IMPROVEMENTS In the Manufacture of DoUBLE-BEDDED Sofas OR OTHER SEATS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Schouberszky, of Paris, Boulevard de
Strasbourg, No. 23, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
In the Manufacture of DoUBLE-BEDDED Sofas OR OTHER SEATS.”
In the Manufacture of Double-BEDDED SofaS OR OTHER SEATS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Schouberszky
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th July 1875.
I, CHARLES SCHOUBERSZKY, of Paris, Boulevard de Strasbourg,
No. 23, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DOUBLE-BEDDED SOFAS OR OTHER
SEATS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved construction of sofas or seats
that are capable of being converted into beds, and that are particularly
applicable for railway carriages, ships' cabins, or other confined
places.

page_text: My improvements consist mainly in arrangements whereby the scat
of the sofa can be moved outwards, and also, if desired, lowered, so as
to afford greater width for the bed, and also to afford headroom between
the seat and an upper bed, which is formed by raising up the back of
the sofa, as will be presently described.
For the above purpose the seat is connected to the framing of the
sofa at front and at back by means of bell-crank levers that turn in
bearings on the framing, and that are connected by one arm to the scat,
while the front and back levers on either side are connected together by
means of a rod hinged to their other arms. A hand lever is connected
to the one front bell crank, by raising which from a horizontal into a
vertical position the whole system of bell cranks is actuated, so as to
move the scat outwards away from the back, while by turning the hand
lever still further the seat is lowered.
The back of the sofa is cushioned, and is hinged at its upper end to
the framework, so that by raising the lower end until the back assumes
a horizontal position over the seat an upper bed is formed, it being
secured in this position by two rods hinged to the lower end of the back,
and fitted into sockets on the arms of the sofa, so as to serve as supports
to the upper bed. On cach side of the hinged back at one end thercof
are fixed curved tubes acting as sheathes for curved iron bars, which,
when the back is raised as above described, are drawn out of the sheathes
to a certain extent, so as to serve as a support for a pillow at the head
of the bed, and bars are also hinged to the outer side of the back, which
are raised into a vertical position, so as to act as guards to prevent the
person on the bed from falling over.
Where the length of the sofa or chair is not sufficient to afford room
for a bed two such sofas or chairs may be placed opposite cach other,
so that by moving forward the two seats as above described they are
made to meet in the middle, and thus by their united width afford
sufficient length for a bed. In like manner the two backs are mado of
such a width that when they are raised they meet in the middle and
afford room for an upper bed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Schouberszky in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 19th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES,
SCHOUBERSZKY, of Paris, Boulevard de Strasbourg, No. 28, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth car of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles Schouberszky, Her special license
that I, the said Charles Schouberszky, my exccutors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Schouberszky, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thercafter 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 DOUBLE-BEDDED SOFAS OR OTHER
SEATS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Schouberszky, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
particularly describo and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
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.
'
should
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Schouberszky, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say ·
--
My Invention relates to an improved construction of sofas or seats
that are capable of being converted into beds, and that are particularly

page_text: places.
My improvements consist mainly in arrangements whereby the scat
of the sofa can be moved outwards, and also, if desired, lowered, so as
to afford greater width for the bed, and also to afford headroom between
the seat and the upper bed, which is formed by raising up the back of
the sofa, as will be presently described.
For the above purpose the seat is connected to the framing of the
sofa at front and at back by means of bell-crank lovers that turn in
bearings on the framing, and that are connected by one arm to the seat,
while the front and back levers on either side are connected together by
means of a rod hinged to their other arms. A hand lever is connected
to the one front bell crank, by raising which from a horizontal into a
vertical position the whole system of bell cranks is actuated, so as to
move the seat outwards away from the back, while by turning the hand
lever still further the scat is lowered.
The back of the sofa is cushioned, and is hinged at its upper end to
the framework, so that by raising the lower end until the back assumes
a horizontal position over the seat an upper bed. is formed, it being
'secured in this position by two rods hinged to the lower end of the back, 2
and fitted into sockets on the arms of the sofa, so as to serve as supports
to the upper bed. On each side of the hinged back at one end thereof
are fixed curved tubes acting as sheathes for curved iron bars, which,
when the back is raised as above described, are drawn out of the sheathes
to a certain extent, so as to serve as a support for a pillow at the head 2
of the bed, and bars are also hinged to the outer side of the back, which
arc raised into a vertical position, so as to act as guards to prevent tho
person on the bed from falling over
Where the length of the sofa or chair is not sufficient to afford room
for a bed two such sofas or chairs may be placed opposite cach other, 3
so that by moving forward the two seats as above described they are
made to meet in the middle, and thus by their united width afford
sufficient length for a bed. In like manner the two backs are made of
such a width that when they are raised they meet in the middle and
afford room for an upper bed.
3

page_text: pins fixed at the ends of the back, and which fit into sockets on the
arms of the sofa A rest for the pillow is provided by fixing on each
sido of the back short curved tubes p, p, in which slide curved bārs o, o,
connected by a transverse piece, these bars being drawn out of the
tubes at night, as shewn at Figs. 1 and 5, and having a cloth Z attached
at one end to the transverse piece, and at the other end to the covering
of the back n, upon which cloth the pillow rests. Guards q at the side
of the back serve to prevent the person on the upper bed from falling,
these being turned down into the dotted position shewn in Fig. 1 in the
daytime.
-
Figs. 8, 9, and 10 show a plan and end elevations of the before
described modified arrangement for arm chairs or sofas of limited length.
In this case two sofas are placed opposite each other, so that the two
seats when drawn forward as above described meet in the middle, as
shown at Fig. 10, so as by their combined width to form a bed of
sufficient-length. In like manner the two backs when raised form the
upper bed, as shown. Fig. 9 shews the sofas with the backs folded
down and the seats in the ordinary position.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim,-
First. The construction of sofas or other seats wherein a lower bed
is formed by simultaneously moving forward and lowering the seat,
while an upper bed is formed by raising the back upon centres into a
horizontal position, substantially as hercin described.
Second. The use in sofa beds of an arrangement of bell-crank levers
connected by spindles and rods, whereby the seat may either be moved
forward only, or both moved forward and lowered by actuating a single
hand lever, substantially as herein described.
Third. Arranging the backs of sofa beds to turn upon centres or
hinges at their upper ends, while the lower ends are provided with
hinged bars serving to support the back in the horizontal position,
substantially as herein described.
Fourth. The use in sofa beds of a rest for the pillow of the upper
bed, consisting of curved bars made to slide in and out of curved tubes
attached to the back, substantially as herein described.

page_text: Fifth. Arranging two sofa beds such as are described in the first
claim face to face, so that the combined width of the scats when
advanced, and of the backs when raised, form a bed of requisite length,
substantially as hercin described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Schouberszky, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
> Witness,
CHARLES SCHOUBERSZKY. (L.S.)
CH. ARMENGAUD,
Civil Engineer,
B. do Strasbourg, 23,
Paris.