Year: 1886

page_text: 'I SIDNEY RICHARD LOWCOCK of 4 Burlington Chambers, New Street, Birmingham
in the county of Warwickshire, Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
=
This invention relates to certain improvements in reversible backs to seats and has
for its object to improve the construction of seats having reversible backs in such a
manner that the back will automatically assume the same relative position to the seat,
at any desired angle with the plane of the seat, when placed on either side of the
centre line of the seat.
This arrangement is particularly applicable to the seats of railway carriages, ships,
concert halls and the like.
To effect my object I carry the back on levers pivotted to the back and to the body
of the seat, and so arrange the position of the pivots that when the levers are placed
vertically above the longitudinal centre line of the seat, such centre line will pass
through the centre of all the pivots in the back and in the body of the seat.
The angle which the back assumes with regard to the seat, is determined by the
relative lengths of the levers and by the distance from centre to centre of the pivots on
which they work, and by suitable stops provided to prevent the levers vibrating through
greater arcs than is intended.
J. C. CHAPMAN,
70, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agent for Applicant.

page_text: I SIDNEY RICHARD LOWCOCK of 4 Burlington Chambers, New Street, Birmingham
in the county of Warwickshire, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to certain improvements in reversible backs to seats and has
for its object to improve the construction of seats having reversible backs in such a
manner that the back will automatically assume the same relative position to the seat,
at any desired angle with the plane of the seat, when placed on either side of the
centre line of the seat.
This arrangement is particularly applicable to the seats of railway carriages, ships,
concert halls, and the like.
To effect my object I carry the back on levers pivotted to the back and to the body
of the seat, and so arrange the position of the pivots that when the levers are placed
vertically above the longitudinal centre line of the seat, such centre line will pass
through the centre of all the pivots in the back and in the body of the seat: The
angle which the back assumes with regard to the seat is determined by the
relative lengths of the levers and by the distance from centre to centre of the pivots on
which they work, and by suitable stops provided to prevent the levers vibrating
through greater arcs than is intended.
In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is an end elevation of a seat constructed
according to this invention; Figure 2 is a cross section on line a b figure 1; and
figures 3 and 4 are modifications applicable to the invention as hereinafter described.
Similar letters refer to similar parts in all of these figures.
To effect my object I carry the back B on levers C C pivotted so as to be capable of
vibrating on centres E E, fixed to the body of the seat, the arc through which they
vibrate being determined by the stops K K fixed to the body of the seat, against which
suitable projectious on the lower ends of the levers C. C. bear when the back is in
position on either side of the seat. The back is free to swing on the upper ends of the
levers at G G except as controlled by the levers D D centred at F. F. and H, H, about
which centres the levers are free to turn. The angle which the back assumes relatively
to the plane of the seat is determined by the vibration of the levers C. C. and the
relative distances apart of the centres G, G, and H. H, on the back B, and the centres
E. E, and F. F, on the body of the seat. These distances and the lengths of the levers
must be so arranged that when the back is at the centre of its travel from side to side
the centre lines of the levers and the pivots on which they turn must all lie in the
same vertical plane which divides the seat longitudinally.
The action is as follows,
When the back B is pushed towards the other side of the seat A, the point G
describes an arc having a radius equal to the length of the lever C at the same time
that the point H describes an are having a radius equal to the length of the lever D,
and the centre line of the back B will assume the position shown by the dotted line on
the other side of the seat.

page_text: The sides of the seat A are shown slotted out to allow of the vibration of the
levers D D. In cases where the back B is not sufficiently deep to allow of the second
levers D D being used I use one of the arrangements shown in figure 3 and figure 4,
where B is the back carried on levers C. C, pivotted to the back at G G and to the body
of the seat as before having suitable stops to regulate the vibration of the levers. The
lower part of the back B is fitted with pins e, e, which are free to vibrate through arcs
having radii equal to the distances between the centres G and e, except as controlled in
figure 3 by the small lever b pivotted to the main lever C at f and slotted at the
upper end, in which end the pin e works, and in figure 4 by the slot in which the pin e
works. In these cases the weight of the back hung on the centres G G causes the lower
point e to describe an arc having a radius equal to the distance apart of the centres G
and e relatively to the main lever C during the travel of the back from one side of the
seat to the other, and thus causes the back to assume the same position on either side
relatively to the plane of the seat.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is
The construction substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated of reversible
backs to seats whereby the back will automatically assume the same relative position at
any desired angle to the seat when placed on either side thereof.
3. C. CHA
T
70, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agent for Applicant.