US981232A

US981232A - Opera-chair.

Info

Publication number: US981232A
Application number: US54496010A
Authority: US
Inventors: Albert Wanner Jr
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1910-02-21
Filing date: 1910-02-21
Publication date: 1911-01-10
Anticipated expiration: 1928-01-10

Description

A. WANNBR, Jn. A OPERA CHAIR. Prmonron rILnD rms. 21,1910.

Patented Jan. 10, 1911.

'2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

A. WANNER, Jn.`

OPERA CHAIR. APPLICATION FILED FEB.21, 1910.

mennen` Jan. 10, 1911.

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OPERA-CHAIR.

Speclcation of Letters Patent.

Patented Jail. 1o, 1911.

Application filed February 21, 1910. Serial No. 544,960.

To all whom 'ii may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT WANNER, J r., a citizen of the United States,'residing in Hoboken, Hudson county, and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Opera-Chairs; and 4I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as 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 letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My object in and by the present invention is to improve chairs of the type employed in auditoriums and other public places principally in respect 4to reducing the cost of manufacture thereof while retaining them neat, attract-ive and substantial in appearance, and in other respects, for instance, that, while they may be light in construction and therefore readily portable, they will be strong and durable; that they may be adapted to occupy as little space as possible when not in use (their seats being then folded or swung into flatwise relation with the backs), affording free access to any chair in a row in passing between rows; that a row of the chairs may be vreadily adapted to different curvatures accordinfy to a predetermined seating plan; that di 'erent styles of backs may be utilized without materially altering the other parts of the chairs to adapt them to them; that the individual width of the chairs may be varied, etc.

In an application filed of even date herewith I have described and claimed a chair comprising, with a back and back-leg structure and standards disposed forward thereof, a substantially U-shaped member having its end-portions projecting substantially forwardly and rigidly connecting the said standards and back and back-leg structure.

One salient feature of this invention consists in supporting a pivotally mounted seat when in the seating position by means of the forwardly projecting end-portions of the said member, preferably through the medium of a bar or the like traversing the said end-portions? Another consists in a novel means for pivotally mounting the seat. Still another consists in a novel means cooperating with saidniember in connecting together the standards and the back and back-leg structure, such means preferably affording arms for the chair and permitting changes in the transverse dimension of the chair and also serving in the formation of a unitary structure, comprising two or more chairs,'which if need be may be adjusted to suit diiferent row curvatures.

In the accompanying drawings, the invention has been shown in connection with a group of two chairs forming a unitary structure, Figure l being a `perspective view;

Fig. 2 a horizontal sectional view taken in a plane above the seats; Fig. 3 a vertical sectional view, the seat being shown raised in full lines and partly lowered in dot-anddash out-line; Fig. 4 a similar view, the seat being shown lowered in full lines and partly lowered in dot-and-dash out-line; Fig. 5 a front elevation of the pivotal mounting for the seat; Fig. 6 a vertical sectional view of said mounting; and, Fig. 7 is a sectional View on line -m of Fig. l.

In the drawings, a designates the back and back-leg structures, b the seats, and o standards disposed forward of the said structures and each extending above the seating plane of the seat; the yleg-portions of said structures and standards diverge downwardly to impart the desired stability to the frames of the chairs and may or may not be at@ tached to the floor. It will be understood that different styles of back and back-leg structures may be employed.

The back and back-leg structure of each chair is rigidly connected with the corresponding standards in approximately the seating plane by means similar ,to that set forth in my co-pending application above referred to, the same being herein a substantially U-shaped member cl having its ends projecting forwardly, its rear portion being secured to the back and back-leg structure and its ends to the respective standards by screws e or the like. On the ends of this member rests a transverse support f which lends rigidity to the frame and serves to support the seat in its depressed position; this support, which may be a wooden bar, may be attached to the member l by screws g. As will hereinafter appear, the back portion of said member serves as a support to sustain a certain link-connection whereby the seat is pivotally supported when in the idle or folded position.

To aord arms for the chairs, an inverted L-shaped member is attached by one leg i thereof (secured by screws or the like j) to the back and back-leg structure, the other leg 7c projecting. forwardly, said forwardly projecting leg and the standard being surmounted by the arm-proper Z into which the standard may be doweled and which may be secured to said member by screws m. This construction lends stability and strength to the chair as a whole and affords a substantial and rigid brace as between the back and back-leg structure and each standard. The inner faces of the legs z' of members-7L being rounded (Fig. 7) allows the positions of said members on their legs z' as axes to be changed to vary the width of the chair.

lVhere the chairs are used two or more in a group, as shown in the drawings, a single standard is preferably used' bet-Ween each two chairs, the bar-.7c is made long enough to traverse the end-portions of the members CZ, and a single arm-proper serves for two adjoining chairs, their two L-shaped members being attached to the common armproper. The row-curvature of the group may be varied according to the relative positions of the legs L" of members rwith respect to the common arm-proper.

