US463622A - Hinge for school-desk seats - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

' F. E. DRURY & 0. C. CLARK.

HINGE FOR SCHOOL DESK SEATS.

No. 463,622. Patented Nov/2'24, 1891.

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ivrrno STATES ATENT FFICE.

FRANCIS E. DRURY AND OGDEN C. CLARK, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

HINGE FOR SCHOOL-DESK SEATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 463,622, dated November 24, 1891.

Application filed May 13, 1891. Serial No. 392,546. (No model.) Y

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FRANCIS E. DRURY and OGDEN C. CLARK, citizens of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hinges for School-Desk Seats; and we 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.

Our invention relates to improvements in hinges for school-desk seats; and our invention consists in a spring-hinge constructed and operating substantially as shown and described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a seat-frame, showing the seat as it appears when raised and its relation to the desk in front. Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of a desk with a seat attached and down, as when occupied. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of the seat-arms. Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the spring-supporting sleeve and head with radial projections on its face ,to fix the vadj ustment of the spring. Fig. 5 is a perspective view, enlarged, of the projection of the desk-standard to which the seat is directly pivoted. Fig. 6 is a transverse section of the several parts united on line a: 00, Fig. 2.

A represents the desk or seat standard provided with a projecting portion at its front having a disk-shaped extremity a, to which the seat-arm is hinged. This portion a has upon its face, looking inward, one or more teeth or lugs a, adapted to engage and lock upon the head of the spring-supporting sleeve, as hereinafter more fully described.

B represents a seat-arm, two of which arms are used for each seat, as usual. This arm has at its pivot-point an outwardly-projecting socket b, tapering, preferably, toward its outer extremity and of such length as not to be an obstruction or in. the way, and yet large enough to accommodate a helical spring C for automatically raising the seat into perpendicular position, as seen in Fig. 1, when the pupil rises. The depth of this socket need not exceed an inch and a half, and three or four coils of eighth-of-an-inoh wire will answer for the spring, so that with the usual width of seat the socket will be overlapped and covered and be wholly out of the way.

The disk-shaped extremity a of the standard A has a shoulder a which fits within the large end of the socket, as seen in Fig. 6,'and serves to take the weight upon the seat and relieve the bolt D, which holds the several parts together. This part a also has a cavity a about the bolt-hole on its inner side, into which the inner end of the sleeve E extends and by which this end of the sleeve is supported. The proj ections,lugs, or teeth a are on the face of disk a about this cavity and are engaged by the radial teeth 9 on the disk 9 on the sleeve This sleeve has a central passage for the bolt D,'a part of which is angular in cross-section, as seen in detached sectional View connected with'Fig. 4, and the bolt D is angular in crosssection toward its head, so as to preventthe bolt from turning in said sleeve. Any construction of these parts which will prevent the axial turning of the bolt in the sleeve may be adopted. The bolt D passes through a washer h on the outer end of the socket b,'and is secured by a nut bearing against the standard A. One end of spring C is inserted in a hole in the back of disk g and the other end in a hole 0 in the outer portion of the socket b of the seat-arm. The spring C'is oil-tempered steel, and its action is torsional and within fixed limits between its ends, while it has sufficient room laterally to expand and contract, as may be required. It is difficult to obtain springs of equal tension, even though they be made from the same piece of wire, and hence, for this reason if for none other, adjustment of each spring should be provided; but adj ustment may also be necessary in case a spring is too strong to begin with or loses its elasticity by age and wear, and the tension may be increased or diminished by simply rotating the sleeve E, so as to bring the teeth a and g into the required engagement. This is accomplished by releasing the nut, so as to give room for the teeth to pass one another, then putting a wrench on the head of the bolt and turning either way, as required, and then looking the parts together by tightening the nut. This construction not only makes an effective spring-support for the seat, but one that is noiseless in action, and which, while it is sufficient to raise the seat automatically out of the way of the pupil as he rises and stands at his desk, but which is easily drawn down when reseating occurs.

The construction of the socket for the spring is such as to completely incase the inside from the accumulation of dust and at the same time leave the parts free for easy adjustment without doing more than partially release the nut and turn the bolt by means of a wrench.

This hinge is herein described as especially adapted to seats for school-desks; but it may be used in other places and relations where automatically-raised seats are wanted.

The washer 7L bears hard against the outer end of the spring-supporting sleeve E, and is loose about the inwardly-proj ectin g flange l) on the socket 1) near its outer extremity, so that the seatarm will be free to turn when the nut on bolt 1) is tightened. The said washer is located within the end of socket b, flush therewith, and serves to support the socket and the arm B through bolt D and sleeve E.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The standard having a disk-face constructed to make adjustable engagement with the sleeve, in combination with the sleeve constructed to look upon said disk-face and having a passage through its center, angular part way in cross-section, a seat-arm having a socketin closing said sleeve, a spring around said sleeve in the socket and fastened to the sleeve and the socket, respectively, at its ends, and a bolt constructed to fit in said sleeve, so as not to turn therein, and having a tightening-nut, substantially as described.

2. The seat-standard having a disk with an annular shoulder around the same, and a seatarm with a lateral socket resting at its base on said shoulder, in combination with asleeve having a disk-face constructed to lock on the disk-face of the standard, a washer to confine the seat-arm, and a bolt locking said washer, the standard, and the intervening sleeve rigidly together, and a spring around said sleeve and engaging the scat-arm and rigid with said sleeve and seat-arm, respectively, substantially as described.

\Vitness our hands to the foregoing specification this 7th day of May, 1801.

FRANCIS E. DR'URY. OGDEN C. CLARK. \Vitnesses:

II. T. FISHER, N. L. BIOLANE.

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