US912354A - Reclining attachment for chairs. - Google Patents

Description

' F. E. BARNIGKLE. REGLINING ATTACHMENT FOR CHAIRS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.11, 1907.

Patented Feb. 16, 1909.

llhll'ill.) PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK E. BARNIOKLE, OF ROCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK S. BARBIAN, OF ROCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

REOLINING ATTACHIJIIJHT FOR CHAIRS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 16, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. BARNIGKLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rochester, county of Strafford, State of New Hampshire, have invented an Improvement in Reclining Attachments for Chairs, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like numerals on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention has for its object to provide a novel attachment for chairs which is adapted to support the chair firmly in a tilted or reclining position. The device is arranged so that it can be attached to a chair without disfiguring it, and when a person is sitting in the chair having my improved attachment applied thereto, such person may tilt back in the chair and be firmly supported in a tilted position without the necessity of resting the chair against a wall or without the necessity of the person placing his feet on a desk, table or other support.

I will first describe some embodiments of my invention and then point out the novel features thereof in the appended claim.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a chair having my attachment applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a side view of the chair showing the position of the attachment when it is not in use; Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of the hinge or bracket for securing the attachment to the chair; Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on the line :c:u, Fig. 3 Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view through the shoe at the bottom end of the rest or support; Fig. 6 is a section on the line a a Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a side view of a modified form of bracket for pivotally attachin the device to a chair; Fig. 8 is a section on the line bl) Fig. 7.

According to my invention, the chair is held in its reclining position by a brace or support 3 which is adapted to be pivotally attached to the back of any chair having rear uprights. In the present embodiment this brace is substantially ll-shape, as shown, and may be made of a piece of wire bent to the proper shape. The upper ends of the two arms of the brace or support are hinged to the chair by means of brackets 4.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs.

and is secured thereto by suitable screws 6, which body portion is formed with the integral boss 7 having a horizontally-extending aperture 8 therein. The upper ends 9 of each of the arms of the brace are bent outwardly to form trunnions which extend through and are journaled in the apertures 8. Preferably the ends of the trunnions will be headed over slightly, as shown at 10, to prevent the trunnions from being withdrawn from the brackets when the device is in use. Extending from each bracket is a stop arm 11. Each stop arm is situated below the boss 7 and extends rearwardly from the body portion, and the end 12 of each stop arm is bent inwardly, as best seen in Fig. 4, said inwardly-bent portion 12 being situated to have engagement with the arm of the brace to limit the swinging movement thereof. The lower end of the brace or support has applied thereto a shoe 13 of rubber or other suitable material adapted to have good frictional engagement with the floor. This shoe is made with the slot or recess 14 in its upper end which is adapted to receive the apex 15 of the brace or support 3, and in order to hold the shoe in place, I preferably provide it with one or more projections 16 which extend inwardly from the walls of the slot and which are situated in the apex of the brace 3 when the shoe is applied to the brace. This construction makes one in which the shoe can be readily put in place and will be securely held in place after it has been applied. The bottom 17 of the shoe is preferably corrugated, as shown, and made on a slight inclination so that it will rest squarely against the fioor when the brace is in use.

I prefer to make the face 18 of the body 5 that rests against the chair slightly hollowing, as best seen in Fig. 4, so that the brackets can be attached to any chair having rear uprights, whether the uprights are square or round in cross section. I also prefer to make the apertures 8 in the bosses larger at their inner ends than at their outer ends, the outer ends of the apertures being of a size to fit the trunnions. This construction permits of the brackets to be placed in slightly different angular positions on the chair without interfering in any way with the free swinging movement of the support. This is 1 to 6, each bracket 4 has the body portion 5 quite important because sometimes the which rests against the back face of the chair backs of the chalrs are warped or twisted slightly, and sometimes the faces of the uprights do not stand exactly in the same plane, 7

In Figs. 7 and 8 I have illustrated a modified form of the invention in which the bracket is so arranged that it can be applied to the chair at slightly different angles whereby the position of the stop arm 1 1 may be changed or adjusted so that the brace or support can be swung away from the chair more or less as desired. In this embodiment of my invention the bracket is provided with the sire piece 20 which is adapted to overlie the side of. the upright of the chair, as plainly seen in Figs. 7 and 8, said bracket also being provided with the rest 21 which engages the back face of the chair leg. The bracket is further provided with the apertured boss 7 having an aperture S of varyin diameter, as above described, and with the stop arm 11 beneath the boss and extending rearwardly and with its end 12 curved inwardly, all as shovm in the modification shown in Figs. 1 to 6. In this embodiment of the invention the bracket is held in place on the chair by two screws 22, 25, one of which passes through an aperture 23, and the other of which extends through a slot 24. By loosening the screw 25 the bracket can be turned slightly about the screw 22, th reby raising or leasing the stop arm sli pitly, and in this way the elevation of said stop arm may be adjusted as desired.

I will also preferably provide the brace with the cross piece 26 near its lower end to which a chain or other flexible connection 27 may be secured which chain or flexible con nection may also be secui ed to the seat of the chair, as at 28. This chain constitutes an added means for limiting the extent of backward movement of the brace. In the drawings I have shown this cross piece 26 as in the shoe strikes the floor.

This link is prevented from sliding up the alinement with the rear legs, as shovm in Fig. 2, and the brackets are then attached to the rear uprights of the chair above the seat. vv'hen a person desires to tilt back in his chair, said person first sits in the chair, then reaches behind the chair and swings the brace backwardly to the limit of its movement and then tilts back in the chair until Since the brace is attached to the chair uprights above the seat of the chair, as shown, a very secure and firm support is afforded for the chair. It is important that the brace should be pivotally connected to the chair above the seat portion for the reasons stated above.

I have not attempted to describe herein all embodiments of my invention, but have selected two preferred embodiments only for the purpose of illustrating the same.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is In a reclining attachment for chairs, the combination with a support or rest presenting two connected arms having a divergent arrangement each bent at its upper end to form a trunnion, of two brackets for pivotallj connecting the support to the back of a chair, a link loosely surrounding the support near its apex, a shoe on said support below the link, and a chain or flexible connection connected to the link and adapted to be secured to the seat of the chair.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK E. BARNICKLE.

VJitnesses THOMAS J. DRUMMOND, LOUIS C. SMITH.

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