINE FOR THE EASE OF INVALIDS AND OTHERS
Year: 1813

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
JAMES, of Hoddesdon, in the County of Hertford, Surgeon, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the First day of November last, for Himself, His heirs and successors,
did give and grant unto me, the said Samuel James, His special licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Samuel James, my exors,
adñiors, and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by. my
and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, the said
Samuel James, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter, during the term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "A SOFA OR MACHINE FOR THE EASE OF INVALIDS AND OTHERS;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Samuel James, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, par-
ticularly 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 His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar monthis next

page_text: and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Samuel James, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by the Plan or Drawing
signed by me, and annexed to these Presents, and the following description
thereof (that is to say) :-
Figure 1. (A) the sofa or machine; (B, B, B,) legs, which must be thirteen
and an half inches high, to give room for the racks to pass underneath; (C)
head of the sofa or machine; (K) rack which elevates the shoulders; (E)
back part, thirty-six inches long;. (F) thigh part, sixteen inches long, which
may be shortened to ten inches, by shifting a sliding bolt from No. 5 to No. 1,
so as to bend it at any of the joints 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 (to fit any length of
thigh); (G) leg part, nineteen inches long; (H) foot of the sofa or machine;
(K) rack placed under the thigh.
Figures 2 and 3. (K, K,) racks. The upper one (for the back) must be the
fourth part of a circle of thirty inches diameter, and the lower one (for the
thigh) a fifth part of a circle of twenty inches diameter; these racks turn on
a spindle on each side of the cross-bar (0, 0).
Figure 4. (L, L, L, L,) the frame or platform of the sofa or machine.
(M, M, M, M,) axles with wheels and cogs, which, with the racks (K, K,)
elevate the back and knees. (0, 0, in Figure 4) is a cross bar framed into
the sides of the sofa or machine.
Figure 5. (P) spindle with the check wheel to keep the parts at any
degree of elevation.
Figure 6. (Q) winch to turn the axles and wheels; the bent part must be
twelve inches.
Figure 7. (D and I) are leavers to raise the ketch out of the check wheel
(N, N, N, N).
Figure 8, platform of the back, thirty-six inches long and twenty-six inches
wide..
Figure 9, thigh part, sixteen inches long and twenty-six inches wide.
Figure 10, leg part, nineteen inches long and twenty-six inches wide.
The same machinery may be made applicable to any bed or couch by
varying the length and size of the spindles and axles, agreeably to the size of
such bed or couch.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fourteen.
.
SAM JAMES. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of April,
in the year of our Lord 1814, the aforesaid Samuel James came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fourteen.