USRE611E - Improvement in chairs - Google Patents

Description

elevation of my improved chair.

` UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.I

JAMES FEHNALD, Ollv BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

|MPaovi-:MENT IN CHAms.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 15,405, dated July 22, 1856; Reissue No. 6l l.`datcd October l2, 1858.

To all lwhom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES FERNALD, of Boston, in the county' ot' Suiiolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful or Improved School-Chair; and l do hereby declare that the accompanying speciiication and annexed drawings iully describe and illustrate the said invention.

The objects'I have had in view in my experiments, resulting in the invention of the said chair, have been to produce an article which shall be beyond any chair l know of conducive to the health and easy position of any 'person who may be obliged to occupy the same for long` periods, at successive intervals, and at the same time shall be an article which can be manufactured in quantities at prices which (beyond their worth for comfort) shall commend them for use in the school-room and in all public halls.

Figure l of the drawings represents a side Fig. 2 is a front view, and Fig. 3 a central vertical crosssection, ofit.

in the drawings above mentioned, A denotes lhe pedestal or stand on which the seat B ot' iheehair is to be properly' fastened. Said pedestal is made of iron or other suitable material, and is intended to be screwed down upon the floor ofthe room where the Ach air is to be placed. rEhe seat B is to be made any convenient form, either round, oblong, or square, and of a proper thickness, and is to have fastened to it and rising from its back an inclined metallic supportrod extending from the seat, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. Upon the front of this support-rod and at a suitable distance above the seat the back D of the chair is applied. This back D is to be so turned from a solid block of wood that its back shall. be iiat (so as to be easily and firmly attached to its support) and its front face conveX, as seen particularly in Fig. 3. Saidl can be turned so as to take the position represented by dotted lines in Fig. 2, or it can be rotated any less part of a circle, so as tobe presented in any inclined positiomf required.

The lower end ot' the support U is bent and extends under the seat B, to which it is properly fastened.

This constitutes the whole construction otl my improved chair. others are many. f

rlhe comfort of our children during the many and tedious hours they have to spend in the school-room is an object which can be, perhaps, better promoted by the use of seats upon which they can study in an easy posture than by any other means, while the production of a good, comfortable, and simple lecture or hall chair is a hardly less desideratum. rl`he most of such seats or chairs in common use are not only very painful to sit in for great lengths loi' time, but oftentimes productive of serious injury and contortions of the spine and back. The backs of such chairs are made with sharp protuberanees, square corners, and stiff, unyielding backs, thereby inducing the injuries spoken of', while many school-chairs have no backs at all, thus leaving the spine entirely unsupported and producing great` chest brought forward, while by making it in an oblong o1 oval form, and to be rotated as described, support may be obtained across the back, or for the shoulders when necessary. The support G may be made of such iiexibility as will allow the rest-piece to yield by gentle pressure of the back against it.

The principal feature or novelty in my chair is the improved back. The back-rest being turned and completed from a solid block of wood can be manufactured, especially in large quantities for the use of halls, cars, Src., at very low cost, and the attachment to the seat, being composed of a single plate or bar, adds lts advantages above but slightly to the cost of the convex b ick,`

While both together forma chair back equal v if not superior, 'as regards cointort, to most of the upholstered chairs in use in such places. A mere convex back I know is not new, neither is it new to apply a chair-back to the seat by springs; but I believe it to be neW'to manufacture or turn convex backs from or out of solid wood, so that they need nonpllolstering or cushioning.

As Will be seen from the description, the Whole chair-back is composed of but two pieces-thc backrest D and its supportl plate, (EV-and these applied to the chair-seat, as described, cause the whole to form a very neat symmetrical chair7 not at all liable to get out of order, and free from the evils above alluded to.

vWhat, therefore, I claim a s myinvention isl. The new manufacture of chair-back composed of a convexffaced solid block of wood,

.minus FERNALD.

lVitnesses PATRICK KELLY, FRANCIS GoULD.

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