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XI. Williams's Improvements in Materials for Roofing; Ralston's Improvements in Rolling Iron; and Horne's Improvements in Making Hinges.

XII. Williams's Improvements in Locks; and Trewhitt's Improvements in the Manufacture of Earthenware.

XIII. Wall's Improvements in Preventing the Corrosion in Metals; Adcock's Improvements in Raising Water; Harcourt's Improved Castors; Jones's Table Knife; and Hebert's Improved Spade.

XIV. Whitworth's Machinery for Cleaning Roads.

XV. Williams's Improvements in Generating Heat; Hoare's Improvements in Dressing Cloth; Armstrong's Improved Harrow; and Montmirail's Improvements in Making Bread.

XVI. Noone's Improved Beer Engine; Hornsby's Improvements in Sowing Grain; Williams's Improved Ship's Log; Newberry and Saunders's Sowing Grain; and Kollman's Improved Rails for Railways.

THE

London

JOURNAL AND REPERTORY

OF

Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures.

CONJOINED SERIES.

No. CX.

Recent Patents.

TO JAMES WILLIAM THOMPSON, of Turnstile-alley, Long Acre, in the city of Westminster, upholsterer, for his invention of improvements in the construction of bedsteads; which improvements are particularly applicable to the use of invalids.-[Sealed 16th December, 1839.]

THESE improvements, in the construction of bedsteads, particularly applicable for invalids, consist in certain arrangements of jointed rods, which may be separately or collectively raised or depressed, by means of toothed racks and pinions, or other suitable mechanism, whereby the body of the patient may be placed or brought into any position that may be required, in an easy and convenient manner, and without any exertion or perceptible motion to the patient himself.

VOL. XVIII.

B

But, in order that my invention may be more perfectly understood, I have represented, in Plate I., several views of my improved bedstead, and the positions the patient would assume, upon certain movements of the apparatus, such as when one part only of the apparatus is put in motion, by the mechanism; and, by means of which, certain parts of the jointed framing are raised, the other part being out of gear, and consequently remaining motionless. I have also shewn the position the patient would assume, upon actuating the mechanism, when all the parts are in gear.

Fig. 1, is a plan view of the bedstead complete,—all the parts of the apparatus being in their ordinary positions and situations; fig. 2, is a sectional plan view of the bedstead, with the upper jointed framing, with sacking and palliasse removed, in order to shew the working parts, and mechanical contrivances for raising parts or the whole of the jointed framing, as will be hereafter described; fig. 3, is a longitudinal section; fig. 4, a transverse section, taken through the middle of the bedstead; fig. 5, is a side elevation, shewing the manner of raising the upper part of the body of the patient; fig. 6, shews the two top and bottom joints, bent up so as to form the bed into the shape of a hammock, to prevent the person from falling out; and fig. 7, represents the jointed rods and framing, raised by means of the racks and pinions, some distance above the level of the palliasse, as would be the case when the bed is required to be made.

In all these figures, the same letters of reference, hereinafter mentioned, refer to corresponding parts. The framework is shewn at a, a, a, a, and the jointed rods at b, b, b, b.-These rods are held or retained in their straight form, and prevented from bending, (when not intended to do so,) by sliding tubes c, c, c, c, c, c. Other jointed rods

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d, d, d, d, having joints corresponding to the rods b, b, b, b, are attached to the latter, and move or bend with them when required. To these rods d, d, the sacking, thin mattrass, or supporting sheet e, e, is attached by ropes or cords, in the ordinary manner. The rods d, d, are connected to the jointed rods b, b, by the metal blocks, or connecting pieces f, f. The jointed rods are attached to four upright racks g, g, g, g, by revolving or universal joints h, h, h, h, shewn detached, in figs. 8 and 9.-These racks are situated at the four corners of the bedstead, and are enclosed by tubes i, i,-see figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6.

The racks are moved up and down, by means of pinions j, j, j, j, mounted on the shafts k, k. On the centre of the shafts k, k, are fixed worm-wheels or pinions 7, 7; and

these wheels are actuated, or caused to revolve, by the right and left-handed screws m, m, mounted on the shaft n. This shaft, which extends from the head to the foot of the bed, is caused to rotate, by turning the winch-handle. The pinions j, j,j, j, are mounted loosely on the shafts k, k, so that they may be slidden along the said shafts, for purposes hereafter mentioned.

A feather or raised part o, (see figs. 10 and 11,) is formed on the end of the shaft, and takes into a corresponding groove, formed in the pinion; therefore, as the shaft revolves, this feather or raised part, upon which the pinion is mounted, causes the said pinion to revolve with the shaft, as will be well understood. The pinions are moved in or out of gear, by pulling out or pushing in the handles p, p, p, p, which are connected to the pinions by short arms.

When it is desired to raise any particular part of the jointed framing, it is necessary to pull out the handle, attached to the pinion, which actuates that particular part, in order to bring the pinion into gear with the upright B 2

rack. If, on the contrary, any part is required to remain stationary, the handle is pushed in, and the pinion will thereby be thrown out of gear; and when the shaft n, is turned, the said pinion will revolve with its shaft, without having any effect upon the upright rack.-This part of the invention will be better understood by referring to figs. 10 and 11, which represent detached views of the rack and pinion motion;-fig. 10, representing a front view, with the pinion out of gear, and consequently the rack stationary ;fig. 11, being a plan view of the same.

In the sectional plan view, fig. 2, the pinion is represented as being in gear, and ready to raise the rack, whenever the shaft n, is put in motion;-the situation of the pinion, when out of gear, is indicated by the dotted lines.

From the foregoing description, it will be evident, that any one part of the jointed framing may be raised, while the other parts remain stationary, by putting in or out of gear, as may be required, the pinions which correspond to such parts. For instance,-in order to raise the upper part of the body of the patient, it will be necessary to observe the following directions, which will be better understood by referring to fig. 5, in the drawing.

The sliding tubes c, on the longitudinal or side jointed rods, are to be removed from the joints, as seen in the figure; but the sliding tubes, belonging to the top and bottom rods, are to be slidden over the joints of these rods, as seen in fig. 1; the handles, at the lower end of the bedstead, and marked *, in fig. 5, are to be pushed in, in the manner shewn in figs. 10 and 11, and in dotted lines in fig. 2, so as to throw the pinions, belonging to the racks, out of gear; but the handles, at the upper end or head of the bedstead, are to be pulled out, in order to put the pinions in gear with the racks. The hooks or catches q, q, (see

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