US1722264A - Chair and other article - Google Patents

Description

July so, 1929. H, E, BARTOW 1,722,264

CHAIR AND OTHER ARTICLE Filed May 31, 1924 Patented July 30, 1929.

UNET

HARRY E. BAR/TOW, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR 'I'O FREDERICK EXNER, OF BROOHYN, NEVT YORK.

CHAIR AND OTHER ARTICLE.

Application finana 31,

acteristics similar to the well-known wicker furniture. Chairs and the like made by covering skeleton frames and other forms with braided or woven materials have been used for many years. Such materials have been flags, rush, grass and other vegetable fibres, paper, etc., but serious defects have been recognized in the use of all these substances. These articles have been coated with various substances to give them stability and an attractive appearance, but this has not been sufiicient to save them from early deterioration in appearance and strength. Recognizing these defects, I have sought to overcome them, While producing a fabric having an equally attractive appearance and in many forms more beautiful than similar articles have ever been.

I have considered that it is important to first provide a braid from which the chairs and other articles shall be shaped. This braid consists of a plurality of colored cord,

usually multi-colored, or threads, woven or braided together in tubular form over a common hempen core or base, of indefinite length and of uniform diameter at all points, being without oints, and so that any desired length of braid may be cut off by the workmen from time to time when covering an article. The cords or threads are of twine or string, made up of as many members as desired that are suitably interwoven or interlaced, and the braid before being woven in the chair, or after being so woven, at either or bothtim'es, is impregnated with a hardening substance of any suitable or proper kind, like varnish, glue or the like.

4.0, In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated by way of example only, a chair made in accordance with myinvention; but I desire to have it especially understood that my invention comprehends and includes also carriages, settees, desks, and many other forms of manufacture. In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a front view of a well-known form of chair, constructed in accordance with my pre'sentimproved method and the use of the novel materials which I have devised.

Figure 2 is an enlarged'plan view of part of the seat section of the chair, showing the manner in which the braided material is a very great variety of furniture and other 7 articles, such as tables, lamp-stands, baby- 1924. Serial No. 716,985.

woven therein for the stiff and effective seat.

F igure 3 is a cross-section of the seat portIOII represented in Figure 2.

F igure 4 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the braid material, showing the inner core, and indicating the strands or cords of which the braid. is composed, the same in this mstance being of two colors only, as white and black. a

Figure 5 is a cross-section of the braid shown in Figure 4 taken at any desired point in its lengtl Figure 6 is a plan view of aportion of the same braid when differently composed of constituent cords, in this example there being sixteen cords of varying colors.

Similar characters of reference designate correspondin parts throughout all the differpurpose of. making a D ent figures of the drawing.

In constructing a chair for example, it is customary to first form a skeleton frame of the chair, or other article, by means of bent pieces of wood and reeds 10, 10. I do not contemplate any particular change in such frames, and as the reeds may be arranged in a great many ways, partaking of all sorts of forms and combinations, all of which are within the'scope of my invention, I have not thought it necessary to illustrate the details of all the parts of the skeleton chair frame. In general, however, I may say that wood is employed to form the main outline of the frame of the article, whatever it maybe, while reeds are used as stay members with which the braid can be interwoven as is shown in Figures 2 and 3. Of coursethereeds are only used where the section of surface to be covered is of substantial area. The legs, rounds, and some of the other parts of the chair, as is usual, are covered by merely winding the braid around them; and this is true of other articles, as well as of chairs. In some instances, the part is covered by merely winding the braid about it and in other cases the braid is interwoven with the reeds or other equivalent supports. I

' Icome now to a description of the most important part of my invention which is the development of the braid material, which forms the superficial area of the chair or other article, giving the latter its attractiy e appearance and making it unique in form and substance, and distinguishing the products of my method from all others of analagous classes.

The braid, as 2, is shown in Figure 4:, in scribed, the fabric as a whole is treated with one form, and in Figure 6 in another form, said forms difiering only in their colors and in the number of strands or cords employed, though it will be noted that for purposes of explanation I am utilizing sixteen cords or strands, woven or interlaced or plaited together to make a single braided member, as the latter is indicated in Figures at and 6. 5 denotes the core or base of the braid which runs through the center of the latter and around which the cordsor threads of the braid are wovenin a sortof a tubular outer shell or envelope which embraces and conceals within it, the hemp base. Said base is ordinary Manila twine and may consist of five strands as indicated in Figure 5, although I do not wish to be limited to any particular kind of hemp base or core. I11 Figure 4, the sixteen cords or thread are part of them white, as 4, and part of them black, as 3, the number of strands being thus. divided into only two colors in this example, but the contrast of the colors is attractive and makes a braid which will weave into a very handsome chair. In Figure 6, I use several colors for the strands, it being noted that there are red strands 6, blue strands 7, yellow strands 8, and white strands 9, four of each color, in order to embellish the appearance of the resultant braid and thereby impart a different finish and appearance to the chair or other article. Ofcourse, the braid may be made up of strands that are all of one color, so that I can employ strands that are all white, or

strands that are all black, or strands that are all red, and thus produce respectively white, black or red braid, and braids of one color can be interwoven with braids of another color, so as to impart almost any kind of an appearance to the chair and make it contrast with other articles of furniture. Besides all this it will be understood that in almost an infinite variety of forms the weaving of the multicolored or single colored braids in different portions of the article will heighten the unique and effective appearance of the design. In the drawingI have used the conventional method of delineating the colors for the dif ferent strands of the braid, as the rules of practice.

