IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STANDARDS OR SUPPORTS FOR SEATS AND DESKS OB TABLES FOR SCHOOL AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Blackburn, of the City of Manchester,
in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF STANDARDS OR SUPPORTS FOR SEATS AND DESKS OB
TABLES FOR SCHOOL AND OTHER PURPOSES."
Scaled the 27th August 1872, and dated the 1st March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Blackburn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st March 1872.
I, WILLIAM BLACKBURN, of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF STANDARDS OR SUPPORTS FOR SEATS AND
DESKS OR TABLES FOR SCHOOL AND OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction and
arrangement of standards or supports for seats and desks or tables for
school and other purposes, and consists, -
1stly. In constructing the shafts or upright portions of the standards
or supports of wrought-iron pipes or tubes, on to which are cast solid

page_text: iron base plates and top pieces, the supports for the desks and scat
boards being either joined together by the base plates or arranged as
separate and independent stands applicable to all desks and fittings
where cast-iron standards are now used. The advantages obtained by
this construction are lightness, increased strength and rigidity, freedom
from breakage, and (in standards where the supports for the desk and
seat boards are connected together) facilities for arranging the scat on
either side of the desk so that the scholars can face either way, or the
fittings (when required for other than school purposes) he more roadily
converted and arranged without the necessity of turning the whole
structure round.
2ndly. In a simple arrangement of parts whereby the desk board or
table top can with the greatest ease be securely fixed at various angles
on either side of the standard supporting it, for the purpose of forming
either a sloped writing desk, a drawing desk, a flat table, or a seat back,
thus affording increased facilities for the arrangement of the fittings in
the various positions in which they may be required to be used. For
effecting these changes I provide the upper part of the standard with
two concentric annnlar fillets or projections on to which I fit two corre-
sponding segmental recesses or grooves formed in suitable plates or
pieces attached to the desk board or table top, so that the said desk board
or table top may be turned on the joint thus made, and I secure it in
position as required by means of rings tightened up by a thumbscrew
or screw key.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Blackburn in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th August 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BLACKBURN, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Blackburn, Her special licence that I,

page_text: the said William Blackburn, my executors,. administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Blackburn, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF STANDARDS OR SUPPORTS FOR SEATS AND DESKS OR TABLES FOR SCHOOL AND
OTHER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Blackburn, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should
particularly 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 William Blackburn, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, and the Drawings therein referred to.
Fig. 1 is an end clevation partly in section of a desk or table with
seats constructed according to my Invention for school and other
purposes; Fig. 2 is an elevation partly in section at right angles to the
foregoing; Figs. 3 shew the construction of parts of the arrangement
for fixing the desk or table top at various angles on either side of the
standard supporting it for the purpose of forming either a sloped writing
desk, a drawing desk, a flat table, or a seatback.
The shafts or upright portions of the standards or supports are con-
structed of wrought-iron pipes or tubes a, a¹, on to which are cast solid
iron base plates 6, and top picces A. B, C, are two plates formed with
concentric fillets B', C', provided with teeth as shewn. The plate B is
prevented from turning by the parts A' of the top piece A of the table
standard. The plate C is attached to the desk or table top G. D is a
wrought-iron tightening screw provided with a wrought-iron ring E,
the position of which is determined by the cast-iron cross bar F. The
screw D binds the parts C, F, and A, together by means of the ring E.
When it is desired to change the position of the desk or table top the
screw D is turned by means of a screw key so as to throw the moving
plate B out of gear with the plate C. The desk or table top G is then

page_text: moved to the required angle and the screw D turned back so as to
tighten up the plate B in gear with the plate C.
It will be obvious that the above described standards or supports for
the desk or table top and those for the seat boards may be arranged as
seperate and independent stands instead of being joined together by the
base plates as shewn in the Drawings, and that such standards or supports
are applicable to all desks and fittings where cast-iron standards are
now used. The advantages obtained by this construction are lightness,
increased strength and rigidity, freedom from breakage and (in standards
where the supports for the desk and seat boards are connected together)
facilities for arranging the scat on either side of the desk so that the
scholars can face either way, or the fittings (when required for other
than school purposes) be more readily converted and arranged without
the necessity of turning the whole structure round.
Having described my said Invention, and having explained the manner
of carrying the same into practical effect, I hereby declare that what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
construction of standards or supports for seats and desks or tables for
school and other purposes, substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Blackburn, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of August in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
WITT TAM DI ACIDUDN