A record of the Sportsman's Battalions during the First World War, including a database of soldiers who enlisted in - or served with - the 23rd, 24th and 30th Royal Fusiliers, originally raised by Mrs. Emma Cunliffe-Owen in September 1914. If you have any questions or comments, please send to fmsketches@macbrem.com, thanks!

Patent for Improvements in the Construction of Huts

Patent application # 21,074 was filed on October 16, 1914 by Arthur Edwards on behalf of Emily Pauline Cunliffe Owen. The provisional specification reads:

I, Emma Pauline Cunliffe Owen, of 26, Leicester Road, Loughborough, Leciestershire, Married Woman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:

This invention relates to huts designed as sleeping quarters and also for messing and other purposes, and the invention has for its object to enable beds to be placed in position when required for sleeping purposes and to be conveniently stowed away and made useful when the hut is required for messing or other purposes.

The application then goes on to explain the invention and its potential benefits. A complete specification was later filed on 15th April, 1915, and the application was accepted by the UK Patent Office on 29th July, 1915.

A summary of the patent can be see in the Espacenet patent search database, and the complete filing, together with detailed pictures, is accessible via the IPEXL database.

21,074. Owen, E. P. C. Oct. 16. Bedsteads.-A but for use as sleeping and messing quarters is provided along two adjacent sides with rails 2,10 at different heights so that the bed frames may be stowed away, as shown in Fig. 4, with the longer sides parallel to the bar 2 and the first bed resting with its head-rail 3 on the bar 10, each succeeding bed being pushed over the one beneath until the stops 8 abut on the legs 6. When required for use, the beds are lifted and turned so that the head-rails 3 engage pairs of projections 5 on the lower rail 2.

As can be seen clearly in the following photograph of the interior of a hut at the Hornchurch Camp, the invention was indeed utilized by the Sportsman’s Battalions. The beds are stacked neatly against the side of the hut in such a way that tables and benches can be placed in the center of the hut for the purposes of meals.

Interior of Hut   The Camp Hornchurch

No comments :

Post a Comment