The frames of the ered by my plaited or interlaced braided material in very much the same way, therefore, as articles have heretofore been covered with paper, flags, etc., with the important differences in appearance and arrangement which prescribed by I havepointed out, and with this very important difierence that there are no project- .ing ends, caused at different points by using a limited length of material, inasmuch as the braid is of indefinite length and the whole article of furniture may be woven of one continuous strip. After the frame of the chair or article is covered in the way I havedeusage.

different articles are cova suitable hardening substance, for which I preferably use melted glue or shellac which may be applied by a brush or otherwise, al-

though I prefer to dip the article bodily into a tank of melted glue, as this causes the entire surface of the fabric to be entirely covered and enables the glue or cement to find its way into all the parts and interstices as well as the surface line, and therefore when the coating dries the article is hard and stiff, so that it is sulficiently unyielding to be very serviceable and durable. The strands of the braid will not slip on each other and the windings or rolls of braid will for an indefinite time adhere to each other, thus ensuring a close, tight fabric throughout the entire covering. Should there happen to be any projecting ends, of which there must be very few, and very short, there will be no tendency for the strands to slip. The constituent cords or. threads, of which the braid is formed, may each be treated with some suitable. kind of coating, before they are woven, in order that the resulting braid may have a certain amount of stiffness and the cords maybe compacted together more or less closely during the weaving operation, which will contribute to the strong and stiff character of the chair after the braid has been woven through it. The weaving or, plaiting of the multiplicity of cords, strings, or small ropes over the central core 5, may be performed in any kind of a machine that is suitable for the purpose and I do not wish to be restricted to any particular kind; nor is it necessary to describe in detail the mechanism of such a machine as it may vary widely and I commonly employ machines used for the weaving of other braids for other purposes. It will be noted that such machine, however, must be adapted to the weaving of a tubularbraid, similar to the insulation covering which is employed with an electrical conductor, for it is desirable that the threads or strands should interlace. closely in order that the braid fabric may have stability and thus be adapted to withstand hard The frame construction in Figure 1 may consist of suitable pieces; say, four pieces of lumber two inches by one joined together by two inch dowel pins and glued legs and cross braces one inch wood dowels. Braces also are wood dowels under seat, Reed stakes are used to hold the weaving braid Figure 4 in position as shown at 10. The braid in Figure 4 consists of six ply rope for core 5 reinforced by sixteen strands dyed cot- 1 ton glazed threads, 3 and 4:.- Braid can be made with from one to sixteen colors as desired. Diameter of braid can be-made in various sizes as the occasion may require; it can also be made without rope ,core ifso desired. The weaving is done by hand as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2. Advan tages over any and all wicker furniture made are strength, durability, attractiveness and finish. All coloring is woven in braid to eliminate all paint, enamel, varnish or lead. There is no danger ofthe finish chipping, cracking, blistering or rubbing off. To add to the strength of the practically indestructi ble piece of furniture, as received from the weaver, as Figure 1 shows, it is then dipped in a vat of hot transparent sizing glue to stiffen and also give a color protection for the dyes. l/Vhen thoroughly dry two coats of white shellac are used as the final protection for the article.

An article of furniture constructed as described has, besides the advantages which so as to be comparatively hard and smooth.

Such braided material, therefore, does not become readily soiled while waiting application to the frame of the chair or other article, and so when the final protecting coating of varnish or shellac is applied to the finished article its exposed surfaces, formed mainly of the braided covering, are clean and such surfaces, as has been stated, will not thereafter easily become soiled, as would be the case were they rough or have fine free fibers projecting therefrom. The form of braided covering which I prefer to use .and which has been described, namely, one having a central core, such as indicated at 5 in the drawings, and a smooth hard finished braided covering for the core, possesses characteristics adapting it peculiarly for use as a filling or cover in the manufacturing of furniture. Thus, While the strand has a hard smooth surface such as has just been described withits incident advantages, taken as a whole, it is somewhat soft and elastic due to its core 5. This is of advantage in the applicationof the strands as the article is from what it is at another place. The covering may thus be nicely fitted to the article being produced, even though the exposed surface is irregular so that the strands are necessarily crowded together in some areas of the surface and not crowded in others. The hempen cores of the strands also give certain elasticity or resiliency to the covering,

thus adding to the comfort of a user of the article; and this elasticity is largely maintained after the final coatings of hardening material have been applied, because the braided coverings of the individual strands very largely protect the inner cores from the fluid coating employed to protect and finish the surfaces of the article.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A chair or other article, comprising a frame and a covering therefor, consisting of a braid composed of a plurality of closely interwoven strands in tubular form on an inner hemp base, the article being subjected after its completion, to a bath which covers the entire surface of the frame and permeates all the openings between the braid material and frame as well as the surfaces of same.

2. A chair or similar article, comprising a skeleton frame and a covering applied thereto, the latter consisting of braided material of indefinite length formed of a relatively soft flexible fibrous core and a covering therefor of hard and smooth surfaced braided fibrous strands.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afliX my signature.

HARRY E. BARTOW.

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