IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR RAISING OR ADJUSTING OPERATING CHAIRS,
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Henry Oclee, of Rose Cottage, Swinton,
near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of
“IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR RAISING OR ADJUSTING OPERATING CHAIRS,
2
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page_text: any part thereof, and which have to be adjusted wholly or in part. In
such chairs or appliances it is necessary or of advantage that they should
be capable of being adjusted whilst acting to support the body, and the
object of my Invention is to effect the adjustment or movement of the
chairs or appliances, or of any parts thereof, by easy and noiseless or
nearly noiseless motions.
To attain my said object I employ fluid pressure to effect the said
adjustments or movements. When applying my Invention to a dentist's
operating chair, which requires to be adjusted by the movements of
raising and lowering, I in one arrangement sustain the said chair by
means of a ram, which is acted upon by fluid pressure to raise the chair,
the lowering being effected by opening a cock or valvo to permit the
fluid to flow out of the ram cylinder. The said pressure may be obtained
by means of a small ram pump connected with the cylinder in which the
aforesaid ram works, or may be otherwise obtained, as for example, in some
cases pressure may be derived from water supply mains. An air vessel
may be introduced between the pump and the ram cylinder to render the
movement more easy and continuous.
The above-described arrangement may be varied so long as fluid:
pressure is used for the purpose. When adapted to other appliances
rams, pistons, or equivalent parts acted upon by fluid pressure are em-
ployed to give the requisite movement to the appliance, or to any part
thereof, and for example, when two or more rams are employed to give
movement to two or more parts, or to give movement in different
directions, one pump may be used, cocks or valves serving to connect the
said pump with any one of the said rams, and the said pump may be so
arranged as that the "patient" or the person at the time supported by
the appliance can work the said pump.
(.
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Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Frederick.3
Henry Oclee in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th September.
1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
HENRY OCLEE, of Rose Cottage, Swinton, near Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, send greeting...
1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
HENRY OCLEE, of Rose Cottage, Swinton, near Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, send greeting.
3

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year'
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Frederick Henry Oclec,
Her special licence that I, the said Frederick Henry Oclec, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Frederick Henry Oclcc, my èxecutors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and-
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King.
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR RAISING OR ADJUSTING
OPERATING CHAIRS, INVALIDS' COUCHES, AND OTHER ANALOGOUS APPLIANCES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Henry
Oclec, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Henry Oclec, do.
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is
to say:
My Invention relates to operating chairs, as for example, to tho
adjustable chairs employed by dentists and to invalids' couches or leg
rests, and generally to all appliances for supporting the human body or
any part thereof, and which have to be adjusted wholly or in part. In
such chairs or appliances it is necessary or of advantage that they should
be capable of being adjusted whilst acting to support the body, and the
object of my Invention is to effect the adjustment or movement of the
chairs or appliances, or of any parts thereof, by easy and noiseless or
nearly noiseless motions.,
To attain my said object I employ fluid pressure to effect the said
When annlving my Invention to a dentist's .
adiustments or movements.
+
1

page_text: operating chair, which requires to be adjusted by the movements of
raising and lowering, I in one arrangement sustain the said chair by.
means of a ram, which is acted upon by fluid pressure to raise the chair,
the lowering being effected by opening a cock or valve to permit the
fluid to flow out of the ram cylinder. The said pressure may be obtained
by means of a small ram pump connected with the cylinder in which the
aforesaid ram works, or may be otherwise obtained, as for example, in
some cases pressure may be derived from water supply mains. An air
vessel may be introduced between the pump. and the ram cylinder to
render the arrangement more casy and continuous.
The above-described arrangement may be varied so long as fluid
pressure is used for the purpose. When adapted to other appliances rams,.
pistons, or equivalent parts acted upon by fluid pressure are employed to
give the requisite movement to the appliance, or to any part thereof, as
for example, when two or more rams are employed to give movement to
two or more parts, or to give movement in different directions, one pump
may be used, cocks or valves serving to connect the said pump with any
one of the said rams, and the said pump may be so arranged as that the
paticnt" or the person at the time supported by the appliance can
work the said pump.
+
65
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I have
supplied a Sheet of Drawings, to which I will now refer.
In the said Drawings Fig. 1, drawn about one-sixth of the full size,
represents a side view of a dentist's operating chair fitted with my
Invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the raising and adjusting.
apparatus situated below the chair; and Fig. 3, taken at right angles to
Figs. 1 and 2, is an elevation; and Fig. 4, a plan of the same.
In the said Figures A is a chair, which may be of any ordinary or
suitable form and construction, and which is hinged at a to the upper
end of a ram b. A toothed quadrant c is fixed to the chair, and a
worm d gears with the said quadrant, the worm shaft c being mounted
in bearings formed in an arm, which is attached to the ram head, so that
by turning the said worm shaft by means of a suitable handle the chair
may be tilted or inclined to such an extent as may be desired. The ram 6
is hollow, and is fitted to slide within a bored cylinder f. An inner
cylinder is secured in a central position within the cylinder f, an
annular space being left between the two cylinders, within which space
.
'

