Year: 1886

page_text: I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, Fel. Inst. PA of the Agency for Foreign Patent
Solicitors, 6 Lord Street Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, and 323 High
Holborn in the county of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention (a communication from abroad by Louis Huguenin of Paris in
the Republic of France, laundry iron manufacturer) to be as follows:-
Chairs and seats with backs, as hitherto constructed have the disadvantage that
persons sitting on them are liable to crease or crush the portions of their garments
which come in contact with the back or seat unless extreme care be taken, and in
many cases the person using the chair is obliged to sit upon the edge only, and
cannot recline against the back without damaging the dress. The inventor has
moreover remarked that when a person is seated in the normal position upon an
ordinary chair, the weight of the body is supported by the middle portion of the
chair, and there is a considerable space between this point and the lowest portion
of the back against which the body rests. This intermediate space may therefore
be left free without inconvenience to the user, and in this vacant space room can
be made for the coat tails, jacket flaps, or other portions of the dress which would
otherwise be liable to be crumpled or crushed. In carrying this principle into
practice, the inventor makes use of various patterns of chairs and seats to suit
different requirements, the improvement being applicable to every description of
seats with backs for indoor or outdoor use. The exact distance between the back
support and the seat is proportioned to the special purpose for which the chair is
designed, and is obtained by curving the back, or so attaching it to the seat as to
leave the required space.
The seat of the chair might also be constructed to slide to or from the back, by
any suitable means, or it might be designed to revolve on a pivot, or the back
might be made adjustable.

page_text: I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, Fel. Inst. P. A. of the Agency for Foreign Patent
Solicitors 6, Lord Street, Liverpool in the County of Lancaster and 323, High
Holborn in the County of Middlesex Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature
of this invention (a communication from abroad by Louis Huguenin of Paris in
the Republic of France Laundry Iron Manufacturer) and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:―
Chairs and seats with backs as hitherto constructed have the disadvantage that
persons sitting on them are liable to crease or crush the portions of their garments
which come in contact with the back or seat, unless extreme care be taken, and in
many cases the person using the chair is obliged to sit upon the edge only, and
cannot recline against the back without damaging the dress. The inventor has
moreover remarked that when a person is seated in the normal position upon all
ordinary chairs, the weight of the body is supported by the middle portion of the
chair, and there is a considerable space between this point and the lowest portion
of the back against which the body rests. This intermediate space may therefore
be left free without inconvenience to the user, and in this vacant space room can
be made for the coat-tails, jacket-flaps, or other portions of the dress, which would
otherwise be liable to be crumpled or crushed. In carrying this principle into
practice, the inventor makes use of various patterns of chairs and seats to suit
different requirements, the improvement being applicable to every description of
seats with backs for indoor or outdoor use.
The exact distance between the back support and the seat is proportioned to the
special purpose for which the chair is designed, and is obtained by curving the
back or so attaching it to the seat as to leave the required space. The seat of
the chair might also be constructed to slide to or from the back, by any suitable
means, or it might be designed to revolve on a pivot, or the back might be made
adjustable.
Referring to the annexed drawings:
Figure 1 is a perspective view, and Figure 2 a side view of an ordinary cane
chair: a is the seat or stool, b the back which may be suitably curved or inclined,
c the space or cavity to receive the flaps of the garments. Figure 3 shows an
upholstered chair with the same arrangement.
In these three figures the patterns shown have the back arranged apart from
the seat, existing chairs could be changed at little cost into comfortable seats; if
desired the backs could be removable, so that they could be applied or not at
pleasure, it would suffice to arrange screws or pins so as to facilitate the rapid
removal or adaptation of the back.
In Figure 4, the back forms, an integral part of the body of the chair, and it is
the seat or stool a which may be adjustable.
This arrangement appears to be the most practical and firm, the cavity c would
of course take the form of a pocket capable of holding a tournure, the back might
be curved so as to increase the space reserved for the garment.

page_text: The seat and back might be so arranged that they could be removed a few
centimetres from each other according to the size of the person's garment, who is
going to use the chair; in seats for shop women, cashiers and others who remain
constantly seated, the space c might be increased and the back curved or inclined
a little more forward than in the case of seats for men, so that one might lean back
with more ease whilst a larger space would be left for the garment or tournure.
Figure 5 shows an arrangement of chair with a sliding seat, capable of being
more or less removed from the back, screws, pins screw-nuts, rods, or other appro-
priate mechanism might be employed in this arrangement. The seat might also
be pivoted similar to some kinds of office chairs.
Figure 6. shows a garden seat arranged according to this invention.
This arrangement could be applied to all kinds of seats, such as chairs, arm chairs,
sofas, garden seats, carriage or railway seats, etcetera, etcetera, and backs could also
be fixed to stools, seats, benches, so as to change these latter into comfortable seats
which would preserve the ends of the garments from wear and from becoming
crushed, which is inevitable in the case of ordinary back seats.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
The new kind of seats above described and shewn in the annexed drawing, these
backed-seats baving a space in which the ends or lower parts of garments may
rest without being creased, the said seats being also arranged that a person may
be comfortably seated, and may lean back without having to bend too much,
which affords a considerable advantage, especially for ladies and with the existing
modes, as compared with ordinary seats.