US161750A - Improvement in folding tables - Google Patents

Description

HENRY BUTMAN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW vYORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN FOLDING TABLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 16l,750, dated April 6, 1875; application filed August 18, 1874.

To all fwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY BUTMAN, of the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lap-Boards or Cutting- Tables, of which the following, taken in counection with the accompanying drawing, is a full, clear, and exact description:

My invention is intended to furnish a light, strong, and portable table, more especially valuable as a cutting-table, to take the place of the lap-board generally in use, but also suitable for many other purposes.

Figure l is a plan of said table. Fig. 2 is a view of one corner of the table inverted, so as to show the hinge and strips by which the legs of the table may be folded or braced.

It should be light, portable, and quickly adjustable, as well as capable of being stored away in a small space, and, especially, it should be firm, and not easily disarranged when adjusted for use. i

In prior attempts which have been made to supply a substitute for a lap-board, in the way of a folding table, steadiness has been sought to be attained by connecting the legs by cross-pieces below the hinges; and, where simple leaf-hinges have been used without braces, it has been done at a sacrifice of stead iness, or with a liability to loosen by use. To obviate these objections is the object of my present invention, which is as follows A represents the top of the table, which is inade of wood, the most desirable dimensions being about thirty-six inches in length by twenty-four inches in width. To enable the top board to be made light, and of thin wood, I surround the under edge of this board with strips of Wood about an inch in width and thickness. These strips of wood strengthen the top, keep it from warping, and alford a place of attachment for the legs and braces. The strips B, Which run across the ends ofthe board, are beveled on one side, b, to afford a corresponding face and rest to the wooden strips O, to which the legs D of the table A are fastened by being inserted in the strip by threads turned on the leg, or by bolts through the ends thereof. The strips B, with the legs attached thereto, are joined to the body of the table in the following manner: A metal clamp-hinge, of substantially the form shown at H, in Fig. 2, is attached to each end of the strips, so as to encircle and form a plane surface with the same, the ends of the strip having been first shaved off to allow for the thickness of the hinge, as shown at E in Fig. 2. One portion of this clamp, as shown at Y, is so constructed as to receive a metal rod, It. This construction affords a hinge which requires no screws or nails, caunot Work loose from the strip, and binds the strip, so as to prevent the legs or bolts from splitting it. The strips C, thus provided with legs and hinges, are placed on the under side of the table, between the side strips, and with their beveled edges resting on the beveled edges b of the end strips B. The rod It is then run through the side-strips and the clamps at Y. The same rod running across the table will form the fulcruin and fastening part for both hinges, and will also serve as a brace to the strip and table at the same time. A brace for the legs and check to the hinges is formed as follows: A piece of metal, with a knee-joint in the middle, as shown at J in Fig. 1, is pro` vided for each leg. One end of this brace is fastened to the leg D by a rivet, T, running through the leg at right angles to the brace, while a corresponding rivet runs through the other end of the brace and the side strip under the table. In this device the knee-joints keep leg-strips O in their place, and also keep each individual leg I) steadily braced, while the rivets T, running through the legs, keep the legs from turning in their sockets, and do away with all necessity for cross-pieces between the legs. By breaking the knee-joints the legs can be folded up under the table, and the whole table be stowed away in the space of an ordinary cutting-board, and ready for use at a moments notice.

I do not claim, broadly, as my invention, a folding cutting-board 5 nor do I claim hinged legs or braced legs indiscriminately, for I only claim an improvement in a folding table.

l/Vhat I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A folding table containing the combination of top board A, end strips C, clamp-hinges H, rod It, and knee-joint braces J, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature.

HENRY BUTMAN.

Witnesses:

F. W. HANAFORD, B. E. VALENTINE.

Images