IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OP BEDS AND MATTRESSES
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Ritchie, of Ponsonby Street, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OP BEDS AND MATTRESSES."
Sealed the 16th June 1857, and dated the 27th December 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Ritchie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th December 1856.
I, GEORGE RITCHIE, of Ponsonby Street, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF BEDS AND MATTRESSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of beds
and mattresses. For these purposes, when making a case suitable to be stuffed
with ground cork to form it into a bed or mattress, the two parallel or upper and
under fabrics are connected together at intervals of a few inches apart by up-
right partitions of fabric, of a width about equal to the thickness of the intended
bed or mattress, and intermediate of these upright partitions of fabric tyeing
straps are attached at intervals, such straps being of the same height as the
partitions before mentioned. One of the sides and the two ends of the bed or
mattress are then sewed to the upper and under fabrics, and the ends of the
partitions are also sewed to such side, and then the several compartments
formed between the two parallel or upper and under fabrics are filled with

page_text: ground cork, and the other side is then sewed to the two fabrics and to the
ends of the partitions. By this means of construction a bed or mattress will
be divided into several compartments, separated from each other by upright
partitions, and each compartment will be tied down by straps at intervals, as
above explained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Ritchie in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th June 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
RITCHIE, of Ponsonby Street, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Ritchie, Her special licence that I, the said George Ritchie, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Ritchie, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, 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 MANUFACTURE OF BEDS AND MATTRESSES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Ritchie, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Ritchie, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:―
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of beds
and mattresses. For these purposes, when making a case suitable to be stuffed
with ground cork to form it into a bed or mattress, the two parallel or upper
and under fabrics are connected together at intervals of a few inches apart by
-

page_text: upright partitions of fabric, of a width about equal to the thickness of the
intended bed or mattress, and intermediate of these upright partitions of fabric
tyeing straps are attached at intervals, such straps being of the same height as
the partitions before mentioned. One of the sides and the two ends of the bed
or mattress are then sewed to the upper and under fabrics, and the ends of the
partitions are also sewed to such side, and then the several compartments
formed between the two parallel or upper and under fabrics are filled with
ground cork, and the other side is then sewed to the two fabrics and to the
ends of the partitions. By this means of construction a bed or mattress will
be divided into several compartments, separated from each other by upright
partitions, and each compartment will be tied down by straps at intervals, as
above explained.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a plan, and Figure 2 a longitudinal section, and Figure 3 a
transverse section, of a bed or mattress constructed according to my Invention.
a is the upper fabric, and 6 the under fabric; these two fabrics are connected
together at intervals by upright partitions c, c, according to the distance it is
desired to keep the upper and lower fabrics apart. The bed or mattress is
also tied at intervals, as shewn at d, d, by narrow straps of a length equal to
their
the height of the partitions c, such short narrow straps being sewed
ends to the upper and under fabrics respectively. All round the edges the two
fabrics a and b are kept apart by the strip of fabric e, and the edges fare
bound as usual. The spaces between the upright partitions c, c, are filled
in with ground cork, the spaces are then closed or sewed up, and the binding
completed.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Ritchie, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
GEORGE RITCHIE. (L.S.)
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.