page_text: the hollow ram slides up and down: A cupped leather attached to a
sliding ring is fitted in the said annular space, the lower end of the said
ram resting on the said sliding ring. A force pump i is attached to or
formed with the outer cylinder, and is provided with a plunger, which
may be actuated by means of the hand lever j, and with an inlet valve k,
seen in the vertical section, Fig. 2, and with a delivery valve / seen in
Fig. 1. The said inlet valve communicates with the interior of the
inner cylinder g, which serves as a reservoir to contain a suitable fluid,
say, for example, oil, and the outlet valve communicates with the annular
space between the inner and the outer cylinders. When the lever j is
worked oil is withdrawn from the reservoir, and is forced into the space
below the cupped leather h, and the ram is caused to rise, and the chair
is thereby raised as much as may be required. The chair; together with
the ram, can be rotated around the central axis of the said ram and
cylinder, thus furnishing additional means of adjustment. A screw m
acting upon a block which fits against the ram is turned when it is
required to prevent the rotation of the chair. A cock n, seen in Fig. 2,
serves to establish a communication between the reservoir and the afore-
said annular space, so that when the said cock is opened by means of the
handle o the fluid returns into the reservoir, and the chair is thereby
lowered. In the example a foot rest p is hinged to the chair, and is
capable of yielding against the pressure of springs, but this arrangement
may be varied.
•
"
Fig. 5 represents a side view of an invalid's chair or couch, and Fig. 6,
a plan of the framing with the seat removed to show the adjusting
apparatus. In this example are employed two rams working in cylinders q
and 1, which are fixed to the framing of the chair. The back rest & and
the foot rest are hinged to the said framing, and the ram which works
in the cylinder q is connected by the links u with the arm v, which is
attached to the said back rest. The ram in the cylinder is similarly
connected by the links to with the said foot rest. A hand pump a is
fitted to swivel on trunnions in the framing y, and the lower part of the
said pump is furnished with a foot valve, and is immersed in oil or fluid
contained in the reservoir z. The said pump is also fitted with a delivery.
valve, and a passage leading from such valve is formed in the framing y,
and communicates by means of the tube b' with the ram cylinder q and
by means of the tube .c¹ with the ram cylinder. 1. Two way cocks d¹
and el are fitted in the framing y, and each cock is so formed and arranged;
.
:

page_text: with regard to the passages in the said framing as that when turned into
one position a passage is open for the flow of fluid from the pump to the
ram cylinder, and when turned into another position a passage is open
for the flow of liquid through a discharge pipe or passage into the
reservoir, the communication with the pump being closed. When the
back rest is to be raised the cock is turned into the first-named
position and the pump a is worked, whereby fluid is withdrawn from the
reservoir and is forced into the cylinder q. and acts on the ram, which by
thrusting against the arm v raises the said back rest. When the back
rest is to be lowered the cock d¹ is turned into the second named position
so as to permit fluid to discharge itself from the cylinder q. The foot
rest is raised and lowered in a similar manner, the cock e¹ being
operated upon instead of the cock d'. By reason of the situation of the
pump x, and also of its being fitted to swivel, the adjustments of the
back and foot rests may be effected by the individual who may be
reclining on the couch.
Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrative of a further adjustment which may be
applied to the couch as required or preferred. In this example a ram
cylinder fiis hinged by its lower end to the framing g¹, and the ram is
hinged to the seat g', which is hinged at ¹ to the said framing. The
cylinder f¹ would be connected with the pump a, and a regulating cock
would be provided as in the case of the other ram cylinders, so that the
seat ¹ could be raised or lowered or inclined, as might be required.
Pistons working in cylinders may be substituted for the rams if pre-
ferred, and in some cases such pistons may be made double acting, so
that the part to be adjusted, say the back rest of a couch, may be raised
or lowered by connecting the pump with one side or the other of the
piston.
Having now fully set forth and indicated the nature of my Invention
and means whereby the same may be carried into effect, I would have it
to be understood in conclusion that I claim,-.'
First. The employment of fluid pressure, substantially as and for the
purposes herein-before set forth and indicated.

page_text: And, lastly. The arrangements for effecting the adjustments of a couch
or invalid's reclining chair, substantially as set forth and indicated herein-
before and in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Henry Oclce, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of Sep-
tember, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
- seventy-four.
Signed and sealed by the said
Frederick Henry Oclec, in
the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Patenice, .
3, Princess Street,
Albert Square,
Manchester.
F. H. OCLEE. (L.S.)