BEDS, FOLDING. 



themselves with convenient devices of this char- 

 acter without calling upon the furniture- dealer. 



Fia. 1. A HOME-MADE FOLDING-BED. 



One of the simplest possible is shown in Fig. 1. 

 It is a shallow oblong box with the bottom 

 preferably of slats and the sides and ends deep 

 enough to receive the mattress and coverings 

 that are to be used. This depth should exceed 

 the thickness of the mattress by three or four 

 inches. Diagonal braces may be placed at the 

 corners to prevent the racking unavoidable in 

 raising and lowering. One side of the box is 

 attached to the wall by means of strong iron 

 hinges (A A) which should be screwed to the 

 studs if the wall is of lath and plaster, or oth- 

 erwise secured so as to bear the strain. To 

 the other side of the box, legs (B B) are at- 

 tached, also by hinges, so that they lie flat 

 against the slats when the bed is raised to its 

 day-time place and secured by hooks against 

 the wall. To keep coverings and mattress from 

 falling against the wall when the bed is lowered, 

 bands of some suitable material are used. 



The same general principle may be employed 

 with any of the light cots kept by dealers, but 

 in this case the wall-hinges must be attached 

 to projections bearing them out from the wall 

 so that there will be room for mattress, cover- 

 ing, etc., between wall and slats. It will natu- 

 rally occur to any one with an eye to decora- 

 tive effects, that a curtain hung over this some- 

 what unsightly object when it is hooked up, 

 will effectually conceal it, and it may, with the 

 exercise of a little taste, be made really orna- 

 mental. 



The occupant of a narrow hall bedroom in 

 New York requiring more space and a table, 

 had recourse to the device shown in Fig. 2. 

 The bedstead was one of the light cots re- 

 ferred to above. Fixing two stout screw-eyes 

 (0 C) in the studding at the head of the bed, 



he lashed the head-piece loosely to them, so 

 that the lashings should serve as hinges. To 

 the foot of the bed he attached a line and 

 passed the free end through a pulley (D) fixed 

 near the ceiling. It was an easy matter, the 

 bedding being properly lashed, to hoist the 

 whole affair until it rested Hat against the wall 

 as shown in the figure. For additional security, 

 the long slack of the hoisting-line was passed 

 around outside the bed and made fast to two 

 hooks about seven feet from the floor. The 

 upper pair of legs was either folded down as 

 shown or opened and used as a shelf. A draw- 

 ing-board placed upon the lower pair of legs, 

 as shown in the engraving at E, converted 

 them into a very passable substitute for a table. 

 Recently some inventor has hit upon the same 

 idea, and has patented it with some improve- 

 ments and elaborations. 



On yachts and other small vessels folding 

 bunks are sometimes provided for the crew by 

 stretching stout canvas across a rectangular 

 iron frame and hinging the frame to the lining 

 of the vessel. In this case the outer side of 

 the frame is supported by hooks attached to 

 lines depending from the deck-beams. When 

 not in use, the frames are folded up flat against 

 the side of the vessel, and occupy scarcely any 

 room at all. 



The next step in elaboration is the " mantel- 

 bed," so called, which is 

 to be found at the deal- 

 ers' in several forms. 

 Substantially, it is sim- 

 ilar to those at first 

 described, except that 

 it is independent of 

 the wall, having a 

 wood- work frame or 

 box into which it is 

 folded when not in use. 

 It is, moreover, so hung 

 that the operations of 

 lifting and lowering are 

 more easily performed 

 than where the weight 

 is not distributed 

 or counterbalanced. 

 "When not in use, cur- 



FIG. 2. BED AND TABLE COMBINED. 



tains sliding on rods are drawn in front of the 

 whole structure, and the top may even be used as 



