IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE
Year: 1862

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to William Upfill, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Iron Merchant and Manufacturer, and William Asbury, of
the same Place, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left bythe said William Upfill and William
Asbury at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 24th September 1862.
We, WILLIAM UPFILL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Iron
Merchant and Manufacturer, and WILLIAM ASBURY, of the same Place,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVE-
MENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE FOR ORNAMENTING TURES, AND CURTAIN AND CORNICE
POLES," to be as follows:-
Our Invention of improvements in the manufacture of metallic bedsteads
relates, in the first place, to that description of metallic bedstead in which the
side and end bars or rails are connected to the corner pieces by means of
dovetailed joints, which have heretofore been made of cast iron, and conse-
quently have been exceedingly liable to break age at those parts; and when
thus damaged the broken parts: were useless.
-Our first improvement consists in forming the dovetailed ends of the side

page_text: and top and bottom angle-iron rails or bars of wrought iron, instead of casting
the dovetails on the ends of the angle-iron rails as heretofore. A convenient
mode of doing this is to cut a piece out of the ends of the angle iron, and
after bending down the projecting piece and welding it firmly to the side, a
wrought-iron dovetail is rivetted on to the end of the rail. The sockets in the
end or corner pieces are formed partly of wrought and partly of cast iron; this
is effected by cutting or stamping out plates of wrought or sheet iron of
suitable thickness and of the proper shape to form the top and bottom of the
socketted corner pieces. These wrought-iron plates are placed in the mould
and the solid corner pieces are cast on to them,thus forming cast-iron sockets
having a top and bottom strengthening piece of wrought iron. The ordinary
cylindrical or taper tubes to form the corner posts or pillars are secured in the
corner pieces as usual by casting the corners around them.
The second part of the Invention relates to a novel mode of ornamenting
these tubes, posts, or pillars, and consists in covering them externally with
perforated metal cut or punched out with any device. Even for an expensive
and highly ornamental bedstead a handsome appearance may be produced
with a common iron tube, japanned or painted, or covered with perforated
metal. Or wooden posts polished, painted, or covered with ornamental paper
may be ornamented by means of perforated metal. This mode of ornamenting
tubes may be applied to curtain or cornice poles or rods, gas and other
standards, balusters for stairs, and tubes for other purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Upfill and William Asbury in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th March 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
UPFILL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Iron Merchant, and
WILLIAM ASBURY, of the same place, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our
LordOne thousand eight hundred and sixty-two,in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said William Upfill and William Asbury, Her special license, that we, the
Baid William Upfill and William Asbury, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said William Upfill and William Asbury,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF METALLIC BEDSTEADS, PART OF WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLI-
CABLE FOR ORNAMENTING TURES, AND CURTAIN AND CORNICE POLES," upon the
condition (amongs others) that we, the said William Upfill and William
Asbury, by an instrument in writing un ler our hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and a scertain the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months nextand immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Upfill and William Asbury,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
Our Invention of improvements in the manufacture of metallic bedsteads
relates, in the first place, to that description of metallic bedstead in which the
side and end bars or rails are connected to the corner pieces by means of
dovetailed joints which have heretofore been made of cast iron, and conse-
quently have been exceedingly liable to breakageat these parts, and when thus
damaged the broken parts were useless.
"
Our first improvements consist in forming the dovetailed ends of the side-
and topand bottoin angle-iron rails or bars of wrought iron, instead of casting
the dovetails on the ends of the angle-irou rails as heretofore. A convenient
mode of doing this, is to cut a piece out of the ends of the angle irou, and
after bending down the projecting piece and welding it firmly to the side, a
wrought-iron dovetail is rivetted on to the end of the rail. The sockets in the
end or corner pieces are formed partly of wrought and partly of cast iron; this is
effected by cutting or stamping out plates of wrought or sheet iron of suitable
thickness and of the proper shape to form the top and bottom of the socketted
corner pieces. These wrought-iron plates are placed in the mould, and the
solid corner pieces are cast on to them, thus forming cast-iron sockets, having
a top and bottom strengthening piece of wrought-iron. The ordinary cylin-
drical or taper tubes to form the corner posts or pillars are secured in the
corner pieces as usual by casting the corners around them, or the ornamental
pillars may be fitted into sockets cast or made-in the corner pieces, and held
firmly in their places by screw bolts or otherwise.
•