The seat is supported as follows:'A strap a is attached by screws o to the under side of the seat at the back thereof, extending transversely; its ends are upturned. A link connection between this strap and the back and back-leg support is afforded by the links p which are pivoted at g (by rivets or the like) to the ends of the strap and at r (by screws or the like) to the back and back-leg support. The disposition of the pivotal points g and r is such that when the seat is in the seating position, resting on the bar f, the links stand substantially vertically and when the seat is in its elevated position they rest on the support afforded by the backportion of member (Z. In the seating position, the seat may be prevented from a tendency toward backward planiform movement both by the projection s (formed by the front wall of a notch t which is provided in the under side of the seat at each side thereof) abutting against the'bar f and by the seatengaging the back, or by either of these expedients; the seat is kept from forward movement by the projection s (at the back of each notch) engaging the bacli of bar Upon raising the seat the links stand with relation thereto at first substantially as they appear in Fig. t. "When the seat impinges against the back the pivotally connected seat and links buckle, the links swinging forward and downward until they come to rest on the back-portion of member f; this allows the seat to assume a flatwise relation with the back of the chair. In depressing the seat, it first moves pivotally around the points g until it engages the bar f; upon pressing downwardly upon the forward portion of the seat a rel verse buckling as between it and the links .will follow until the notches in the seat coincide with bar 7', whereupon further backward planiform movement of the seatA Having thus fully described my invenfi tion, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination, with a. frame having a forward seat-supporting means, of a seat pivotally movable around an axis back of said -supporting means upwardly out of, and downwardly into, supported relation to said supporting means, and a link connection pivoted to the frame on said axis and also to the seat on an axis parallel with the first axis, said link connection normally standing substantially upright when the seat is in the supported relation to the supporting means and being pivotally movable forwardly when the seat is raised, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a frame having a forward seat-supporting means, of a seatpivotally movable around an axis back of said supporting means upwardly out of, and downwardly into, supported relation to said supporting' means, and a link connection pivoted to the frame on said axis and also to the seat on an axis parallel with the first axis, said link connection normally standing substantially uprightwhen the seat is in the supported relation to the supporting means and being pivotally movable forwardly when the seat is raised, said supporting means and seat interlocking with eachother to prevent planiform movement of the seat, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a frame having a forward seat-supporting means, of a seat pivotally movable around an axis back of said supporting means upwardly out of, and downwardly into, supported relation to said supporting means, a link connection pivoted to the frame on said axis and also to the seat onan axis parallel with the first axis, said link connection normally standing substantially upright when the seat is in the supported relation to the supporting mea-ns and being pivotally movable forwardly when the seat is raised, and means, engageable by the link connection, for limiting its forward pivotal movement, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a frame, of a seat and a link connection connecting the seat with the frame and pivotally movable with respect to both on horizontal axes, said frame having means for supporting the seat when the latter is in its depressed position and also means, engageable by the connecsaid connection, substantially as described. '5. The combination, With a frame, of a seat and a link connection connecting the seat with the frame and pivotally movable with respect to both on horizontal axes, said frame having means for supporting the seat when the latter is in its depressed positionV and also means, engageable by the connection, for limiting the forward pivotal movement of y said connection, substantially as described.

G. The combination, with a frame having supports arranged one in advance of the other, a seat adapted to rest on the forward support when in its depressed position, and a link connection connecting the rea-r portion of the seat with the frame and pivotally movable with respect to both on hori aontal axes, the rear support being disposed within the range of movement of said connection on its axis of movement in the frame inthe :forward direction, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with a frame, of a seat and a link connection connecting the rear portion of the seat With the frame and pivotally movable with respect to both on horizontal axes, said frame having means, com prising a substantially U-shaped member having its ends projecting substantially forward, for supporting` the seat when depressed and supporting said connection when the seat is raised, substantially as described.

8. rl`he combination, with a frame having a forward seat-supporting means, of a seat pivotally movable around an axis back of said supporting means upwardly out of, and downwardly into, supported relation to said supporting means. a strap attached to said seat near the back thereof and having its ends upturned, and links pivoted to the frame on said axis and also to the upturned ends of .said strap, said links normally standing substantiallyY upright when the seat is in the supported relation to the suption, for limiting the pivotal movement of porting means and being pivotally movable forwardly When the seatis raised, substantially as'described.

9. The combination, With the back and back-leg structure, the seat and standards arranged forward of said structure and pro jecting above the seating plane, of means for rigidly connecting said structure with each standard comprising substantially Lshaped members each having onel leg thereof projecting forward and the other formed with a cross-sectionally round face secured against a vertical face of said structure,substantially as described.

l0. The combination, with the back and back-leg structure, the seat and standards arranged forward of said structure and projecting above the seating plane, of substantially L-shaped members each having one leg thereof attached to said structure and the other projecting forwardly and an arm rigidly connecting each standard with the forwardly projecting leg of said member, substantially as described.

l1. I he combination, with back and backleg structures arranged side by side, seats, and standards disposed forward of said structures and also arranged side by side, of substantially U-shaped members having their end-portions projecting forwardly and connecting said structures with the standards, the adjoining end-portions of adjoining members being attached to a common standard, and substantially Lsshaped members rigidly connecting the back and backleg structures With the standards above the first member", each tivo adjoining L-shaped members being connected to a common standard, substantially as described.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing, I have hereunto set my hand, this 18th day of February, 1910.

ALBERT VANNER, JR.

lVitnesses CHAs. E. VALTER, lVM. H. KUNTZ.