Mike,
I'll try to hit all your questions:
William L. Murphy applied for a patent for the Murphy bed on April 1, 1916 and was granted Design Patent D49,273 on June 27, 1916. Murphy started the Murphy Wall Bed Company and began production in San Francisco. In January 1990, the company changed its name to the "Murphy Bed Co. Inc." (wikipedia)
http://www.isaaclord.co.uk/productDe...558&subCat=000 http://www.murphybedsdirect.com/faqs.htm