page_text: The second part of the Invention relates to a novel mode of ornamenting
these tubes, posts, or pillars, and consists in covering them externally with
perforated metal cut or punched out with any device. Even for an expensive
and highly ornamental bedstead a handsome appearance may beproduced with
a common iron tube japanned or painted, or covered with perforated metal.
Or wooden posts polished, painted, or covered with ornamental paper may be
ornamented by means of perforated metal. This mode of ornamenting tubes
may be applied to curtain or cornice poles or rods, gas and other standards,
balusters for stairs, and tubes for making cylindrical boxes for various useful
purposes.....
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1. represents a piece of angle iron
prepared for forming, the end or side rails of a metallic bedstead. The-side
web a of the rail is cut away on the lines 1, 2, 3, and the top or flat part 6 of
the rail is bent down at right angles, as indicated by dots in the Figure; after
which the dovetailed piece c is rivetted, screwed, welded, or otherwise secured
on the bent down piece b, as shewn in Fig. 2 and in plan at Fig. 3, which
latter Figure represents the ends of two rails fitted to a corner piece, the dove-
tails of one of the ends being rivetted to the rail, and the dovetail of the other
welded to the rail. Fig. 4 is a side elevation, and Fig. 5 a plan view of
another form of dovetail or fastening c, which is welded on to the end of the
rails and is fitted to the sockets d, as seen best in the plan view, Fig. 5.
Fig. 6 is a sectional view of one of the corner posts, shewing the manner of
constructing this piece partly of cast and partly of wrought iron. To this end
piece of sheet or plate iron e (Figs. 3, 5, and 6) is cut or stamped out of the
requisite shape to form the top of the corner piece. The piece e is placed in
the mould, and the metal tubes f (Fig. 5) to form the corner posts or pillars
having been also properly placed therein, the cast metal e* is poured in and
secures the wrought-iron plate e and the corner pillars f together, as shewn at
Fig. 4; and also in the sectional elevation Fig. 7. The metal tubef is covered
externally by the perforated ornamental tube g, Fig. 7, and seen best in the
elevation Fig. 8. The roughly cast corner piece is covered by a brass or other
ornamental plinth and moulding h, theother ends of the tubes being all similarly
provided with ornamental mouldings h¹, h¹, with finials or sockets for castors
as may be required. These loose parts are firmly secured together by means
of screw bolts and nuts i, i, as shewn in the Drawing. This mode of orna-
menting metal tubes or wooden poles is shewn at Fig. 9, which represents one
end of a curtain pole ornamented in this manner and drawn full size. Fig. 10
is a sectional elevation of a tubular gas pillar ornamented by means of a per-
forated tube, and paper or other lining placed over the inner tube. The.

page_text: ornamental colours which are intended to show through the perforations of the
outer tube are produced either by painting or japanning the inner tube or
wooden pole f by the insertion of a piece of coloured or embossed paper to
cover the same. It will therefore be seen that when this piece of coloured or
embossed paper has become damaged it can be easily removed and replaced
by anew piece. To effect this object it will be requisite to remove the external
or perforated tube g by first removing the finials or other ornamental outer
ends of the tubes, so that the perforated tube may be taken off. It will be
obvious that this mode of ornamenting tubes may be applied to a variety of
useful purposes, and also to the manufacture of cylindrical boxes or cases to
contain various articles. Of course where great strength and resistance is not
required the perforated metal tube itself may be made to answer without an
internal tube, it being only requisite to line the perforated tube with
coloured paper, pasteboard, or other suitable material.
Having now described our Invention of "Improvements in the Manufacture
of Metallic Bedsteads, Part of which Improvements are also applicable for
Ornamenting Tubes, and Curtain and Cornice Poles," and having explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, we claim as the Invention
secured to us by Letters Patent as aforesaid,-
First, the mode herein set forth of constructing the dovetail joints or ends
of the rails, and also the corner pieces of metallic bedsteads.
Second, we claim the mode herein set forth of ornamenting the pillars or
posts of bedsteads, tubes, tubular articles, gas standards, curtain and
cornice poles, and other similar articles.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Upfill and William Asbury,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Seventeenth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.