An Improved Process of Manufacturing Feather Mattresses.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Dec., 1890
Complete Specification Left. 21st Sept., 1891-Accepted, 31st Oct., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process of Manufacturing Feather Mattresses.
I, JOHN PITT BAYLY of 18 Fulham Place, Paddington, in the County of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a com-
munication to me from abroad by Andrew Cunningham, of Dixon, Illinois, U.S.A.
Inventor,) to be as follows:-
:-
This invention relates to an improved process of manufacturing feather mattresses,
which process is performed as follows:-
The mattress, after being filled with renovated, or cleaned feathers, and then
closed, is first placed upon the smooth solid surface of sufficient area to support
every part thereof. The feathers, then evenly placed, are held against the edge of
the mattress by pressing them downwards in a straight line, running the extent of
the edge, and a line of tufts are formed near the margin of the tick, first, across one
end of the mattress: second, across the opposite end thereof; third, along one side
thereof; fourth, along the opposite side thereof; and then in like manner the
interior of the mattress is filled in with a sufficient number of lines of tufts to
permanently hold the feathers against lateral displacement, and also against
bunching.
Deted his 20th day of Donoho 1800
J. P. BAYLY,
Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process of Manufacturing Feather Mattresses.
1, JOHN PITT BAYLY, of 18 Fulham Place, Paddington, in the County of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communi-
cation to me from abroad by Andrew Cunningham, of Dixon, Illinois, U.S.A.
Inventor,) and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to improvements in the mode of making feather mattresses
of different sizes, in which the feathers are evenly distributed, fixed, and retained
in proper position, all as will be hereinafter described, as well as, pointed out in the
claim.
From the peculiarly-volatile character and want of cohesion of feathers it las
been impracticable heretofore to make a tufted mattress thereof, and therefore the
use of feathers has been in the ordinary aggregated form, the objection to which is
the tendency of the feathers to work out from under the body and toward the
margins of the tick containing the same.
By my process I have been able to produce a mattress of feathers in which the
latter will be evenly distributed and be permanently held in uniform in depth and
fixed against lateral displacement as effectively as is the case with filling of a longer
fibre and less volatility.
I first thoroughly renovate the feathers and make them as clean and loose as
possible, and divest them of all animal substance, and kill all insects and the eggs
and larvæ thereof. 1 then place them in any desired quantity, usually twenty
pounds, in a suitable tick and effectually close the latter. I use the ordinary
mattress-tick-that is, one having boxed or vertical sides and ends. After the tick
is closed 1 place the same upon a level platform and by the use of a straight edge
having a length greater than the width of the tick distribute the feathers by imposed
pressure thereon into a uniform stratum the entire area of the tick. I then place a
D
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page_text: suitable weight, preferably a heavy board as long as the tick, across one end of the
latter about ten inches from the margin of the tick. I then form a series of tufts
outside the outer edge of said board about four or five inches from the margin of
the tick. When this end of the mattress is properly tufted, I pursue the same
process with the opposite end of the mattress. The two ends being now secured, I
form a like series of tufts in the same manner, successively, in and near the side
edges of the mattress. There is then established a cordon or series of tufts around
the mattress a short interval from the margin thereof. This serves to hold all of
the feathers between said line of tufts and the edge of the mattress permanently in
position, and also prevents the feathers in the central portion of the mattress from
working or being worked to the edge thereof. Shoving my weight or board
inwardly from one edge of the mattress a sufficient distance from the established
row of tufts for the placing of a second row, I fill up the centre of the mattress with
a sufficient number of tufts in the same manner as heretofore described for the
outer series thereof, being careful the while not to disturb the original uniformity
of the depth of the contained feathers. Mattresses can be thus constructed of the
shortest or finest feathers of geese, ducks, turkeys, chickens, or other birds
or fowls.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
The hereinbefore-described process of making mattresses of feathers, in which
the mattresses after being filled with renovated or cleaned feathers and then closed
is first placed upon a smooth solid surface-of-sufficient_area_to_support every part
thereof, the feathers then evenly-distributed are held against an edge of the
mattress by compressing them downward in a straight line running the extent of
the edge, and a line of tufts formed near the margin of the tick, first across one end
of the mattress; second, across the opposite end thereof, and, fourth, along the
opposite side thereof, and then in like manner the interior of the mattress filled in
with a sufficient number of lines of tufts-to-permanently_hold the feathers against
lateral displacement and also against bunching, substantially as hereinbefore
-described.
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Dated this 20th day of September 1891