[Sca-cooks] period air mattress

[Stefan li Rous]

Drakey replied to me with:
> Quoting Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com>:
>
> >   Regina mentioned:
> >> Sounds like a successor to Ciba Review.  The big pharmaceutical
> >> company put this out a few times a year and it has magnificent
> >> information on everything from Renaissance Dress to the Cotton
> >> Trade in the 14th Century.
> >
> > Perhaps similar, although from what I've heard mentioned of the Ciba
> > Review, it seemed to be more scholarly than the Aramco one. There  
> are
> > mentions of the Ciba Review in various places in the Florilegium.
> > Including the evidence for a period air mattress. Made out of  
> leather.
>
> Ah b*llshit!  You are kidding right!

Who? moi? Would I kid you?

Did you go to the Florilegium and look? I hear there's lots of  
unusual stuff there... I mean, after period uses of ear wax, why  
would an air mattress be so unusual? :-) You might try the search  
engine with something like "period air mattress", even.

> Do you have a reference for it, I'd love
> to build that!!! A period air mattress...

Okay, it is in this file in the HOME, SWEET HOME section:
beds-msg         (143K)  1/10/01    Medieval and SCA beds. rope and  
slat beds.

I've pasted the message below.

> That beats the last one a
> friend found for me, a period 'disco-ball'...

Okay Drakey, your turn. :-) What's the scoop on this period disco- 
ball? Did you actually make this? Ummmm. Or did you decide not to  
tempt fate? "Drakey with a lot of small, probably sharp, fragments of  
glass or mirrors... trying to fasten them together".  hmmm. Can  
anyone see a concern here? Maybe his barony heard of this idea and  
all the little pieces of glass "disappeared".

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****


Subject: Leather Air Mattresses in Period. Tent Books Info.
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 99 21:34:21 MST
From: rmhowe <magnusm at ncsu.edu>
To: medieval-leather at egroups.com

Since I mentioned this yesterday, Stefan asked me for more
information as to what is in it. It's an interesting Idea so
I thought I'd share it with a few folks.

Ciba Review 1968/3 Tents  (only 48 pages)
Published By CIBA Ltd, Basle, Switzerland.
Magazine distributed to textile schools and companies. ILL it folks,
don't try to buy one.

2. Tents and Camping - Article based on text by Dr. H.-C. Wulff,
     Kassell, and R. Schwob, Bern. (meaning cities in Switz. I guess.)
12. Nomad tents.
26. Tent Shrines and Palaces
35. Modern Utility Tents - H. Schramm, Paris.
40 United Kingdom: New CIBA Phenol Resin Plant; space;  Modern Trends
42. Water-repellent and rotproof finishes for natural cellulose
     tent fabrics.
43. New CIBA White Scale for evaluating the whiteness of optically
     brightened fabrics.
47 Selected Terasil Dyes for texturized polyester.
48. New CIBA products.

A lot of this is modern production information interspersed with
history bits.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888

Page 5 has a very interesting very large inflatable mattress
illustration.
"Inflatable mattresses are not a 20th century innovation. Made of
skins and fitted with a bellows, this model was depicted in a 1537
edition of a book on warfare compiled by Flavius Renatus in the
late 4th century AD. Graphic Art Collection, F.K. Mathys, Basle."
(Looks to be at least 6' by 6' (kingsize) and has two landsknecht
types on it and one in foreground. Seams run from opposite corners
and cross at the middle. Kind of like sewing four squares together
folded at the outsides of the mattress. There is a simple bellows
fitted in the corner of the mattress. Also looks to be a strapped
bottle in the foreground, unable to determine if it is supposed to
be leather too. Basically round with a long neck and strap to sides.)

        ________________
       |\              /|
       | \            / |
       |  \          /  |
       |   \        /   | Best I can do in text.
       |    \      /    | Plumps up and sides pull in.
       |     \    /     | No stitching on outside.
       |      \  /      | Just on X and bound on bellows.
       |       \/       |
       |       /\       | Imagine six feet Square.
       |      /  \      | Four Squares sewed together.
       |     /    \     | Original Kingsize air mattress.
       |    /      \    | Sleeps two. Imagine what you could
       |   /        \   | do with one of these.
       |  /          \  | Wonder if it could be made of
       | /            \ | canvas and sealed like a currach boat?
    ___// _____________\|
   |    |
   | () | Bellows, I presume you'd seal it with a stopper.
   |____|
  //

<snip of tent info>

Master Magnus Malleus, OL, Atlantia, Great Dark Horde Brother.
MKA R.M. Howe, Raleigh, NC, USA