US392892A - Automatic school desk and seat - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

J. H. STIGGLEMAN.

1 v AUTOMATIC SCHOOL DESK AND SEAT. No. 392,892. Patented Nov. 13, 1888.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J. H. STIGGLEMAN.

AUTOMATIC SCHOOL DESK AND SEAT.

No. 392,892. Patented N0v. 13, 1888.

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NITED STATES PATENT JAMES HENRY STIGGLEMAN, OF LINOOLNVILLE, INDIANA.

AUTOMATIC SCHOOL DESK AND SEAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392,892, dated November 13, 1.888.

Application filed May22, 1888. Serial Not 274,675.

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, JAMES HENRY STIGGLE- MAN, of the town of Lincolnville, in the county of Wabash and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic School Seats and Desks and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of school desks and seats in which the seat for one desk is attached to the front of another desk.

The object of my invention is to produce a desk in which the seat will not only adapt itself to the movement of the body of the pupil as he rises, but will also, by its own Weight, follow the motion of the pupils body as he is resuming a sitting position, the seat being so mounted as to be in or nearly in a horizontal position by the time the pupil is seated; and a further object is to improve the construction and operation and increase the usefulness of the desk and seat set forth and claimed in Patent No. 321,322, issued to me June 30, 1885; and with these ends in View my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts, more fully described hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front perspective view of the device, showing the seat lowered in its normal position and the pivoted book-repository or desk proper also in its normal position. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the complete device, showing the seat folded and the desk proper partially rotated on its pivotal bearings. Fig. 3 is a detail view in elevation of the front or lower pivotal brace of the seat, the upper portion of the desk being broken away. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of a portion of the back of the seat and upper portion of a standard and one side of the book-repository or desk proper detached from its usual position at the-back of the seat and showing the man- (No model.)

ner of removably pivoting or mounting the desk proper, the top of the desk being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 5 is a rear view of one end of the back of the seat, illustrating the detent or latch for normally preventing the seat from swinging too far back and folding when in use. Fig. 6 is a detail view illustrating the manner of pivoting the rear swing-braces to the seat, the seat and the seat-iron at that end being shown in crosssection; and Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view illustrating the various parts composing the pivotal points or bearings of the various pivoted members of the seat.

In the drawings, the reference-letter A repsents the two side pieces or standards composing the supporting-frame of the combined seat and desk, and said standards are preferably formed of metal, each cast separate and integral, and the two standards are secured together and strongly and firmly braced by suit able cross-pieces or the like.

13 indicates the board or boards composing the back of the seat, the standards being extended upwardly and provided with side flanges b, to which said back is secured, as shown.

0 represents the seat, which is provided with the seat-irons c, to which the seat proper is secured in asuitable manner,and to the rear ends of said seat-irons the lower ends of upper swing-braces, D, are pivotally secured. The upper ends of said braces are pivotally secured at points a a to the front portion of the standards which form the arm-rests or ends of the seat proper. These braces are located on the outer side of the standards, and the standards are provided with the flanges or webs a, partially closing the open ends of that portion of the same forming the ends ofthe seat proper, so that the upper pivotal braces will not catch the clothing orfingersofthe pupils in raising or lowering the seat, the lower edges of said webs or flanges being sectors of a circle to allow the swing-braces and the seat to freely swing in their respective arcs, as clearly shown.

The front end of the seat is pivotally supported by the lower front brace, E, which is preferably cast in one piece and pivotally secured at its lower ends to each standard at r00 -points 0' O, and at its upper ends it is pivoted at points 0 C to the front ends of the scat-irons, as shown in Fig. 3. Thus it will be seen that as the pupil rises the seat is carried upward beneath the desk and back and out of the way of the pupil immediately in the rear of the desk, and as the pupil resumes the sitting position the seat will follow his downward movement and will have assumed the horizontal position by the time the pupil has reached thesitting position.

A detent or latch, F, is pivoted to swing vertically and in a plane parallel with the longitudinal plane of the back of the seat, and said detent is pivoted ator about its center to the lower portion of the rear face of the flange b, and is provided with a handle portion, f, above its pivotalpoint and with adownwardlyextending stop or arm, j", provided with a notch or the like in its lower end, as shown, and adapted to engage one of the upper swingbraccs and limit its upward movement and thereby limit the upward swing of the seat when the pupil rises, and prevents it from swinging so far upward and back as to pass beyond its center of gravity and assume its folded position and not automatically drop to the horizontal position when the pupil moves to sit down, as it should when in use.

XVhen it is desired to fold the seat to the position shown in Fig. 2 for transportation, or when it is not to be occupied for some time, the operator simply presses in on the handle of the detent, which throws the notched end of the stop or lower portion out of engagement with the swing-brace and allows it to swing upward until the seat is folded backward beyond its center of gravity, as clearly shown in Fig. 5, and when the pressure is removed from the handle the detent will resume its normal position, in which position it is removably held by a lug, g, which engages the standard. Although this lug is not essential, it is commonly employed. In common practice but one detent is preferably used,which is located on the left-hand side of the seat.

