John Clark

John Clark (1785-1853) was a British printer and inventor who created the first automated text generator, the Latin Verse Machine (also known as the Eureka) between 1830 and 1843. Clark also patented a method for rubberising cloth that was used for air beds. Life John Clark was born on 21 November 1785 and died on 23 May 1853. He was a cousin of Cyrus and James Clark, who founded the shoe manufacturing company C. & J. Clark, still doing business as Clark. He was a Quaker. Air beds In 1813 Clark registered a patent for air-tight beds, pillows and cushions. In an article for the Furniture History Society, Edward Joy wrote that this was the first such patent, and that Clark used "unvulcanized rubber filled by means of an air pump." Clark's patent describes various uses for the new technique, including for beds, which would not require stuffing materials other than air. The air pump could be kept beneath the bed. For medical uses, the bed could also be filled with hot steam or cold water, allowing for a variety of temperatures. Clark also described how printers could use the air pillow to His niece wrote that he sold the patent to Charles Macintosh who used it for his raincoats, although this may have been a misunderstanding on his niece's part. Although a physician used Clark's invention to make a water bed for invalids, there was no widespread adoption of air beds or water beds at this time, largely due to more complicated maintenance than the more common stuffed beds, and because spring beds became popular.