US22471A - Improvement in railroad-car seats - Google Patents

Description

G. L. DULANEY. Car Seat amd Couch.

Patented Dec. 28, 'i

AMA PHOTO-LITHO. CO. NX (OSBORHES PROCESS.)

UNITED STATES APATENT OEErcEC GEORGE L. DULANEY, OF MOUNT JACKSON, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND SOLOMON K. MOORE, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILROAD-CAR SEATS.

Specification forming part ot' Letters Patent No. 22,471, dated December 28, 1958.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. DULANEY, ot' Mount Jackson, in the county of Shenandoah and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful improvement in railroad-car seats for enabling them to be converted into sleeping couches or berths; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section through a part of the passage-way in the center of the car, showing an end view of two seats with their parts in the positions they are placed in when they are intended to be oecupied by the passengers in a sitting posture. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through one of the seats. Fig. 3 is a top or birdseye view of t-he seats when turned and with their parts arranged to form sleeping couches or berths. Fig. 4 is a vertical transverse section of the same at the line l 2 of Fig. 3.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts in the several figures.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use lmy invention, l will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The frame A of each seat consists of two end uprights, which serve as armrests for-the passengers, connected together by a horizontal platform, A', on the edge of which is secured a right-angled rib, extending, like it, from one upright to the other and being beveled on its upper edge.

To the horizontal platform A is attached by bars B the seat-bottom O, which consists of a horizontal frame-work or plank having a cushion upon its upper surface and beveled on one of its edges to correspond with the beveled edge of the right-angled rib upon which it rests, and having a right-angled rib, r, secured to its opposite edge, which rests on the edge of the horizontal platform A when the seat-bottom is brought to the position to form a.A seat.

Thelends of the barsB are attached by pins to the upper surface of the platform-pieces A at points very near midway between its side edges, and to the seat-bottom near the beveled edge of the same in such a manner as to enable them to form supports for one side of the seatbottoms7 when moved from the seat-frames to form part of a sleeping couch, as will be hereinafter described.

To the arm-rest portions of the uprights of the seatfra`me are jointed by pins one of the ends of the bars D ot' the backs E, the opposite ends of said bars being secured to the ends of the backs E midway between their upper and lower edges, so as to enable them to be reversed to accommodate the passengers with their faces looking to either end of the car.

The seats thus formed are arranged in the same relation to each other as the ordinary caiseats, when employed to accommodate the passengers in a sitting posture, and are retained in their positions by swivel-pins F, projecting from their lower parts, near the ends next the longitudinal passage-way through the car, and entering a socket or step in the door of the car.

Vhen it is desired to convert the seats into sleeping-couches they are swung around on their swivel-pins F parallel with and immediately next the central passage-way through the car, so as to bring the ends of the seats next each other and enable every successive pair of seats with their hereinafter-described adjunct parts to form comfortable horizontal sleeping couches or berths for the four persons for which they are designed.

The pins for securing the bars D to the arm rests of the uprights pass through slotsin said bars, so as to admit of the bars E being raised and moved to a vertical position and the projecting pins a, near their end edges, to enter openings in the arm-rests, being held in this relation to the seats by hooks b, attached to the arm-rests and hooking into staples on the ends of the backs E.

To each of the horizontal platforms A', immediately below one of the arm-rests, is hinged two folding cushions, G, hinged together and capable of being folded together in an upright position under the said arm-rests when the seat is used by the passengers in a sitting posture, and ylowered and extended in a horizontal position'fon top of the horizontal platform or planki'A when it is desired to causegthem, in connection with the folding cushionsG of the next seat in succession, to form a sleeping couch or berth, the bottom C of the two seats mentioned being previously moved over on their jointed bars B to next the side of the car,

with theirl right-angled ribsv or planks i" resting on the door of the same and their opposite edges supported on the bars B, so as to bring their upper cushioned surfaces on a line with each other and with the upper surfaces of the folding cushions G, and thereby7 form an additional single sleeping couch or berth.

The uprights of the frames A of the seats at the opposite ends to those to which the folding cushions G are hinged are provided with blind-slats H, inside ot' which are arranged sliding slat-blind frames H', for enabling the Y lower part of every successive pair of seats to be separated to insure greater privacy to their occupants, and to prevent by such partitions the heads or feet of passengers in one berth or couch interfering; with the passenger in the one next in succession.

The upper berths or couches next the side ot' the car are formed by cushioned frames I, hinged at one ot' their edges to the side ofthe car and capable of being raised to a horizontal position,and secured there by hooks h on their edges, which hook into staples on the arm-rests of the nprights. Those next the backs of the seats-are formed by cushioned flaps K, hinged at one ot' their edges on the same horizontal plane as the hinged edges of the cushioned frames I are situated, and capable of being raised to a horizontal position, with their edges next the edgesV of the cushioned frames I, where they are sustained by one or more sliding bolts, e, secured in suitable hasps under the cushioned frames I and made toslide beyond the edge of the saine, so as to form supports for the edges of the cushioned aps K. In this manner every successive pair of seats is made to form two double sleeping couches or berths, capable of accommodating the four passengers, which they can also accommodate in a sitting posture, and these couches or berths are divided by suitable partitions, the lower ones by the slatted-blind frames II H. at the ends of the seats, and the upper berths or couches by the horizontally-swinging cushioned liaps K, secured at one of their ends by hinges to the ends of the backs E of the seats, and capable of being either swung and folded flat upon and against the same to form a rest for the backs of the passengers when in a sitting posture, or turned at right angles to the said backs and between the ends ot' the respective upper berths or couches to inclose them in separate and distinct compartments.

On the rear surface of the backs of the seats are arranged slides or movable panels M,Whose tapered edges are inserted in grooves at the ends of the backs E; and, in case itis desired, those slides can be raised to lthe roof ofthe car, so as to entirely exclude the occupants ol' the upper berths or couches from observation.

In case it is desired, each successive pair ot' seats may be arranged at the proper distances apart to enable spaces to be formed between their ends when brought to the positions to form them into berthsor couches, for rendering access to them more convenient.

vVh-at I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

rIhe combination and arrangement of the movable seat-bottoms C, hinged i'olding cushions G, sliding slat-blind frames H', and hinged cushioned frames I, and cushioned aps K L on the backs E of the seats, and slides or panels M.

GEORGE L. DULAN EY.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. SAUM, LEVI RINKER.

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