The seat-irons are provided with forwardlyprojecting arms h h on their lower side, the lower free ends of which are adapted to bear against the lower pivotal braces at points 'i i for the purpose of preventing the seat from swinging forward beyond its proper position when the weight of the pupil is resting upon it. At the points 1' '5 the lower pivotal braces are provided with apertures or cups adapted to receive and hold in position rubber blocks or buffers,with which the ends of said curved arms 71, h are adapted to engage when the seat is occupied and at or about its center said brace is provided with a forwardly-projecting lug, h, which may or may not be, as desired, provided with a rubber buffer, and said projecting lug h is adapted to engage and catch the seat when folded, thereby obviating the noise which would otherwise be occasioned by the seat striking flatly against the full length of the lower brace. Each upper swing-brace upon its lower side is provided with a cup or socket, jj', in which are held elastic buffers to engage suitable lugs or projections on the standards when the seat is dropped in position, thereby preventing the noise which is so common and annoying in school-rooms. The upper swing-braces and the lower supporting stud or boss, Z", which is formed integral with r a seat-iron or standard, as the case may be, and surrounds one end of an aperture through the same, and the parts are'elamped together by a bolt which passes through the aperture and is providedupon the outer end with a nut and washer, as shown. Thus an exceedingly simple and effective bearing or pivotaljoint is effected, which will not wear out. As shown in Fig. 6, the rear swing-braces are preferably slightly curved outward at their lower portion, and the studs or bosses of the seat-irons to which they are pivoted are somewhat longerthan the others.

H indicates the desk proper or book-repository, which is pivotally and removably secured by'journals on its upper side working in bearings on the upper side of the tops of the standards at the rear of the back portion of the seat, and said desk proper is journaled to turn Vertically and is held in its normal horizontal position by a piece or top, A, secured to said tops of the standards and beneath which the end of the desk extends, and said end of the desk also bears against the back of the scat, which also prevents its forward end from swinging downward. The desk proper is removably pivoted to the standards in the following manner, viz: Lugs 70 76(0116 on each side) project upward from the outer upward side of said tops of the standards and are provided with semicircular transverse openings or hearings in their upper sides, and the desk proper is provided with a pair of corresponding i'ipwardly-extending lugs, arms,

or the like, 7t 70', which are located at the in-.

nor sides of lugs ]t' 70 and are each provided with a laterally-extending spindle or journal, Z, adapted to rotate or turn in said bearings.

The dotted lines represent the boards comprising the top of the desk, one piece of which is fastened to the top of standards, while the other is fastened to the upper edge of the repository ends, and said boards are beveled at their meeting edges to allow for the free and easy removal or replacement of the desk-1e pository, which it is easy to see can be done by turning the desk to a vertical position and lifting it from its bearings, the operation of replacing it being similar. The manner of pivoting the desk proper is clearly illustrated in Fig. 4. The bearing and pivots for said desk are surrounded by the top boards of the desk,

so that the desk has a perfectly smooth level sockets having buffers, and as the seat can be folded and the desk proper is removable the space consumed in packing the goods for shipment is much less than is required in ordinary desks, and hence considerable expense is saved in the way of freights, express, 850.

It is clearly evident that various slight changes might be resorted to in the form and arrangement of the parts described without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention; heneeI do not wish to limit myself strictly to theprecisc construction herein set forth, but consider myself entitled to all such slight changes as fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim isg 1. In a school-desk, the combination of the standard, an automatically-swinging seat, thelower brace or supporting-frame of the seat,

the upper swinging braces pivoted at their lower ends to the seat and extending upwardly on the outer side of that part of the standards forming the ends of the seat and pivoted to the same at their upper ends, and the herein-described flanges or webs, one formed with each standard and partially closing the standards forming the ends of the seat and located be tween said upper swing-braces and the seat, for the purpose described.

2. The combination, with the standards and the herein-described swinging seat carried by upper and lower braces pivoted to the standards and to the seat, of a pivotal detent or latch, whereby the seat is normally prevented from folding by stopping itfrom swinging upwardly beyond its center of gravity, substantially as described.

3. In combination, the standards, thcswinging seat, the upper braces, the lower braces or supporting-frame, and the herein-described detent or latch pivoted to a standard above the seat and provided with a handle and with a stop or arm extending into the arc in which an upper brace swings and adapted to engage the same, and thereby normallyprevent the seat from folding by limiting its upward and backward swing, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own invention I affix mysignature inpresence of two witnesses.

JAMES HENRY STIGGLEMAN.

\Vitnesses:

WARREN BIGLER, J OIIN H. DIOKEN.

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