could make their own springs by obtaining wire and bending it around a wooden mold or purchasing springs by the hundred weight. In 1843, Holland & Sons offered upholstered chair, sofas, and other articles with descriptions such as "putting spring in frames", "spring stuffed", "double spring stuffed", and "spring stuffed cushions. Considering the evidence from the clock, carriage, and furniture trade, it is likely that upholstery springs may have been in use by local craftsmen before the eighteenth century, certainly existed in the eighteenth century, became normal by the beginning of the nineteenth century, and all types of springs were being developed and commonly used by mid-nineteenth century as both the British and American patent records clearly document. Patents do not necessarily mean first use but can only be used to evaluate and estimate trends. In 1849, T. E. Warren of the United States of America received patent 6740, which was for a complex leaf spring used in seating and was utilized by the American Chair Company for seating on trains. In 1850, Alexander Oechslin received an Austrian patent for an "improvement in spiral spring upholstery". Between 1855 and 1900, hundreds of wire spring patents were issued in Great Britain and the United States for seating and bedding. These British patents can be viewed in a Master Abridgement of British Patents in Class 52 1855-1900. Washburn & Moen Manufacturing, one of America's first wire drawing companies, founded in 1834, manufactured wire for a range of products from piano wire to telegraph wire, barbed wire, and wire for coil springs. Between 1837 and 1847, Washburn’s wire quality dictated that all iron billets 12’ by 1-1/8” were imported from Sweden specifically for drawing wire; once in the United States, the billets were rolled into rods at mills in Troy, New York; Fall River, Massachusetts; or Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The Smithsonian Institution and Library of Congress retain portions of their historical records. In 1869, Timothy Rose and Platt Buell received an American patent, number 97,705, for a coil bed spring. In 1871, Edwin Bushnell of Poughkeepsie, New York, received an American patent, number 4,616, for "An Improvement In Spring Mattresses". Prior to the early 1900s, springs were used as bed bases or box springs; these spring sets were not covered with fabrics. There were no "innerspring" mattresses manufactured until after 1900. Bushnell's patent has been cited as an innerspring but it was an